The Podlaskie Voivodeship was formed in 1513 by Sigismund I the Old as a voivodeship in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, from a split off part of the Trakai Voivodeship.[2][3] After Lithuania's union with the Kingdom of Poland in 1569 and formation of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the voivodeship was transferred to the Polish Crown,[4][5] where it belonged to the Lesser Poland Province.

History

In ca. 1274, the historical Podlachia region was added to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In 1391, the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania Jogaila attempted to transfer the region to Duke Vytautas' brother-in-law, Janusz I of Warsaw, Duke of Masovia, but from 1413 on Podlaskie was managed as part of Lithuania's Trakai Voivodeship.

Formation

Map of the Podlaskie Voivodeship from 1795

After the administrative reform of 1514, Podlaskie was isolated from Trakai Voivodeship as a separate voivodeship, with the capital at the town of Drohiczyn. King of Poland Sigismund gave a privilege to Ioannes Sapieha [pl] to form a government of Podlaskie Voivodeship on 29 August 1513.[3] It originally consisted of the following former Trakai lands: Drohiczyn, Mielnik, Bielsk, and Brest Litovsk.[3] In 1566 based on Brest Litovsk lands, the separate Brest Litovsk Voivodeship was formed.[3]

In 1569, Podlachia was returned to the Kingdom of Poland by the Privilege of restoration of Podlasie land to the Polish Crown.[6][7]

Knyszyn was the favorite residence of King Sigismund II Augustus, who died there in 1572, ending the reign of the Jagiellonian dynasty in Poland.[8] Polish Renaissance writer Łukasz Górnicki, after his appointment as starost of Tykocin in 1572, resided and wrote many of his works in Lipniki.[9]

Podlaskie Voivodeship was subtracted by extensive royal estates, numerous small estates of the nobility (with the exception of the eastern and southern outskirts) and a dense network of small towns.[10] Petty nobility often cultivated their land on their own, and there were many places where the nobility had no serfs, making certain parts of the voivodeship, according to Polish historian, geographer and ethnographer Zygmunt Gloger, the place with the highest percentage of free agricultural population in Europe in the feudal era.[11] Polish nobles in Podlachia became so numerous that from the 16th century some migrated to other regions, including Lesser Poland and Lithuania, where they often made significant fortunes.[12] In 1661, renown Polish military commander Stefan Czarniecki was granted Tykocin as a reward for his military service during the Swedish invasion of Poland of 1655–1660.[13]

Tykocin, whose Old Town is now designated a Historic Monument of Poland,[14] was the place where the Order of the White Eagle, Poland's oldest and highest order, was established.

By the 18th century the private town of Białystok became the main center of the region, thanks to the patronage of the Branicki family. Due to the city's palace, parks and edifices, Białystok was dubbed the "Versailles of Podlachia".[13] The School of Civil and Military Engineering, Poland's first military technical college, and Komedialnia, one of the oldest theaters in Poland, were founded in Białystok in 1745 and 1748, respectively.[15][16] Białystok was a regional brewing center with 33 breweries as of 1771, with the Podlachian Beer now listed as a protected traditional beverage by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Poland.[17]

Aftermath

In the Third Partition of Poland in 1795, most of the voivodeship was taken over by the Kingdom of Prussia as part of New East Prussia, with southern outskirts annexed by Austria, with the Bug forming the border between them.[18] From 1807, these lands were part of the Duchy of Warsaw. Then, parts of it belonged to Congress Poland or the Russian Empire until 1915.

Administrative Subdivisions

The Voivodeship consisted of the following ziemias:[19]

Heraldry

Coat of arms of Podlaskie Voivodship in 1555 and 1720

The coat of arms of the region was created by combining the coats of arms of Poland and Lithuania, i.e. the Piast white eagle albeit without a crown and the Pogoń, a mounted armoured knight holding a sword and shield with the Jagiellonian Double Cross).[19] It was introduced in 1569.[19]

Cities and towns

Cities and towns of the voivodeship after 1566:[20]

Bielsk County

Branicki Palace and garden in Białystok in the 18th century

Drohiczyn County

Mielnik County

Voivodes

Iwan Sapieha, first Voivode of Podlachia, in 1513–1517

The governor of the Podlaskie Voivodeship was first located in Bielsk Podlaski, but later moved to Drohiczyn.

Voivodes included

Jan Zbigniew Ossoliński, Voivode in 1605–1613
Stanisław Mateusz Rzewuski, Voivode in 1710–1728

References

  1. ^ Stefan Krzysztof Kuczyński, Polskie herby ziemskie. Geneza, treści, funkcje, Warszawa 1993, s. 215.
  2. ^ Volumina Legum T. II s. 77
  3. ^ a b c d e Mykhailovskyi, V. Podlaskie Voivodeship (ПІДЛЯСЬКЕ ВОЄВОДСТВО). Encyclopedia of History of Ukraine
  4. ^ Lukowski, Jerzy; Zawadzki, Hubert (20 September 2001). A Concise History of Poland. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521559171.
  5. ^ Riasanovsky, Nicholas Valentine (2000). A History of Russia. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-512179-7.
  6. ^ Gloger 1900, p. 203.
  7. ^ Volumina legum (in Polish). Vol. II. Petersburg. 1859. p. 77.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  8. ^ Gloger 1900, p. 208.
  9. ^ Gloger 1900, pp. 208–209.
  10. ^ Gloger 1900, pp. 209, 211.
  11. ^ Gloger 1900, p. 210.
  12. ^ Gloger 1900, p. 211.
  13. ^ a b Gloger 1900, p. 209.
  14. ^ Rozporządzenie Prezydenta Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej z dnia 19 kwietnia 2021 r. w sprawie uznania za pomnik historii "Tykocin - historyczny zespół miasta", Dz. U., 2021, No. 768
  15. ^ Kusznier, Jacek (2018). "Elektrycy w historii Politechniki Białostockiej". Maszyny Elektryczne - Zeszyty Problemowe (in Polish). No. 4. p. 164.
  16. ^ "Plejada gwiazd w nowym teatrze. Piotr Dąbrowski otwiera Komedialnię". Białystok Online (in Polish). Retrieved 21 February 2025.
  17. ^ "Piwo podlaskie". Ministerstwo Rolnictwa i Rozwoju Wsi - Portal Gov.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 21 February 2025.
  18. ^ Gloger 1900, p. 204.
  19. ^ a b c d Gloger 1900, p. 206.
  20. ^ Atlas historyczny Polski. Województwo podlaskie w drugiej połowie XVI wieku. Część I. Mapy, plany (in Polish). Warszawa: Instytut Historii Polskiej Akademii Nauk. 2021. p. 1.

Bibliography

  • Gloger, Zygmunt (1900). Geografia historyczna ziem dawnej Polski (in Polish). Kraków.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

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