Duchy of Samogitia

The Duchy of Polotsk, Polotsk also Starostei (Polish: Księstwo żmudzkie, Latin: capitaneatus or Ducatus Samogitiae, modern Lithuanian: Žemaičių seniūnija ) was an administrative unit in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and later in the Kingdom of Poland - Lithuania. It included the landscape Samogitian ( Samogitian ( thereat Regionalidiom ): Žemaitėjė, High Lithuanian: Žemaitija, German also Schemaitien or more recently Lower Lithuania).

In the 15th century, the Starostei established. The Grand Duke of Lithuania took the title of duke, the actual administrator of the province but was the Starosta ( lit. Seniūnas ), who later became General Zamoyski was called to distinguish him from the other lower ranked Star East.

The duchy lay in the western part of present-day Lithuania, about this area 's historic Lithuania had access to the Baltic Sea. To the north it bordered on the Duchy of Courland and Semgallen and on the south by the Duchy of Prussia. Its area is estimated at 25.7 thousand km ². Capital was Varniai (Polish Wornie ). It existed until the Third Partition of Poland, since there is no political unit more, which corresponds to the landscape.

The titulary of the Polish-Lithuanian rulers included also the title of Duke of Polotsk.

History

Since the formation of a Lithuanian rule in the 13th century, Polotsk was an associated territory, though usually in a very loose manner. Under the Lithuanian King Mindaugas also an independent foreign policy was operated. In the following period, the area was the main theater of war with the Livonian Order, and the Teutonic Knights, from which it was ruled from 1404 to 1411. After the battle of Tannenberg it came to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

1441 the autonomy of the Duchy of Grand Duke Casimir was recognized and he granted the privilege of free choice of Star East. With the Lublin Union, in 1569, it became part of the Lithuanian half of the Empire of Poland-Lithuania.

After the incorporation into the Russian Empire, the majority of the area part of the government of Vilna and formed from 1843 the main part of the government of Kovno.

Staroste

The General Star east of the Duchy of Polotsk (equivalent to the office of voivode in other provinces ) were:

  • Rumbaudas Valimantaitis (1386-1413)
  • Mykolas Kęsgaila (1412-1432, 1440-1441, 1443-1450)
  • Jonas Kęsgaila (1451-1485)
  • Stanislovas Kęsgaila (1486-1527)
  • Stanislovas Kęsgaila (1527-1532)
  • January Radziwill (1535-1542)
  • Maciej Janowicz Kloczko (1542-1543)
  • Jerzy Bilewicz (1543-1544)
  • Hieronim Chodkiewicz (1545-1561)
  • January Hieronim Chodkiewicz (1563-1579)
  • January Kiszka (1579-1592)
  • Jerzy Chodkiewicz (1590-1595)
  • Stanislaw Radziwill (1595-1599)
  • January Karol Chodkiewicz (1599-1616)
  • Hieronim Walowicz (1619-1636)
  • January Alfons Lacki (1643-1646)
  • Janusz Radziwill (1646-1653)
  • Jerzy Karol Hlebowicz (1653-1668)
  • Aleksander Połubiński (1668-1669)
  • Wiktoryn Mleczko Konstanty (1670-1679)
  • Kazimierz January Sapieha (1681-1682)
  • Piotr Michał Pac (1684-1696)
  • Grzegorz Antoni Ogiński (1698-1709)
  • Kazimierz January Horbowski (1710-1729)
  • Józef Tyszkiewicz (1742-1754)
  • Jan Mikolaj Chodkiewicz (1767-1781)
  • Antoni Gielgud (1783-1795)
  • Michał Gielgud (1795 )

Itemization

  • Province of the Kingdom of Poland - Lithuania
  • Lithuanian history
  • Lower Lithuania
Monarch Union of Lublin Vilna Governorate
389980
de