Czernihów Voivodeship Województwo Czernihowskie |
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Voivodeship of Poland¹ | |||||
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Coat of arms |
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Chernihiv Voivodeship in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1635. | |||||
Capital | Chernihiv | ||||
History | |||||
• | Established | 1635 | |||
• | Disestablished | 1654 | |||
Political subdivisions | counties: 2 |
Coat of arms
Czernihów (Chernigov, Chernihiv) Voivodeship (Polish: Województwo Czernihowskie) was a unit of administrative division and local government in the Kingdom of Poland (part of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth) from 1635 until Khmelnytsky Uprising in 1648 (technically it existed up until 1654). Also it was used as a fictitious title in the Commonwealth until the Partitions of Poland in 1772/1795. In 1635, Marcin Kalinowski was the first voivode (governor) of the Chernihiv Voivodeship.
The voivodeship was part of the Lesser Poland Province of the Polish Crown, and was divided into two counties: Czernihow and Nowogrod Siewierski. Local sejmiks took place at Czernihow, and it had two senators in the Polish–Lithuanian Senate. Together with Kijow Voivodeship and Bracław Voivodeship it made the territory that came to be known as Ukraine.
The history of Czernihow Voivodeship dates back to 1618, when after the Truce of Deulino, the Commonwealth gained control of the towns of Smolensk, Czernihow and Nowogrod Siewierski. Since the truce was set to expire in 14.5 years, new acquisitions were not organized in official way. Smolensk was annexed by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, while both Czernihow and Nowogrod became part of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland. In 1633, during the Smolensk War, Polish Parliament (Sejm) introduced a bill in which both land court and starosta office were established at Czernihow. In 1634 the Treaty of Polyanovka confirmed that Czernihow remained part of Poland, so finally in 1635 the Sejm created the voivodeship, with two senators - the Voivode and the Castellan of Czernihow. Both county elected two deputies to the Sejm, and one deputy to the Lesser Poland Tribunal at Lublin. In 1637, construction of a fortress at Konotop began, whose purpose was to protect the newly acquired province. The fortress was completed in 1642.