Ruthenian Voivodeship województwo ruskie Palatinatus Russiae |
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Voivodeship of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland¹ | |||||
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Coat of arms |
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The Ruthenian Voivodeship of 1635 within the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth |
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Capital | Lwów | ||||
History | |||||
• | Established | 1434 | |||
• | Disestablished | 1772 | |||
Area | |||||
• | 1770 | 55,200 km2(21,313 sq mi) | |||
Population | |||||
• | 1770 | 1,495,000 | |||
Density | 27.1 /km2 (70.1 /sq mi) | ||||
Political subdivisions | Five lands divided into 13 counties | ||||
¹ Voivodeship of the Kingdom of Poland. The kingdom was part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1569. |
Coat of arms
The Ruthenian Voivodeship (Latin: Palatinatus russiae, Polish: województwo ruskie, Ukrainian: Руське воєводство) was a voivodeship of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland from 1434 until the 1772 First Partition of Poland. with a center in the city of Lviv (Polish: Lwów). Together with a number of other voivodeships of southern and eastern part of the Kingdom of Poland, it formed Lesser Poland Province of the Polish Crown, with its capital city in Kraków. Following the Partitions of Poland, most of Ruthenian Voivodeship, except for its northeastern corner, was annexed by the Habsburg Empire, as part of the province of Galicia. Today, the former Ruthenian Voivodeship is divided between Poland and Ukraine.
Following the Galicia–Volhynia Wars, the Kingdom of Russia (Ruthenia) was divided between Poland and Lithuania. In 1349 the Polish portion was transformed into the Ruthenian domain of the Crown, while the Duchy of Volhynia was held by Prince Lubart. With the death of Casimir III the Great, the Kingdom of Poland was passed on to the Kingdom of Hungary and the Ruthenian domain was governed by Ruthenian starosta general, one of whom was Wladyslaw of Opole.