Voivode of Polotsk

Połock Voivodeship Województwo połockie Palatinatus Polocensis
Voivodeship of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, later Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
← 1504–1793 →
Coat of arms
Połock Voivodeship in red. Voivodeship's borders did not change since the Union of Lublin.
Capital		Połock
History
•	Established	1504
•	Second partition of Poland	1793
Area		21,800 km2(8,417 sq mi)
Political subdivisions		none

Coat of arms

Połock Voivodeship (Polish: Województwo połockie, Belarusian: Полацкае ваяводства) was a unit of administrative division and local government in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (Grand Duchy of Lithuania) since the 15th century until the partitions of Poland in 1793.

The voivodeship history can be traced to the Principality of Polotsk, conquered by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania around late 14th / early 15th centuries. From 1504 the former Principality was recognized as a voivodeship.

Zygmunt Gloger in his monumental book Historical Geography of the Lands of Old Poland provides this description of the Połock Voivodeship:

“Połock, in Latin Polocia, Polocium, lies on the right bank of the Dvina, and is regarded as one of the oldest gords of Rus’. In the 13th century, the Principality of Polotsk was ruled by Kievan princes, but in app. 1225 it was seized by the Lithuanians under Duke Mindaugas (...) Duke Vytautas named the first starosta of Połock, and in app. 1500, the starosta was renamed into the Voivode of Połock, while the Duchy was turned into a voivodeship, divided into two equal halves by the Dvina (...)

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Wikipedia