Duchy of Samogitia

The duchy within the Kingdom of Poland-Lithuania

coat of arms

The Duchy of Samogitia , also Starostei Samogitia (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 of Samogitia ( Schemaitic (regional idiom there): Žemaitėjė , High Lithuanian: Žemaitija , German also Schemaitia or, more recently, Lower Lithuania ).

The Starostei established itself in the 15th century. The Grand Duke of Lithuania held the title of duke, but the actual administrator of the province was the Starost (lit. Seniūnas ), later called General-Starost, in order to distinguish him from the other lower-ranking Starosts .

The duchy was in the western part of today's Lithuania , through this area historical Lithuania had access to the Baltic Sea . In the north it bordered the Duchy of Courland and Zemgale and in the south on the Duchy of Prussia . Its area is estimated at 25,700 km². The capital was Varniai (Polish Wornie ). It existed until the Third Partition of Poland , since then there has been no political unit that corresponds to the landscape.

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

history

Since the formation of a Lithuanian statehood in the 13th century, Samogitia has been an associated territory, albeit mostly in a very loose way. An independent foreign policy was also pursued under the Lithuanian King Mindaugas . In the period that followed, the area was the main scene of battles with the Brothers of the Sword and the Teutonic Order , from which it was ruled from 1404-1411. After the Battle of Tannenberg it became the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

In 1441 the autonomy of the duchy was recognized by the Grand Duke Casimir and he granted the privilege of free choice of the starost. Through the Lublin Union in 1569, it became part of the Lithuanian half of Poland-Lithuania .

After the incorporation into the Russian Empire , most of the area became part of the Vilna Governorate and from 1843 formed the main part of the Kovno Governorate .

Staroste

The general starosten of the Duchy of Samogitia (corresponds to the office of voivod in other provinces) were:

Historical banner

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

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Grzegorz Błaszczyk: Żmudź w XVII i XVIII wieku: zaludnienie i Struktura społeczna. Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu, 1985, ISSN  0554-8217 , p. 19.