Trakai Voivodeship

Infobox Former Subdivision
native_name = Trakų vaivadija
Województwo Trockie
conventional_long_name = Trakai Voivodeship
common_name = Trakai
subdivision = Voivodeship
nation = the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth (from 1569)
year_start = 1413
event_start = Established by Union of Horodło
event_end = Third Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
year_end = 1795
event1 = Union of Lublin
year_event1 = 1569
p1 = Duchy of Trakai
image_p1 =
p2 = Yotvingia
image_p2 =
s1 = Vilna_Governorate
flag_s1 = Romanov_Flag.svg
s2 = Slonim Governorate
flag_s2 = Romanov_Flag.svg
s3 = Kovno Governorate
flag_s3 = Romanov_Flag.svg

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image_map_caption = Trakai Voivodeship (in red) in the 17th century
capital = Trakai
political_subdiv = Powiat
today= Lithuania, Poland, Belarus
government_type = Monarchy
legislature = Sejmik
title_leader = Voivode
title_deputy = Castellan
stat_year1=1570
stat_area1=31100
stat_year2=1790
stat_area2=23885
stat_pop2=288000
footnotes=Population and area are given according to lt icon cite book | last=Vaitiekūnas | first=Stasys | title=Lietuvos gyventojai: Per du tūkstantmečius | year=2006 | publisher=Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos institutas | location=Vilnius | isbn=5-420-01585-4 | pages=53, 71

Trakai Voivodeship,lt icon cite web| first=Rimvydas |last=Laužikas | publisher=Lithuanian Institute of History |work=Aruodai| date=2004-10-15 | url=http://www.aruodai.lt/paieska/terminas.php?TeId=1756 |title=Trakų vaivadija |accessdate= 2008-06-07] Trakai Palatinate, or Troki Voivodeship [cite book| first=Anatol |last=Leszczyński |title=Żydzi ziemi bielskiej od połowy XVII w. do 1795 r.: studium osadnicze| publisher=Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich |year=1980 |isbn=8304003899 | pages=248 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=MetJAAAAIAAJ&pgis=1 ] ( _lt. Trakų vaivadija, _pl. Województwo Trockie), was a unit of administrative division and local government in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from 1413 until 1795.

History

Trakai Voivodeship together with Vilnius Voivodeship was established by the Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas the Great in 1413 according to the Union of Horodło. Vytautas copied Polish system of administrative division in order to centralize and strengthen the government. Trakai Voivodeship replaced the former Duchy of Trakai, which was ruled directly by the Grand Duke or his close relative (brother or son). The Duke of Trakai ( _la. dux Trocensis) was replaced by appointed officials – voivodes and his deputy castellan.

The voivodeship was divided into four powiats: Hrodna, Kaunas, Trakai (ruled directly by the voivode), and Upytė. The biggest cities in the voivodeship were Kaunas, Hrodna and Trakai. After the Union of Lublin the voivodeship, together with whole Grand Duchy of Lithuania, became part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth until the partitions of the Commonwealth in 1795. Most of the territory became part of Russian Empire while territories west of the Neman River – part of the Province of East Prussia.

Voivodes

The Voivode of Trakai ( _lt. Trakų vaivada) was one of the most important state offices in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. They were appointed from prominent magnate families and competed only with voivode of Vilnius and Grand Chancellors for power and prestige. [cite encyclopedia | editor=Simas Sužiedėlis | encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Lituanica | title=Trakai | year=1970–1978 | publisher=Juozas Kapočius | volume=V | location=Boston, Massachusetts | id=LCC | 74-114275 | pages=491] Voivodes were the "ex officio" member of the Lithuanian Council of Lords. Voivodes had their residence in Trakai city, near Galvė Lake, north of the Trakai Peninsula Castle.

List of voivodes

* Jonas Goštautas (1440)
* Radvila Astikas (1466–1477)
* Martynas Goštautas (1480–1483)
* Albrecht Goštautas (1519–1522)
* Stanislovas Goštautas (1542)
* Mikołaj Krzysztof "the Orphan" Radziwiłł (1590–1604)
* Janusz Skumin Tyszkiewicz (1626–1640)
* Piotr Pac (X 1640–VII 1642)
* Mikołaj Abramowicz (1647–1651?)
* Marcjan Ogiński (since 1670)
*Tadeusz Franciszek Ogiński (1770–1783)
*Józef Mikołaj Radziwiłł (since 1788)

Notes