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The Vilnius Voivodeship ( , ) was one of voivodeships in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
Grand Duchy of Lithuania

The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was an Eastern and Central European state from the 12th /13th century until the 18th century. It was founded by Lithuanians, at the time one of the Lithuanian mythology Baltic tribes, whose initial lands covered Auk?taitija, the eastern part of present day Lithuania....
, created in 1413, from the Duchy of Lithuania
Duchy of Lithuania

Duchy of Lithuania was a state-territorial formation of ethnic Lithuanians, that existed from the 12th century until 1413. Most of the time it was a constituent part and a nucleus of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania....
 and neighbouring lands.

raphically the area was centered around the city of Vilnius
Vilnius

Vilnius is the largest city and the Capital of Lithuania, with a population of 555,613 as of 2008. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality....
, which has always been the capital of the entity and the seat of a voivode. However, the actual territory of the voivodeship varied over time. Together with the Trakai Voivodeship
Trakai Voivodeship

Trakai Voivodeship, Trakai Palatinate, or Troki Voivodeship , was a unit of administrative division and local government in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from 1413 until 1795....
 it was known as Lithuania propria.






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The Vilnius Voivodeship ( , ) was one of voivodeships in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
Grand Duchy of Lithuania

The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was an Eastern and Central European state from the 12th /13th century until the 18th century. It was founded by Lithuanians, at the time one of the Lithuanian mythology Baltic tribes, whose initial lands covered Auk?taitija, the eastern part of present day Lithuania....
, created in 1413, from the Duchy of Lithuania
Duchy of Lithuania

Duchy of Lithuania was a state-territorial formation of ethnic Lithuanians, that existed from the 12th century until 1413. Most of the time it was a constituent part and a nucleus of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania....
 and neighbouring lands.

Geography and administrative division

Geographically the area was centered around the city of Vilnius
Vilnius

Vilnius is the largest city and the Capital of Lithuania, with a population of 555,613 as of 2008. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality....
, which has always been the capital of the entity and the seat of a voivode. However, the actual territory of the voivodeship varied over time. Together with the Trakai Voivodeship
Trakai Voivodeship

Trakai Voivodeship, Trakai Palatinate, or Troki Voivodeship , was a unit of administrative division and local government in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from 1413 until 1795....
 it was known as Lithuania propria. Until the partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
Partitions of Poland

The Partitions of Poland or Partitions of the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth took place in the second half of the 18th century and ended the existence of the Polish?Lithuanian Commonwealth....
 the voivodeship was composed of five smaller units of administrative division named powiat
Powiat

A powiat is the second-level unit of local government and administration in Poland, equivalent to a county, district or prefecture in other countries....
 (in Lithuanian: plural - pavietai, singular - pavietas), similar to British counties
County

A county is a land area of Local government government within a larger state. A county may have city and towns within its area....
:
  • Powiat of Vilnius-Trakai
    Trakai

    Trakai is a historic city and lake resort in Lithuania. It lies 28 km west of Vilnius, capital of Lithuania. Because of its proximity to Vilnius, Trakai is a popular tourist destination....
  • Powiat of Ašmiany
    Ašmiany

    Ashmyany is a town in Hrodna voblast, Belarus , capital of the A?miany raion. It lies in the basin of the Oshmianka River , on hilly, fertile lands....
  • Powiat of Lida
    Lida

    Lida is a city in western Belarus in Hrodna Voblast, situated 160 km west of Minsk. It is the fourteenth largest city in Belarus....
  • Powiat of Vilkmerge
    Ukmerge

    Ukmerge is a city in Vilnius County, Lithuania, located 78 km northwest of Vilnius, with a population of about 28,000 ....
  • Powiat of Braslau
    Braslau

    Braslaw is a town in the Vitebsk Province of Belarus, an administrative center of the Braslaw district....


History


In 1413 the Union of Horodlo
Union of Horodlo

The Pact of Horodlo or Union of Horodlo was a set of acts introduced in the town of Horodlo in 1413. It amended the earlier Polish-Lithuanian Unions of Union of Krewo and Union of Vilnius and Radom was another step to recognise Lithuanian nobility as equal in the union between two sovereign states, ruled separately by elected monarch....
 introduced the title of voivode to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
Grand Duchy of Lithuania

The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was an Eastern and Central European state from the 12th /13th century until the 18th century. It was founded by Lithuanians, at the time one of the Lithuanian mythology Baltic tribes, whose initial lands covered Auk?taitija, the eastern part of present day Lithuania....
. Before the reform, the area, centered around Vilnius, was known as the Duchy of Lithuania
Duchy of Lithuania

Duchy of Lithuania was a state-territorial formation of ethnic Lithuanians, that existed from the 12th century until 1413. Most of the time it was a constituent part and a nucleus of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania....
 or sometimes as the Duchy of Vilnius. Vilnius Voivodeship became the capital voivodeship of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

After the Union of Lublin
Union of Lublin

The Union of Lublin replaced the personal union of the Crown of the Polish Kingdom and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania with a real union and an elective monarchy, since Sigismund II Augustus, the last of the Jagiellons, remained childless after three marriages....
 in 1569 which formed the Commonwealth, Grand Duchy retained much of its autonomy, and Vilnius Voivodeship remained its capital voivodeship, just as Vilnius remained its capital city, although the capital of the Commonwealth was first in Kraków
Kraków

Krak?w , in English also spelled Krakow or Cracow , is one of the largest and oldest cities in Poland, with a population of 756,336 in 2007 ....
 (Kraków Voivodeship
Kraków Voivodeship

Krak?w Voivodeship, refers to several historical Voivodeships of Poland in the surrounding regions, with the city of Krak?w as its capital....
) and later in Warsaw
Warsaw

Warsaw is the Capital and World's largest cities of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River roughly from both the Baltic Sea coast and the Carpathian Mountains....
 (Masovian Voivodeship
Masovian Voivodeship

Masovian Voivodeship is the largest and most populous of the sixteen Poland provinces, or Voivodeships of Polands, created in 1999. It occupies of...
).

After the partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the territory of Vilnius Voivodeship was incorporated into the Russian Empire
Russian Empire

File:Russian Emperor Flag.jpgFile:Romanov Flag.svgThe Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917....
, most of the territory becoming a part of Vilna Governorate
Vilna Governorate

The Viln? Governorate or Government of Vilna was a governorate of the Russian Empire created after the Partitions of Poland #Third Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795....
. After World War I former Vilnius Voivodeship was divided between Lithuania
Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the southernmost of the three Baltic states. Situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, it shares borders with Latvia to the north, Belarus to the southeast, Poland, and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad Oblast to the southwest....
 and Poland
Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian Enclave and exclave, to the north....
. After World War II, Soviet Union transferred Polish portion of the former voivodeship to Belarus SSR.

Voivodes

  • Albertas Vaitiekus Manvydas (since 1413)
  • Jonas Goštautas
    Jonas Goštautas

    Jonas Gostautas or Go?tautas was the nobleman from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and a progenitor of the Go?tautai noble family. Served as Chancellor of Lithuania between 1443 and 1458 and was de facto ruler of Lithuania for around twenty years....
     (since 1443)
  • Mikalojus Radvila
    Mikalojus Radvila the Old

    Mikalojus Radvila nicknamed the Old was a Grand Duchy of Lithuanian noble. He was known after a patronym Radvilaitis, made of his father's name Radvila, which in turn became a family name of his heirs, Radvilos....
     (since 1480)
  • Mikolaj Radziwill (since 1507)
  • Albertas Goštautas (since 1522)
  • Jan Hlebowicz (since 1542)
  • Mikolaj "the Black" Radziwill (since 1551)
  • Krzysztof Mikolaj "Piorun" Radziwill (since 1584)
  • Mikolaj Krzysztof "Sierotka" Radziwill (since 1604)
  • Lew Sapieha
    Lew Sapieha

    Lew Sapieha . He became Great Secretary of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1580, Great Clerk of the Grand Duchy in 1581, Court Chancellor of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1585, Grand Chancellor of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from 1589 until 1623, Voivode of Vilnius in 1621, Great Lithuanian Hetman in 1623 and starost of Slonim, Brest, Bel...
     (since 1621 or 1623)
  • Krzysztof Radziwill
    Krzysztof Radziwill

    Prince Krzysztof Radziwill was a Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Nobility , and a notable magnate of his epoch. Sometimes referred to as Krzysztof Radziwill II, to distinguish him from his father, Krzysztof Mikolaj Piorun Radziwill....
     (since 1633)
  • Janusz Skumin Tyszkiewicz
    Janusz Skumin Tyszkiewicz

    Janusz Skumin Tyszkiewicz was a great Lithuanian writer . He held numerous political offices, including voivode of Mscislaw , voivode of Trakai and voivode of Vilnius , as well as starost Braslawski, Jurbarkas, and Nowodworski in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth....
     (1640–1642)
  • Krzysztof Chodkiewicz
    Krzysztof Chodkiewicz

    Krzysztof Chodkiewicz was a Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth nobleman .Krzysztof was Great Chorazy of Lithuania after 1610, Koniuszy after March 14, 1623, castellan of Trakai after July 23, 1633, castellan of Vilnius after August 15, 1636, voivode of Vilnius Voivodship after July 1642 and starost of Bobrujsk, Kreva and leaseholder of Biala...
     (since 1642)
  • Janusz Radziwill
    Janusz Radziwill (1612-1655)

    Prince Janusz Radziwill was a powerful Polish?Lithuanian Commonwealth noble and magnate. He was podkomorzy since 1633, Field Lithuanian Hetman and Samogitian starost since 1646, voivode of the Vilnius Voivodeship since 1653, Great Hetman of Lithuania since 1654, starost kamienicki, kazimierski and sejwejski....
     (since 1653)
  • Jan Pawel Sapieha
    Jan Pawel Sapieha

    Jan Pawel Sapieha was a Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth nobleman .Jan became a Hussar Rotmistrz in 1633, courtier in 1635, Obozny in 1638, Podstoli in 1645, voivode of the Witebsk Voivodeship in 1646, voivode of the Vilnius Voivodeship and Hetman in 1656....
     (since 1656)
  • Michal Kazimierz Radziwill
    Michal Kazimierz Radziwill

    Prince Michal Kazimierz Radziwill was a Poland-Lithuanian szlachcic and magnate. He is sometimes referred to as the first Michal Kazimierz Radziwill, to distinguish him from the Michal Kazimierz Rybenko Radziwill to use the name....
     (since 1667)
  • Michal Kazimierz Pac
    Michal Kazimierz Pac

    Michal Kazimierz Pac was a magnate of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and a member of the Pac . He had been the Hetmans of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth since 1667 and the Vilnius Voivodship since 1669 and was also Field Hetman of Lithuania from 1663 until 1667....
     (since 1669)
  • Jan Kazimierz Sapieha the Younger
    Jan Kazimierz Sapieha the Younger

    Jan Kazimierz Sapieha the Younger was a Offices in Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth since 1682. He held the title of a Duke since 1700. In 1681 he became Field Hetman of Lithuania, the following year he also became the Vilnius Voivodeship....
     (since 1682)
  • Jan Kazimierz Sapieha the Elder
    Jan Kazimierz Sapieha the Elder

    Jan Kazimierz Sapieha the Elder was a Offices in Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth since 1708 to 1709.Son of Franciszek Stefan Sapieha, father of Piotr Pawel Sapieha and Pawel Sapieha....
     (since 1705)
  • Michal Serwacy Wisniowiecki
    Michal Serwacy Wisniowiecki

    Prince Michal Serwacy Wisniowiecki was a Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth szlachcic of Gediminid origin.Lithuanian Field Hetman in 1702-1703 and 1707–1735, Castellan of Vilnius from 1703, Great Hetman of Lithuania in 1703-1707 and again in 1735....
     (1706–1707 and 1735–1744)
  • Michal Kazimierz "Rybenko" Radziwill (since 1744)
  • Michal Hieronim Radziwill
    Michal Hieronim Radziwill

    Prince Michal Hieronim Radziwill was a Lithuanian Nobility, Knight of the Order of the White Eagle, awarded on September 7, 1773.Ordynat of Kleck, Olyka and Niasvizh, Great Sword-bearer of Lithuania since 1771, castellan of Vilnius since 1775, voivode of Vilnius Voivodship since 1790, Starost grabowski, komorowski, kraszewicki, and mikszta...
     (since 1755)
  • Karol Stanislaw "Panie Kochanku" Radziwill (1762–1764 and 1768–1790)


See also