The Chełmno Voivodeship (Polish: Województwo chełmińskie) was a unit of administrative division and local government in the Kingdom of Poland since 1454/1466 until the Partitions of Poland in 1772/1793. Its capital was at Chełmno.

Chełmno Voivodeship
Województwo chełmińskie
Palatinatus Culmensis
Voivodeship of Poland¹
Part of Royal Prussia and Greater Poland provinces
1454–1793
Coat of arms of Chełmno
Coat of arms

Chełmno Voivodeship of the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (in 1619)
CapitalChełmno
Area 
• 
4,654 km2 (1,797 sq mi)
History 
• Established
1454
1466
1569
1772
1793
Political subdivisionsTwo lands divided into 7 counties
Preceded by
Succeeded by
State of the Teutonic Order State of the Teutonic Order
West Prussia West Prussia
Today part ofPoland
¹ Voivodeship of the Polish Crown in the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth; Voivodeship of the Kingdom of Poland before 1569.

Together with the Pomeranian and Malbork Voivodeships and the Prince-Bishopric of Warmia it formed the province of Royal Prussia, and with several other voivodeships it formed the Greater Poland Province.

History

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Province of Royal Prussia in 1525
  Chełmno Voivodeship (Culmer Land)

The Chełmno Land (later known in German as Kulmerland) had been part of the Polish Duchy of Masovia since 1138. It was occupied by pagan Old Prussian tribes in 1216, who struggled against their Christianization instigated by Bishop Christian of Oliva. After several unsuccessful attempts to reconquer Chełmno, Duke Konrad I of Masovia in 1226 called for support by the Teutonic Knights, who indeed approached and started a Prussian campaign, after the duke promised to grant the Chełmno Land as a fief to the Teutonic Order.

In the course of the Order's decline after the 1410 Battle of Grunwald, the citizens of Chełmno, Toruń (Thorn), Lubawa (Löbau), Brodnica, Grudziądz, Nowe Miasto and Radzyń co-formed the anti-Teutonic Prussian Confederation. In 1454, the organisation led an uprising against the rule of the Teutonic Knights, and asked King Casimir IV of Poland to reincorporate the region to the Kingdom of Poland, to which the King agreed and signed the act of reincorporation,[1] which sparked the Thirteen Years' War between the Knights and the Kingdom of Poland. The towns and nobles of the region then took an oath of allegiance to Poland in Toruń in May 1454.[2] The Chełmno Voivodeship was established the same year. After the Order's defeat, the reintegration of Chełmno Land with Poland was confirmed in the Second Peace of Thorn and together with the adjacent Lubawa Land in the east it formed the Chełmno Voivodeship of the Polish Crown, since the 1569 Union of Lublin part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.

The voivodeship was annexed by Prussia during the First Partition of Poland in 1772, except for the city of Toruń, which was not incorporated into the province of West Prussia until the 1793 Second Partition.

Administration

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Grudziądz, seat of the General Sejmik, in the 17th century

Voivodeship Governor (Wojewoda) seat:

Regional council (sejmik generalny)

Regional councils (sejmik poselski i deputacki)

Administrative division:

Cities and towns

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Toruń, the largest city in the voivodeship, in the 17th century
 
Royal town of Golub in the 18th century

The largest city of the voivodeship was the royal city of Toruń,[3] which as one of the largest and most influential cities of entire Poland enjoyed voting rights during the Royal free elections.[4] Other royal cities and towns were Brodnica, Golub, Grudziądz, Kowalewo, Lidzbark, Łasin, Nowe Miasto, Radzyń, Rogoźno, whereas private church towns were Chełmno, Chełmża, Kurzętnik, Lubawa and Wąbrzeźno.[3]

Voivodes

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Franciszek Bieliński, voivode in 1725–1732
  1. Augustyn z Szewy, 1454–1455
  2. Gabriel Bażyński, 1455–1474
  3. Ludwik Mortęski, 1475–1480
  4. Mikołaj Dąbrowski, 1480–1483
  5. Karol z Napola, 1484–1495
  6. Jan Dąbrowski, 1498–1513
  7. Jan Luzjański, 1514–1551
  8. Stanisław Kostka, 1551–1555
  9. Jan Działyński, 1556–1583
  10. Mikołaj Działyński, 1584–1604
  11. Maciej Konopacki, 1605–1611
  12. Ludwik Mortęski, 1611–1615
  13. Stanisław Działyński, 1615-1615
  14. Jan Jakub Wejher, 1618–1626
  15. Melchior Wejher, 1626–1643
  16. Mikołaj Wejher, 1643–1647
  17. Jan Działyński, 1647–1648
  18. Jan Kos, 1648–1662
  19. Piotr Działyński, 1663–1668
  20. Jan Gniński, 1668–1680
  21. Michał Działyński, 1681–1687
  22. Jan Kos (died 1702),1688–1702
  23. Tomasz Działyński, 1702–1714
  24. Jakub Zygmunt Rybiński, 1714–1725
  25. Franciszek Bieliński, 1725–1732
  26. Jan Ansgary Czapski 1732–1738
  27. Michał Wiktor Bieliński, 1738–1746
  28. Zygmunt Kretkowski, 1746–1766
  29. Franciszek Stanisław Hutten-Czapski, 1766–1802

References

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  1. ^ Górski, Karol (1949). Związek Pruski i poddanie się Prus Polsce: zbiór tekstów źródłowych (in Polish). Poznań: Instytut Zachodni. p. 54.
  2. ^ Górski, p. 76
  3. ^ a b Prusy Królewskie w drugiej połowie XVI wieku. Część I. Mapy, plany (in Polish). Warszawa: Instytut Historii Polskiej Akademii Nauk. 2021. p. 1.
  4. ^ Polska encyklopedja szlachecka, Tom I (in Polish). Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Instytutu Kultury Historycznej. 1935. p. 42.

53°20′58″N 18°25′27″E / 53.349558°N 18.424220°E / 53.349558; 18.424220