Sandomierskie Voivodship in the Former Poland — Political and Administrative Status
Sandomierskie Voivodship in the Former Poland — Political and Administrative Status

Summary/Abstract: The Sandomierz Voivodship existed on the administrative map of Poland from the 14th century until the fall of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth at the end of the 18th century. Its genesis is connected with the times of the early Piast monarchy and the importance of the city of Sandomierz as one of the main seats of the Kingdom of Poland (sedes Regni principales) already defined in the oldest Polish Chronicles by Gallus Anonymus. Sandomierz’s relations with Krakow during the division of the state into districts (1138–1310) and support granted to the Piasts in the struggle for the unification of the state raised the province of Sandomierz to the rank of the voivodship, with all the constituent elements of the voivodship as an administrative unit of the nobility’s self-government. This study draws attention to the role of historical factors in obtaining a high position in the hierarchy of pre-partition Poland by the Sandomierz Voivodship. In particular, the role of this voivodship is visible in the light of formal and legal sources, documents and royal seals as well as the place of the Sandomierz’s dignitaries in the former state ceremonial. The dusk of the significance of the Sandomierz Voivodship was triggered by the reign of rulers of the Jagiellon dynasty in Poland. The shift of the state borders to the east after the unification of Poland and Lithuania weakened the former meaning of Sandomierz as the main gate leading from Poland to the east. After Poland regained its independence in 1918, the concept of the continuation of the voivodship with the capital in Sandomierz was developed. These plans were interrupted by the outbreak of World War II and the Polish state did not resume them.

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