Rawa Voivodeship () was a unit of administrative division and local government in the

Kingdom of Poland The Kingdom of Poland (; Latin: ''Regnum Poloniae'') was a monarchy in Central Europe during the Middle Ages, medieval period from 1025 until 1385. Background The West Slavs, West Slavic tribe of Polans (western), Polans who lived in what i ...

since 15th century until the

partitions of Poland The Partitions of Poland were three partition (politics), partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that took place between 1772 and 1795, toward the end of the 18th century. They ended the existence of the state, resulting in the eli ...

in 1795. It was part of the Greater Poland Province. Together with the Plock and

Masovian Voivodeship Masovian Voivodeship or Mazowieckie Province (, ) and any variation thereof, is a Voivodeships of Poland, voivodeship (province) in east-central Poland, containing Poland's capital Warsaw. Masovian Voivodeship has an area of and had a 2019 po ...

s it formed the former

Duchy of Masovia The Duchy of Masovia was a District duchy, district principality and a fiefdom of the Kingdom of Poland (1025–1385), Kingdom of Poland, existing during the Middle Ages. The state was centered in Mazovia in the northeastern Kingdom of Poland, a ...

. The voivodeship had its capital in the town of

Rawa Mazowiecka Rawa Mazowiecka is a town in central Poland, with 16,090 inhabitants (2022). It lies in the Łódź Voivodeship and is the capital of the Rawa County. From 1562 the city hosted the ''Rawa Treasury'' for the Military of the Polish–Lithuanian Com ...

, and its origins date back to the second half of the 15th century. In 1462, after the deaths of local

Piast dynasty The House of Piast was the first historical ruling dynasty of Poland. The first documented List of Polish monarchs, Polish monarch was Duke Mieszko I of Poland, Mieszko I (–992). The Poland during the Piast dynasty, Piasts' royal rule in Pol ...

dukes, Mazovian lands of Rawa and Gostynin were incorporated into the

Crown of the Kingdom of Poland The Crown of the Kingdom of Poland (; ) was a political and legal concept formed in the 14th century in the Kingdom of Poland, assuming unity, indivisibility and continuity of the state. Under this idea, the state was no longer seen as the Pat ...

. In 1476, the Land of

Sochaczew Sochaczew () is a town in central Poland, with 33,456 inhabitants (as of 2023). In the Masovian Voivodeship (since 1999), formerly in Skierniewice Voivodeship (1975–1998). It is the capital of Sochaczew County and is located approximately west ...

returned to Poland as well. Borders of Rawa Voivodeship remained unchanged for more than 300 years, until the

second partition of Poland The 1793 Second Partition of Poland was the second of partitions of Poland, three partitions (or partial annexations) that ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth by 1795. The second partition (politics), partition occurred i ...

in 1793, when it was annexed by the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...

. Rawa Voivodeship had four senators in the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

of the

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...

. These were the

Voivode Voivode ( ), also spelled voivod, voievod or voevod and also known as vaivode ( ), voivoda, vojvoda, vaivada or wojewoda, is a title denoting a military leader or warlord in Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe in use since the Early Mid ...

of Rawa, the

Castellan A castellan, or constable, was the governor of a castle in medieval Europe. Its surrounding territory was referred to as the castellany. The word stems from . A castellan was almost always male, but could occasionally be female, as when, in 1 ...

of Rawa, and the castellans of Sochaczew and Gostynin. Local

starosta Starosta or starost (Cyrillic: ''старост/а'', Latin: ''capitaneus'', ) is a community elder in some Slavic lands. The Slavic root of "starost" translates as "senior". Since the Middle Ages, it has designated an official in a leadersh ...

s resided in Rawa, Sochaczew and Gostynin.

Zygmunt Gloger Zygmunt Gloger (3November 184516August 1910) was a Polish historian, archaeologist, geographer and ethnographer, bearer of the Wilczekosy coat of arms. Gloger founded the precursor of modern and widely popular Polish Tourist and Sightseeing Socie ...

in his monumental book Historical Geography of the Lands of Old Poland provides this description of Rawa Voivodeship: “In the 15th century, the

Duchy of Mazovia The Duchy of Masovia was a District duchy, district principality and a fiefdom of the Kingdom of Poland (1025–1385), Kingdom of Poland, existing during the Middle Ages. The state was centered in Mazovia in the northeastern Kingdom of Poland, a ...

, ruled by local branch of the

, was divided into three parts, one of which was the Duchy of Rawa (...) On January 1, 1462, Siemowit VI died at the age of eighteen. A few weeks later, his teenage brother Wladyslaw II also died. Siemowit VI was the Duke of Plock and Rawa, and after his death, King Kazimierz Jagiellonczyk decided to incorporate the Duchy of Rawa, making it the first part of Mazovia that returned to Poland (...) Rawa Voivodeship had the area of 92 sq. miles. It was divided into three lands: those of Rawa, Sochaczew and Gostynin. Each land was divided into two counties. The lands were of roughly the same size, and in the mid-16th century, whole voivodeship had 100 Roman Catholic parishes and 15 towns (...)

Sejmik A sejmik (, diminutive of ''sejm'', occasionally translated as a ''dietine''; ) was one of various local parliaments in the history of Poland and history of Lithuania. The first sejmiks were regional assemblies in the Kingdom of Poland (before ...

s took place at Rawa, Sochaczew and

Gąbin Gąbin is a small town in Płock County, Masovian Voivodeship, Poland, with 4,065 inhabitants as of December 2021. The Warsaw radio mast, which stood near Gąbin, was the tallest structure in the world until its collapse in 1991. It remained the ...

, during which two deputies to the

Sejm The Sejm (), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (), is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of the Third Polish Republic since the Polish People' ...

, and two deputies to the Greater Poland Tribunal were elected (...) Rawa Voivodeship shared its coat of arms with Plock Voivodeship”.

Municipal government

Voivodeship Governor ( Wojewoda) seat: *

Administrative division

* Rawa Land (ziemia rawska, Rawa), ** Rawa County ** Biała Rawska County, * Gostynin Land (ziemia gostynińska, Gostynin), ** Gostynin County **

County, * Sochaczew Land (ziema sochaczewska,

), ** Sochaczew County ** Mszczonów County.

Cities and towns

Source:

Biała County

* Biała * Mogielnica * Nowe Miasto

Gąbin County

* Iłów * Kiernozia * Osmolin * Pacyna

Gostynin County

* Gostynin *

Kutno Kutno is a city in central Poland with 42,704 inhabitants (2021) and an area of . It is the capital of Kutno County in the Łódź Voivodeship. Founded in the medieval period, Kutno was a local center of crafts and trade, owing its growth to i ...

* Trębki

Mszczonów County

* Grodzisk * Mszczonów

Rawa County

* Budziszewice * Głowno * Jeżów * Rawa *

Skierniewice Skierniewice () is a city in central Poland with 45,184 inhabitants (2023), situated in the Łódź Voivodeship. It is the capital of Skierniewice County. Through the town runs the small river Łupia, also called Skierniewka. Located in the hist ...

Sochaczew County

* Bolimów *

Kampinos Kampinos is a village in Warsaw West County, Masovian Voivodeship, in east-central Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Kampinos. It lies approximately east of Sochaczew and west of Warsaw. The village lies ...

Łowicz Łowicz is a town in central Poland with 27,436 inhabitants (2021). It is situated in the Łódź Voivodeship. Together with a nearby station of Bednary, Łowicz is a major rail junction of central Poland, where the line from Warsaw splits into ...

* Wiskitki

Voivodes

* Mikołaj z Kutna 1465-1467 * Jan Grot z Nowego Miasta 1468-1489 * Andrzej Szczubioł 1489-1493 *

Jakub Buczacki Jakub is a masculine given name. It is the Polish, Belarusian, Czech, and Slovak form of the name Jacob.Jakub at b ...

1493-1496 * Andrzej Kucieński 1496-1504 * Piotr Prędota z Trzciany 1504-1518 * Jakub Gostomski 1518-1519 * Andrzej Kucieński 1519-1529 * Stanisław Kucieński 1529-1542 * Andrzej Sierpski 1542-? * Anzelm Gostomski 1572-1588 * Stanisław Gostomski 1588-? * Wojciech Wilkanowski ? * Piotr Myszkowski 1597-1601 * Zygmunt Grudziński 1601-1618 * Stanisław Radziejowski 1618-1627 * Filip Wołucki 1627-1642 * Krzysztof Marcin Sułowski 1642-1644 * Andrzej Grudziński 1644-1650 * Łukasz Opaliński 1653-1654 * Aleksander Koryciński 1659-? * Jan Wojciech Lipski 1676 * Hieronim Olszowski 1676 *

Aleksander Załuski Alexander () is a male given name, name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in anc ...

1676-1692 * Aleksander Józef Załuski 1693-1720 * Andrzej Głębocki 1720-1735 * Stanisław Wincenty Jabłonowski 1735-1754 Janina Dobrzyniecka, Stanisław Wincenty Jabłonowski, w:

Polski Słownik Biograficzny ''Polski Słownik Biograficzny'' (''PSB''; Polish Biographical Dictionary) is a Polish-language biographical dictionary, comprising an alphabetically arranged compilation of authoritative biographies of some 25,000 notable Poles and of foreigner ...

, 1962-1964, t. X, s. 239. * Stanisław Świdziński 1754-1757 * Kazimierz Granowski 1757-1774 * Bazyli Walicki 1774-1789

References

Sources

Rawa Voivodeship, description by Zygmunt Gloger
{{coord, 51.765525, 20.254807, format=dms, display=title, type:landmark Voivodeships of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth 1462 establishments in Europe 15th-century establishments in Poland 1793 disestablishments in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth States and territories established in 1462 States and territories disestablished in 1793