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- For alternative meaning of the term see: Polish Crown Jewels
Crown of the Polish Kingdom, or just colloquially the Crown (Polish:Korona) is the archaic name, used in the times of Kingdom of Poland until the end of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795, for the territories under Polish direct administration, distinguishing them from federated territories of Grand Duchy of Lithuania or vassal territories like Duchy of Prussia or Duchy of Courland, which had varying degrees of autonomy.
Before the 1569 Union of Lublin, territories of the Crown can be understood as the territories of Poland proper, inhabited by Poles and under Polish administration. However after the Union of Lublin, most of the present-day Ukraine (which had a negligible Polish population) and was until then controlled by Lithuania, passed under Polish administration, becoming the territory of the Polish Crown as well.
One of the contemporary terms for Poles was the term koroniarz (plural: koroniarze), derived from the term Korona.
Depending on context, this term can also refer to The Crown, the term used to separate the government authority and property of the government from the personal influence and private assets held by the current monarch of the Commonwealth. In the Commonwealth, that often meant to distinguish between people loyal to the elected king (royalists) and people loyal to powerful magnates.
Voivodeships of the Crown
Crown was divided into two provinces: Lesser Poland (Polish: Małopolska) and Greater Poland (Polish: Wielkopolska) which were further divided into administrative units known as voivodships.
Voivodships of Greater Poland
- Poznań Voivodship (województwo poznańskie, Poznań)
- Kalisz Voivodship (województwo kaliskie, Kalisz)
- Gniezno Voivodship (województwo gnieźnieńskie, Gniezno) from 1768
- Sieradz Voivodship (województwo sieradzkie, Sieradz)
- Łęczyca Voivodship (województwo łęczyckie, Łęczyca)
- Brześć Kujawski Voivodship (województwo brzesko-kujawskie, Brześć Kujawski)
- Inowrocław Voivodship (województwo inowrocławskie, Inowrocław)
- Chełmno Voivodship (województwo chełmińskie, Chełmno)
- Malbork Voivodship (województwo malborskie, Malbork)
- Pomeranian Voivodship (województwo pomorskie, Gdańsk)
- Duchy of Warmia (Księstwo Warmińskie, Lidzbark Warmiński)
- Duchy of Prussia (Księstwo Pruskie, Lidzbark Warmiński)
- Płock Voivodship (województwo płockie, Płock)
- Rawa Voivodship (województwo rawskie, Rawa Mazowiecka)
- Mazovian Voivodship (województwo mazowieckie, Warsaw)
Voivodships of Lesser Poland
- Kraków Voivodship (województwo krakowskie, Kraków)
- Sandomierz Voivodship (województwo sandomierskie, Sandomierz)
- Lublin Voivodship (województwo lubelskie, Lublin)
- Podlasie Voivodship (województwo podlaskie, Drohiczyn)
- Ruthenian Voivodship (województwo ruskie, Lwów)
- Bełz Voivodship (województwo bełzkie, Bełz)
- Wolhynian Voivodship (województwo wołyńskie, Łuck)
- Podole Voivodship (województwo podolskie, Kamieniec Podolski)
- Bracław Voivodship (województwo bracławskie, Bracław)
- Kijów Voivodship (województwo kijowskie, Kijów)
- Czernichów Voivodship (województwo czernichowskie, Czernichów)
See administrative division of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth for more details on the historical administrative division of Poland.
"Crown of the Polish Kingdom"