Płock Voivodeship (1495–1793)

Płock Voivodeship Palatinatus Plocensis Województwo płockie
Voivodeship of Poland¹
← 1495–1793 →
Coat of arms
The Płock Voivodeship in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1635.
Capital		Płock
History
•	Established	1495
•	Second partition	25 September 1793
Area		3,591 km2 (1,386 sq mi)
Political subdivisions		counties: 8, including three counties of Zawkrze Land
¹ Voivodeship of the Kingdom of Poland. The kingdom was part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1569.

Płock Voivodeship (Polish: Województwo Płockie) was a unit of administrative division and local government in the Kingdom of Poland from 1495 until the partitions of Poland in 1795. Together with the Rawa Voivodeship and Masovian Voivodeship it formed the former of Duchy of Masovia.

Zygmunt Gloger in his monumental book Historical Geography of the Lands of Old Poland gives a detailed description of Płock Voivodeship:

“After childless death of Janusz II, Duke of Lomza, Ciechanow, Wizna and Płock, which took place on February 16, 1495, the Duchy of Płock, except for the Land of Wyszogrod, was incorporated into the Kingdom of Poland, and turned into a voivodeship (...) In the 16th century, it had the area of 701 square miles, divided into eight small counties: those of Płock, Bielsk, Raciaz, Sierpc, Plonsk, Szrensk, Niedzborz, and Mlawa. The three last counties, located between the Wkra river and Prussian border, made the so-called Zawkrze Land (...) The voivodeship had 67 Roman-Catholic parishes, 63 towns and 1,115 villages. Most densely populated was Bielsk County (...)

Local sejmiks for the voivodeship took place at Raciaz, the town located in the middle of the province. During the reign of King Stanislaw August Poniatowski, the sejmiks were moved to Płock. The voivodeship had five senators: the Bishop of Płock, the Voivode of Płock, the Castellan of Płock, and Castellans of Raciaz and Sierpc. Land courts were located in Plock, Bielsk and Sierpc (since 1726, also in Mlawa)".

Municipal government

Voivodeship Governor (Wojewoda) seat:

• Płock

Regional council (sejmik) seats:

• Raciaz, later Płock

Administrative division

• Płock County,
• Bielsk County,
• Raciąż County,
• Sierpc County,
• Płońsk County,

Zawkrze Land, divided into the following counties

• Szreńsk County,
• Niedzbórz County,
• Mława County.

Voivodes

• Stanisław Krasiński (since 1600)
• Jan Stanisław Karnkowski (1617-1647)
• Jan Kazimierz Krasiński (since 1650)
• Jan Dobrogost Krasiński (since 1688)

Sources

• Plock Voivodeship, description by Zygmunt Gloger