Crown of the Kingdom of Poland

This article is about the unit of administrative division; for "public properties, state properties" of Polish-Lithuanian Kings see: Crown lands in Poland and Lithuania (Polish: królewszczyzny, dobra królewskie); for insignia of Polish and Polish-Lithuanian Kings see: Polish Crown Jewels

The Crown marked in       on high-level administration map of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and its fiefdoms in 1619. Superimposed on present day political map of Central and Eastern Europe

The Crown of the Kingdom of Poland (Polish: Korona Królestwa Polskiego, Latin: Corona Regni Poloniae), or simply the Crown (     ), is the name for the unit of administrative division, the territories under direct administration of (mostly) Polish nobility from middle-ages to late 18th century (currently lands of Ukraine, Poland, some border lands of inter alia: Russia, Belarus, Moldova, Slovakia, Romania). Some of them belonged yet to the Kingdom of Poland, then to Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth until its final collapse in 1795.

The term distinguishes those territories from federated with the Crown Grand Duchy of Lithuania (     ) and from fiefdom territories (which enjoyed varying degrees of autonomy or semi-independence from the King) inter alia the Duchy of Prussia (     ), the Duchy of Courland (     ).

Prior to the 1569 Union of Lublin, Crown territories may be understood as those of Poland proper, inhabited by Poles^{[citation needed]} or other areas under the sovereignty of Polish nobility. With the Union of Lublin, however, most of present-day Ukraine (which had a negligible Polish population and had until then been governed by Lithuania) passed under Polish administration, becoming likewise Crown territory.

In that period, a term for a Pole was koroniarz^{[citation needed]} (plural: koroniarze), derived from Korona.

Depending on context, "Crown" may also refer to "The Crown," a term used to distinguish the personal influence and private assets of the Commonwealth's current monarch from government authority and property. This often meant a distinction between persons loyal to the elected King (royalists) and persons loyal to the magnates.

Provinces

Crown was divided into two provinces: Lesser Poland (Polish: Małopolska) and Greater Poland (Polish: Wielkopolska) which were further divided into administrative units known as voivodeships (Polish names of voivodships and towns below in brackets).

Greater Poland Province

Main article: Greater Poland Province of the Polish Crown

(Polish) Voivodeships of the Commonwealth of the Two Nations

(Polish) (English) Map showing voivodeships of the Commonwealth of the Two Nations

• Brześć Kujawski Voivodeship (województwo brzesko-kujawskie, Brześć Kujawski)
• Gniezno Voivodeship (województwo gnieźnieńskie, Gniezno) from 1768
• Inowrocław Voivodeship (województwo inowrocławskie, Inowrocław)
• Kalisz Voivodeship (województwo kaliskie, Kalisz)
• Łęczyca Voivodeship (województwo łęczyckie, Łęczyca)
• Mazovian Voivodeship (województwo mazowieckie, of Mazowsze, Warsaw)
• Poznań Voivodeship (województwo poznańskie, Poznań)
• Płock Voivodeship (województwo płockie, Płock)
• Podlaskie Voivodeship (województwo podlaskie, Drohiczyn)
• Rawa Voivodeship (województwo rawskie, Rawa)
• Sieradz Voivodeship (województwo sieradzkie, Sieradz)
• Prince-Bishopric of Warmia

Lesser Poland Province

Main article: Lesser Poland Province of the Polish Crown

• Bełz Voivodeship (województwo bełzkie, Bełz)
• Bracław Voivodeship (województwo bracławskie, Bracław)
• Czernichów Voivodeship (województwo czernichowskie, Czernichów)
• Kijów Voivodeship (województwo kijowskie, Kijów)
• Kraków Voivodeship (województwo krakowskie, Kraków)
• Lublin Voivodeship (województwo lubelskie, Lublin)
• Podole Voivodeship (województwo podolskie, Kamieniec Podolski)
• Ruś Voivodeship (województwo ruskie, Lwów), divided into
• Sandomierz Voivodeship (województwo sandomierskie, Sandomierz)
• Wołyń Voivodeship (województwo wołyńskie, Łuck)
• Duchy of Siewierz (Siewierz)

Royal Prussia Province (1569 - 1772)

Main article: Royal Prussia

Royal Prussia Polish: Prusy Królewskie) was a province of the Kingdom of Poland from 1466 and then the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1569 to 1772. Royal Prussia included Pomerelia, Chełmno Land (Kulmerland), Malbork Voivodeship (Marienburg), Gdańsk (Danzig), Toruń (Thorn), and Elbląg (Elbing).

Towns in Spisz County (1412 - 1795)

As one of the terms of the Treaty of Lubowla, the Hungarian crown exchanged, for a loan of sixty times the amount of 37,000 Prague groschen - approximately seven tonnes of pure silver, 16 rich salt-producing towns in the area of Spisz (Zips), as well as a right to incorporate them into Poland until the debt is repaid. The towns affected were: Biała, Lubica, Wierzbów, Spiska Sobota, Poprad, Straże, Spiskie Włochy, Nowa Wieś, Spiska Nowa Wieś, Ruszkinowce, Wielka, Spiskie Podgrodzie, Maciejowce, Twarożne.

See also

• Administrative division of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
• Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen
• Lands of the Crown of Saint Wenceslaus