The Crown of the Polish Kingdom (Polish: Korona, Latin: Corona Regni Poloniae), or simply the Crown, (on the map: ), is the name for the unit of administrative division, the territories under direct administration of (mostly) Polish nobility from middle-ages to late XVIII 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 and/or under administration 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 nobility administration, becoming likewise Crown territory.
In that period, a term for a Pole was koroniarz (plural: koroniarze), derived from Korona.
Contents |
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).
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).
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.
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
|