Sieradz Voivodeship (Polish: Województwo sieradzkie, Latin: Palatinatus Siradiensis) was a unit of administrative division and local government in the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, from 1339 to the second partition of Poland in 1793. It was a part of the Greater Poland Province.
The seat of the voivode was in Sieradz, while local sejmiks took place in Szadek.
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Greater Poland, often known by its Polish name Wielkopolska (Polish: [vjɛlkɔˈpɔlska] ; Latin: Polonia Maior), is a Polish historical region of west-central Poland. Its chief and largest city is Poznań followed by Kalisz, the oldest city in Poland.
The boundaries of Greater Poland have varied somewhat throughout history. Since the Late Middle Ages, Wielkopolska proper has been split into the Poznań and Kalisz voivodeships. In the wider sense, it also encompassed Sieradz, Łęczyca, Brześć Kujawski and Inowrocław voivodeships (the last two known as Kuyavian) which were situated further east, and the Santok Land, located to the northwest. The region in the proper sense roughly coincides with the present-day Greater Poland Voivodeship (Polish: województwo wielkopolskie).
Sieradz [ˈɕɛrat͡s] (Latin: Siradia,German: 1941-45 Schieratz) is a city on the Warta river in central Poland with 40,891 inhabitants (2021). It is the seat of the Sieradz County, situated in the Łódź Voivodeship. Sieradz is a capital of the historical Sieradz Land.
Sieradz is one of the oldest cities in Poland. It was an important city of medieval Poland, thrice being a location for the election of the Polish monarchs. Polish Kings chaired six assemblies from here. Historically, it was the capital of the Duchy of Sieradz (1263-1339), Sieradz Voivodeship (1339–1793), and Sieradz Voivodeship (1975–1998). It is located on the Route of the Heroes of the Battle of Warsaw 1920, the main highway connecting Wrocław with Łódź, Warsaw and Białystok.
Wieluń Land (Polish: ziemia wieluńska; Latin: Terra Velumensis), originally known as Ruda Land (Polish: ziemia rudzka; Latin: terra Rudensis, territorium Rudense), was a land of the Kingdom of Poland and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and a part of the historical Sieradz-Łęczyca Land (Polish: ziemia łęczycko-sieradzka). Wieluń Land for centuries was part of Sieradz Voivodeship in the Province of Greater Poland.
Wieluń Land covers current the counties of Wieluń, Ostrzeszów, Wieruszów and Kępno (the eastern half, with the capital), as well as some locations in the counties of Olesno, Pajęczno, Kłobuck, and also Częstochowa (an exclave). It covers about 3,000 km and has 200,000 inhabitants.
The Duchy of Sieradz (Latin: ducatus Siradiae, Polish: Księstwo Sieradzkie), also known as the Duchy of Siradia, was created based on part of the Duchy of Łęczyca in 1263. Duchy of Łęczyca was created around 1231 from Province of Łęczyca, a part of the Seniorate Province by Konrad I of Masovia.
Ruled by the rivaling Masovian branch of the Piast dynasty. In 1299 Duke Władysław I the Elbow-high had to cede Sieradz to King Wenceslaus II of Bohemia, who had also obtained the Seniorate Duchy of Kraków in 1291. Nevertheless, upon the extinction of the Bohemian Přemyslid dynasty in 1306, it was reunited with the Kingdom of Poland as a vassal duchy, and after 1339 incorporated by King Casimir III the Great into the Lands of the Polish Crown as Sieradz Voivodship. Around that time, the term Sieradz Land (Terra Siradiensis, ziemia sieradzka) begun replacing the older Duchy nomenclature.