Podlachia
Podlachia, also known by its Polish name Podlasie, is a historical region in north-eastern Poland. Its largest city is Białystok, whereas the historical capital is Drohiczyn.
Similarly to several other historical regions of Poland, e.g. Greater Poland, Lesser Poland, Mazovia, Pomerania, Silesia, Warmia, Podlachia possesses its own folk costumes, unique traditional architecture and cuisine. Between 1513 and 1795 it was a voivodeship with the capital in Drohiczyn. Now the part north of the Bug River is included in the modern Podlaskie Voivodeship with the capital in Białystok, whereas southern parts are located in the Masovian and Lublin Voivodeships.
Names and etymology
The region is called Podlasie, Podlasko or Podlasze in Polish, Palenkė in Lithuanian, Padliašša in Belarusian, Podljas’e in Russian, פּאָדליאַשע Podlyashe in Yiddish, and Podlachia in Latin.There are two hypotheses regarding the origin of the name of the region. According to the first one, the name is derived from the Polish word las, and means. However, this hypothesis conflicts with historical phonology; it fails to explain the vocalism and especially the -ch-/''-š- in Slavic languages and the -nk- in Lithuanian.
According to the second hypothesis, the name is derived from the word liakh, and means. The second hypothesis holds that the term comes from the expression pod Lachem, which may be translated literally as . Some claim it to mean, though in the Middle Ages Podlachia was only partially under Polish rule, and since 1446 until 1569 the area belonged to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. A better variant of this theory holds that the name originates from the period when the territory was within the Trakai Voivodeship of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, along the borderline with the Mazovia, primarily a fief of the Poland of the Piasts and later on part of the Kingdom of Poland of the Jagiellons. The origin of this name is apparently in East Slavic, probably Old Ruthenian ljax, as the descendants of the Proto-Slavic word *lęxъ are most widespread there; there is no trace of nasalisation as would be expected in a native Polish word, but instead the typically East Slavic reflex -ja-'', betraying the non-Lechitic origin.
Geography
Podlachia is located along the middle stretch of the Bug River between Mazovia in the west, Polesia and Volhynia in the east, the Narew River in the north and the Chełm Land in the south. The borders of Podlachia changed with time and was not the same as historical Podlaskie Voivodeship. Podlachia is sometimes divided into two parts, which had different administrative subordination.Traditional capital of Podlachia is Drohiczyn that lies into northern and southern parts. The former is included in the modern-day Podlaskie Voivodeship with its capital at Białystok. Sometimes, Siedlce has been considered the capital of the region.
Coat of arms
The coat of arms of Podlachia was introduced in 1569. It was created by combining the coats of arms of Poland and Lithuania.History
Podlachia is a multicultural and multi-religious region. It is the region where people's identity has been shaped throughout history by both the Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches, and since the Reformation, also by Evangelical churches. Until today, Podlachia has been considered Poland's most culturally diverse region. Throughout its early history, Podlachia was inhabited by various tribes of different ethnic roots. According to various sources, East Slavic tribes settled either in the 9th and 10th centuries, or in the 11th and 12th centuries in the eastern and southern part. The Polish Masovians settled before the 11th century in the western part, as evidenced by Masovian-type strongholds from that period. In the 12th century, the northern part was settled by the Yotvingians, and afterwards the region was devastated by Yotvingian and Lithuanian raids. In the 13th century, the Yotvingians were driven out of Podlachia by Bolesław V the Chaste and Leszek II the Black, and the region was repopulated by Poles from Masovia, including minor nobility. Since the 13th century, Podlachia was contested by Poland and Lithuania, with varying ownership. In 1253 Pope Innocent IV recognized Polish sovereignty over Podlachia. In the 14th century, Polish King Casimir III the Great granted the southern part to Lithuania. In 1379, the Teutonic Knights ravaged the region and unsuccessfully besieged Mielnik and Brześć.In the late 14th century the area passed to Mazovian Piast rule. In 1446, Podlachia became part of the Grand Duchy again, but from 1496 southwestern parts of Podlachia and from 1501 the northern part used Polish law instead of Lithuanian. A renewal of the Polish–Lithuanian union was concluded in Mielnik in 1501. In 1513 King Sigismund I the Old formed the Podlaskie Voivodeship. In 1566, the southeastern part of the Voivodeship became part of the newly formed Brest Litovsk Voivodeship as Brest Litovsk County.
File:PodlaskieRP.JPG|thumb|left|The Podlaskie Voivodeship in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1635.
In 1569, shortly before the Union of Lublin which formally united Poland and Lithuania as the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Podlasie was returned to the Kingdom of Poland by the Privilege of restoration of Podlasie land to the Polish Crown. It was the northernmost part of the Lesser Poland Province of Poland. The voivodeship was divided into three lands : Drohiczyn, Mielnik and Bielsk. Knyszyn was the favorite residence of King Sigismund II Augustus, who died there in 1572, ending the reign of the Jagiellonian dynasty in Poland. Polish Renaissance writer Łukasz Górnicki, after his appointment as starost of Tykocin in 1572, resided and wrote many of his works in Lipniki in Podlachia.
Podlachia was subtracted by extensive royal estates, numerous small estates of the nobility and a dense network of small towns. Petty nobility often cultivated their land on their own, and there were many places where the nobility had no serfs, making certain parts of Podlachia, according to Polish historian, geographer and ethnographer Zygmunt Gloger, the place with the highest percentage of free agricultural population in Europe in the feudal era. Polish nobles in Podlachia became so numerous that from the 16th century some migrated to other regions, including Lesser Poland and Lithuania, where they often made significant fortunes.
In the 17th and early 18th century, the chief regional royal residence in Podlachia was Tykocin. In December 1630, King Sigismund III Vasa and his family took shelter there from an epidemic, and in 1633 Władysław IV Vasa also stopped there. In 1653, Podlachia itself was hit by an epidemic. The region was invaded by Sweden during the Deluge, but in 1657, Poles recaptured Tykocin. In 1661, renowned Polish military commander Stefan Czarniecki was granted the Tykocin starostwo with the towns of Tykocin and Białystok as a reward for his military service during the Swedish invasion of Poland of 1655–1660. Two Polish Protestant synods were held in Podlachia, a Calvinist one in Orla in 1644 and a Lutheran one in Węgrów in 1780. Tykocin was the place where the Order of the White Eagle, Poland's oldest and highest order, was established.
During the Swedish invasion of Poland of 1701–1706, in 1702, Tykocin was the place of talks between delegates of Poland and Sweden. In 1704, Podlachia protested against the election of Stanisław Leszczyński as King of Poland. Swedish and Russian troops often passed through the region during the war.
File:Salon ogrodowy Pałacu Branickich.jpg|thumb|Branicki Palace and garden in Białystok in the 18th century
In the 18th and 19th century the private town of Białystok became the main center of the region, thanks to the patronage of the Branicki family and the development of the textile industry. Due to the city's palace, parks and edifices, Białystok was dubbed the "Versailles of Podlachia". At that time, Polish kings traveling through Podlachia mainly resided in Białystok, i.e. Augustus II the Strong in 1726 and 1729 and Augustus III of Poland in 1744, 1752 and 1755. The School of Civil and Military Engineering, Poland's first military technical college, and Komedialnia, one of the oldest theaters in Poland, were founded in Białystok in 1745 and 1748, respectively. Białystok was a regional brewing center with 33 breweries as of 1771, with the Podlachian Beer now listed as a protected traditional beverage by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Poland.
In 1733, during the War of the Polish Succession, supporters of Augustus III retreated from Warsaw to Węgrów. In 1767, Jan Klemens Branicki and Wacław Rzewuski protested against the Radom Confederation in Brańsk.
Partition and Napoleonic Wars
Following the 1795 Third Partition of Poland, Podlachia was divided between the Kingdom of Prussia and the Habsburg monarchy, with the Bug forming the border between them. Part of Podlachia's eastern border became the boundary between Prussia and the Russian Empire. Within Prussia the Podlachian territory was organised as part of the Białystok Department of New East Prussia, which also included parts of the former Mazovian and Trakai Voivodeships; the Habsburg portion lay mostly within the Siedlce Kreis of West Galicia.In 1807, by the Treaties of Tilsit, Prussia ceded all of its gains in the second and third partitions, as well as part of the first. Most of this territory, including the western and northern parts of Prussian Podlachia, became part of the Duchy of Warsaw, a Polish client state of the First French Empire, while the east-central part including Białystok fell under Russian rule as the Belostok Oblast. The Podlachian territory within the Belostok Oblast corresponded with the Bielsk and Drohiczyn Uyezds and the western part of Belostoksky Uyezd. The small amounts of Podlachian territory in the Duchy of Warsaw lay within the Łomża Department, itself based on the territory of the Prussian Białystok Departement after the removal of the Belostock Oblast. The Habsburg part of Podlachia became part of the Duchy of Warsaw by the 1809 Treaty of Schönbrunn, forming much of the Siedlce Department. Although Prussian and Austrian rule was brief, it has remained administratively divided by the Bug ever since.