Voivode
Voivode is a title denoting a military leader or warlord in Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe in use since the Early Middle Ages. It primarily referred to the medieval rulers of the Romanian-inhabited states and of governors and military commanders of Polish, Hungarian, Lithuanian, Balkan, Russian and other Slavic-speaking populations.
In the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, voivode was interchangeably used with palatine. In the Tsardom of Russia, a voivode was a military governor. Among the Danube principalities, and in Bohemia, voivode was considered a princely title.
Etymology
The term voivode comes from two roots., means "war, fight," while, means "leading", thus in Old Slavic together meaning "war leader" or "warlord". The Latin translation is comes palatinus for the principal commander of a military force, serving as a deputy for the monarch. In early Slavic, vojevoda meant the. The term has also spread to non-Slavic languages, like Hungarian, Romanian, and Albanian, in areas with Slavic influence.History
During the Byzantine Empire it referred to military commanders mainly of Slavic-speaking populations, especially in the Balkans, the Bulgarian Empire being the first permanently established Slavic state in the region. The title voevodas originally occurs in the work of the 10th-century Byzantine emperor Constantine VII in his De Administrando Imperio, in reference to Hungarian military leaders.The title was used in medieval Bohemia, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Macedonia, Moldavia, Poland, Rügen, Russian Empire, Ukraine, Serbia, Transylvania and Wallachia. In the Late Middle Ages the voivode, Latin translation is comes palatinus for the principal commander of a military force, deputising for the monarch gradually became the title of territorial governors in Poland, Hungary and the Czech lands and in the Balkans.
During the Ottoman administration of Greece, the Ottoman Voivode of Athens resided in the ancient Gymnasium of Hadrian.
The Serbian Autonomous Province of Vojvodina descends from the Serbian Vojvodina, with Stevan Šupljikac as Vojvoda or Duke, that became later Voivodeship of Serbia and Banat of Temeschwar.
Title of nobility and provincial governorship
The transition of the voivode from military leader to a high ranking civic role in territorial administration occurred in most Slavic-speaking countries and in the Balkans during the Late Middle Ages. They included Bulgaria, Bohemia, Moldavia and Poland. Moreover, in the Czech lands, but also in the Balkans, it was an aristocratic title corresponding to dux, Duke or Prince. Many noble families of the Illyricum still use this title despite the disputes about the very existence of nobility in the Balkans.Bosnian grand dukes
Grand Duke of Bosnia was a court title in the Kingdom of Bosnia, bestowed by the king to highest military commanders, usually reserved for most influential and most capable among highest Bosnian nobility who already held title of vojvoda. To interpret it as an office post rather than a court rank could be even more accurate. Unlike usage in Western Europe, Central Europe, or in various Slavic lands from Central to North-East Europe, where analogy between grand duke and grand prince was significant, with both titles corresponding to sovereign lower than king but higher than duke. In Bosnia, the title grand duke corresponded more to the Byzantine military title megas doux. It is possible to register some similarities with equivalent titles in neighboring Slavic lands, such as Serbia; however, in neighboring countries, the title duke, in Slavic vojvoda, also had military significance, but in that sense "grand duke" was specifically, even exclusively, Bosnian title.Ottoman Empire
In some provinces and vassal states of the Ottoman Empire, the title of voivode was employed by senior administrators and local rulers. This was common to the extent in Ottoman Bosnia, but especially in the Danubian Principalities, which protected the northern borders of the empire and were ruled by the Greek Phanariotes. The title "Voyvoda" turned into another position at the turn of the 17th century. The governors of provinces and sanjaks would appoint someone from their own households or someone from the local elites to collect the revenues.Ottoman Greece
The American diplomat Nicholas Biddle recorded in 1806 that chief Ottoman administrator of Athens was also called the voivode. One such holder of this title, Hadji Ali Haseki, was voivode on five separate occasions before his final banishment and execution in 1795 after angering both the Greek and Turkish residents of Athens and making powerful enemies at the Porte.Polish–Lithuanian usage
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
In 16th-century Poland and Lithuania, the wojewoda was a civic role of senatorial rank and neither heritable nor a title of nobility. His powers and duties depended on his location. The least onerous role was in Ruthenia while the most powerful wojewoda was in Royal Prussia. The role began in the crown lands as that of an administrative overseer, but his powers were largely ceremonial. Over time he became a representative in the local and national assemblies, the Sejm. His military functions were entirely reduced to supervising a mass mobilization and in practice he ended up as little more than overseer of weights and measures.Appointments to the role were usually made until 1775 by the king. The exceptions were the voivodes of Polock and Vitebsk who were elected by a local poll of male electors for confirmation by the monarch. In 1791, it was decided to adopt the procedure throughout the country but the 18th-century Partitions of Poland put a stop to it. Polish voivodes were subject to the Law of Incompatibility which prevented them from simultaneously holding ministerial or other civic offices in their area.
Second Polish Republic
Following the declaration of independence and the establishment of the Second Polish Republic and its armed forces, the legal basis for establishing voivodeships and restoring the institution of the voivode was the Act of 2 August 1919. The Ordinance of the President of the Republic of Poland of 19 January 1928 did not depart from the voivodeships and the voivodes who headed them. Pursuant to the Act of 2 August 1919, the voivode retained a double position in the voivodeship: he was a representative of the central government in the voivodeship, as well as the head of the general administration bodies subordinated to him. As part of the first function, apart from representing the government at state ceremonies, the voivode was responsible for coordinating the activities of the entire state administration in the voivodeship in accordance with the basic political line of the government.The scope of the voivode was therefore broad and went beyond the area of matters belonging to the Ministry of the Interior. He also had the right to issue legal acts with force in the territory of the voivodeship.His duties included carrying out the orders of individual ministers and taking care of all matters of state administration, excluding tasks falling within the competence of the military, judicial, fiscal, educational, railway, postal and telegraph administration and land offices. Since he had to take care of public security and order in the territory under his control, he was the head of the State Police, in certain situations he could declare a state of emergency and even request military assistance.
The process of organizing and unifying the territorial administration intensified in the 1920s, especially after the May Coup. Their culmination was the regulation of the President of Poland, Ignacy Mościcki, of 1928, on the organization and scope of operation of general administration authorities. This act stipulated that the general administration authorities in the regions were voivodes.
Confidential resolutions of the Council of Ministers issued on 6, 9, and 18 August 1923 established a catalogue of means of influence for the voivodes in relation to all non-combined branches. Since the main task of the voivode was still to ensure security and order, as well as the authority of the government, which required a strong position and quick decision-making, the Council of Ministers, by the regulation of 11 February 1924, enabled voivodes to independently shape the structure of offices subordinate to them and establish departments and divisions with the consent of the minister responsible for a given group of matters and the minister of internal affairs. Only the presidential and budget-economic departments mandatorily existed in each voivodeship office.
Contrary to the provisions of the Act of 1919, the competences of the voivode according to the new legislation was much more wide-ranging. It granted the voivode special supervisory and intervention powers in relation to non-combined administration. It could convene meetings of heads of non-combined administration bodies for the purpose of coordination their work from the point of view of the interests of the state, demand explanations from them in specific matters and suspend the enforcement of orders contrary to government policy, could also interfere in personnel matters of non-combined administration bodies.
The voivode was nominated by the president, personally subordinated to the minister of internal affairs, to the chairman of the Council of Ministers and to individual ministers. In cyclical reports, the voivodes informed among other things, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and other voivodes about the public mood and actions taken, paying attention mainly to the political activity opposed to the ruling camp. In the thirties, the voivode was responsible for the implementation of the goals and policies of the Sanation camp, hence this position was held by people belonging to the most loyal members of the ruling political group.