Voivodeship of Serbia and Banat of Temeschwar


The Voivodeship of Serbia and Banat of Temeschwar, or Voivodeship of Serbia and Temes Banat, was a crownland of the Austrian Empire that existed between 1849 and 1861, centered in Temeschwar. It was created by reorganization of administrative structures in regions of Serbian Vojvodina and Banat of Temeschwar. Its former area is now divided between Serbia, Romania and Hungary. In 1860-1861, it was reincorporated into the Kingdom of Hungary. The Voivodeship gave its name to the present Serbian Vojvodina.

Names

In contemporary German, the crown land was officially known as Woiwodschaft Serbien und Temeser Banat. The forms die serbische Wojwodschaft und das Temeser Banat and die serbische Wojwodschaft mit dem Temeser Banate also appeared frequently in official documents. Other variations also appear as a result of grammatical inflection, such as der serbischen Wojwodschaft und des Temeser Banates, but these should not be considered distinct. The spellings Woiwodschaft and Wojwodschaft are typographic variations; Woiwodschaft was used officially until 1852, Wojwodschaft from 1853.
In contemporary Serbian it was known as Vojvodina Srbska i Tamiški Banat and Vojvodstvo Srbija i Tamiški Banat. In Hungarian it was known as Szerb Vajdaság és Temesi Bánság, and in Romanian as Voivodina Sârbească și Banatul Timișan.
As in German, in Serbian sources there are two somewhat different variants of the name of the voivodeship; one could be translated into English as Voivodeship of Serbia and Temes Banat and another as Serbian Voivodeship and Temes Banat.
Also in modern English use, the term Temes Banat or Banat of Temes is sometimes incorrectly replaced with term Banat of Temeschwar or Temeschwar Banat. In the original name in all native languages, there is no mention of the city of Temeschwar in the title of Voivodeship. As shown above, the reference to the Temes region is always used, and should be translated into English as Temes Banat or Banat of Temes.

History

The Serbs had previously been granted a number of privileges by the Habsburg emperor, starting in 1691, followed by the 1779 Declaratory Rescript of the Illyrian Nation. During the Revolutions of 1848 in the Austrian Empire, a self-proclaimed autonomous province of Serbian Vojvodina was created in 1848.
In 1849, the Imperial Patent of 4th March, known as the March Constitution, imposed constitutional reorganization of the Austrian Empire, and provided a formal base for the creation of an official administrative unit under the name: Voivodeship of Serbia, also allowing the possibility for future association of that province with other crown lands.
The Voivodeship was officially formed by a decision of the Austrian emperor in November 1849.
It consisted of the regions of Banat, Bačka and northern Syrmian municipalities of Ilok and Ruma. An Austrian governor seated in Temeschwar ruled the area, and the title of Voivode belonged to the emperor himself. The full title of the emperor was "Grand Voivod of the Voivodeship of Serbia". Even after the Voivodeship was abolished, the emperor kept this title until the end of Austro-Hungarian Monarchy in 1918.
In 1860, the Voivodeship of Serbia and Temes Banat was abolished and most of its territory was incorporated into the Habsburg Kingdom of Hungary, although direct Hungarian rule began only in 1867, after the Austro-Hungarian Compromise.
Unlike Banat and Bačka, Syrmia was incorporated into the Kingdom of Slavonia in 1860, another separate Habsburg crown land. The Kingdom of Slavonia subsequently merged with the Kingdom of Croatia, forming the new Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia, which concluded an agreement with the Kingdom of Hungary in 1868, becoming an autonomous region of the Kingdom of Hungary within Austria-Hungary.

Languages

The two official languages of the Voivodeship were German and "Illyrian".

Demographics

The Voivodeship was ethnically very mixed, since the southern parts of Syrmia, Banat and Bačka with compact Serbian settlements were not included in it, while eastern Banat, with a Romanian majority was added to it.

1846

According to the 1846 census, the territory that in 1849 formed the voivodeship included:

1857

In 1857, population of the voivodeship numbered 1,526,105 inhabitants, including:

1850/51

According to the 1850/51 census, ethnic composition of the voivodeship was as follows:
Total number of "Illyrian Slavs" was 386,906.
According to another source, in 1850/1851, the population of the voivodeship numbered 1,426,221 inhabitants, including:
By religious makeup:
In 1851, population of the voivodeship numbered 1,426,221 inhabitants, including:

1860

In 1860, population of the voivodeship numbered 1,525,523 inhabitants, including:

Administrative divisions

At first, the crown land was divided into two districts:
  1. Batschka-Torontal
  2. Temeschwar-Karasch
Later, it was divided into five districts, which were largely based on the pre-1849 Hungarian counties which made the majority of the crown land. From 1851 they were subdivided into political districts. In the reforms of 1853, implemented in the crown land in 1854, the Districte became Kreis, which were subdivided into Amtsbezirke. These reforms also separated the capital, the city of Temesvár, from district-administration, placing it under the direct authority of the Stadtholder.

Administration

Great Voivodes">Grosswojwod">Great Voivodes

Governors