The self‑ government of nobles of the Kiev Voivodeship in the mid‑ 1780s (1783—1785)

The article discusses the functioning of the self‑government of nobles in the Kiev Voivodeship in the years 1783—1785. The problem was presented against the background of the political situation which arose as a result of the entry in 1783 of the Russian army to the Polish areas of Ukraine. This was associated with Petersburg’s activities whose purpose was to annex Crimea. The article also discusses the influence of the changes in the organisation of the royalist supporters in the years 1783—1784 in the south‑western areas of the Polish Republic, which were supposed to be directed by Marshal Michał Mniszech, the Ruthenian voivode Stanisław Szczęsny Potocki and the Kievian castellan Józef Stempkowski (who went on to become a voivode himself). The article concerns the course of the regional sessions of assemblies (sejmiki) and their bills in Żytomierz — the electoral assembly in July 1783, the parliamentary assembly in August 1784, and especially the economic assembly in July 1785. The laudum of the Kiev voivodeship of 16 July 1785 is notable due to the rich amount of problems associated with self‑government which are contained in it. In this area it was a second current of regional assembly life, manifesting itself apart from political and personal rivalry which was a marked feature of the parliamentary, deputational and electoral regional assemblies. The nobility that participatedin the sessions in Żytomierz was superior in its activity to the Mazovian voivodeship, not to mention the remaining voivodeships of the Wielkopolska province, where sometimes the economic assemblies were not held at all