HARVARD UKRAINIAN STUDIES - See also - Harvard University

172 FRANK E. SYSYNprinces in one noble order, the wealthy princes were guaranteedexemption from "execution of the lands" legislation, which restoredroyal lands to the fisc and limited the number of offices that one noblecould hold. 9Although done through separate charters, the very process of incorporationadvanced the conceptualization of the formerly LithuanianUkrainian lands as a distinct entity. Following the incorporation of theVolhynian land, which was divided into the palatinates of Volhyniaand Bratslav, the justifications given for annexing the Kiev "principality"were that the entire region formed a natural entity for defensepurposes and that the already annexed lands must not be separatedfrom Kiev, the major city of Rus'. 10The conceptualization of theseterritories as a region with a noble nation sharing common characteristicsand privileges was reaffirmed during the formation of the Chernihivpalatinate in 1635. The new palatinate, formed from the landsregained from Muscovy in 1618, was granted the rights and institutionsof the Kiev palatinate, thereby integrating its nobility into that of theincorporation lands. 11In addition to the legal and administrative peculiarities that distinguishedthe incorporated palatinates, the area differed from the rest ofthe Kingdom by its homogeneity in nationality and religion. In 1569,its nobles, like the entire population, were predominantly Ruthenianand Orthodox. Hence the distinction between regionalist sentimentand allegiance to a religious-historical-cultural community must beobserved carefully in studying the nobles of the Ukrainian lands and9The question of the development of the Ukrainian nobility and the impact of theUnion of Lublin upon it is discussed in my "The Problem of Nobilities in theUkrainian Past: The Polish Period, 1569-1648," in Ivan L. Rudnytsky, ed., RethinkingUkrainian History (Edmonton, 1981), pp. 29-102. On the terms andprocedures of the incorporation of the Ukrainian lands, see Jarosław Pelenski,"The Incorporation of the Ukrainian Lands of Old Rus' into Crown Poland (1569) :Socio-Material Interest and Ideology — A Reexamination," in American Contributionsto the Seventh International Congress of Slavists, Warsaw, 21-27 August1973, vol. 3: History, ed. Anna Cienciala (The Hague and Paris, 1973), pp. 19-52.Pelenski discusses numerous primary and secondary sources, including the incorporationcharters. Special attention should be paid to Oskar Halecki, PrzyłączeniePodlasia, Wołynia i Kijowszczyzny do Korony w roku 1569 (Cracow, 1915).Because of the differences in the terms of incorporation and in subsequent fates,Podlachia is not included in this discussion.10Pelenski, "Incorporation of the Ukrainian Lands," pp. 28-29, 34.11[Volumina legum] Prawa, konstytucye у przywileie . . . , сотр. Stanislaw Konarski,8 vols. (Warsaw, 1732-1782), 3:865.