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176 FRANK E. SYSYNcastellan, on 1 December 1639, he was assigned to a senatorial post oflesser rank, among the "particular" or "minor" castellans, although allother castellans of the incorporation lands were "general" or "major"ones. 21 His refusal to accept the appointment rallied the nobles of theincorporation territories and led to a struggle against the abridgementof regional rights. Just prior to the 1641 Diet, Kysil was supported bythe dietine of Volhynia, which instructed its delegates: "Whereas wedo not have in our palatinates 'particular' castellans, but 'general,' andwhereas the palatinate of Chernihiv, as settled upon the territory ofthe capital of our Rus', Kiev, is incorporated in all laws and customs tothe palatinates of Kiev, Volhynia, and Bratslav, and in its ordinanceone castellan is decreed, as is one general palatine, so he [the castellanof Chernihiv] should remain among the general castellans." 22TheVolhynian nobles went on to thank Kysil for his valiant defense of therights of the incorporation lands. After the Diet on 25 September1641, Kysil received a new confirmation of office. The king admittedthat Kysil's office was that of a major castellan and requested him tomake this new decision known to the inhabitants of the four incorporationpalatinates. 23In delivering his votum before the Diet on 17 September1641, Kysil must have been keenly aware that his defense ofthe other regional interests of the incorporation lands was inherently ajustification for his own actions on the controversy over the Chernihivpalatinate. 24Like all discussions of nobiliary political thought in the Commonwealth,Kysil's votum was based on the premises that the liberty ofeach noble was inviolable, and that the Commonwealth constituted theaggregate of each noble's liberties. Its central purpose was to condemnwhat the speaker perceived as an assault on the liberty of a region'snobility resulting from the infringement of regional privileges. To21For Kysil's appointment, see Archiwum Główne Akt Dawnych (AGAD),Warsaw, Metryka Koronna, MS 185, fols. 221-22. For complaints on his status,see the instructions of the Volhynian dietine to delegates to the Diet of 1641,13 July 1641. Arkhiv Iugo-Zapadnoi Rossii, pt. 2, vol. 1: 270-71.22Arkhiv Iugo-Zapadnoi Rossii, pt. 2, vol. 1: 271.23AGAD, Metryka Koronna, MS 185, fol. 408.24I have established the date of Kysil's delivery of the votum by comparing its textwith the description in a diary of a speech he gave before the Diet of 1641:Biblioteka Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego, Polonia Varia Akc. 1949/KN 441 (SteinwehrIII), fol. 82.