The Duchy of Livonia[1] (Polish: Księstwo Inflanckie[2]; Latin: Ducatus Ultradunensis; Latvian: Pārdaugavas hercogiste) was a territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania — and later the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth — that existed from 1561 to 1621.
Livonia had been part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from 1561, since the Livonian Order was secularized by the Union of Wilno and the Livonian Confederation dissolved during the Livonian Wars. Part of Livonia, formed the Duchy of Courland and Semigalia, while the south-west part of today's Estonia and north-east part of today's Latvia, covering what is now Vidzeme and Latgale, were ceded to Lithuania.
In 1566, it was declared as the Duchy of Livonia according to the Treaty of Union between the landowners of Livonia and authorities of Lithuania; Jan Hieronimowicz Chodkiewicz became the first Governor of the Duchy (1566–1578). It was a province of Grand Duchy of Lithuania until 1569. After the Union of Lublin in 1569, it became a joint domain of the Polish Crown and the Grand Duchy.
Part of the Duchy was conquered by Swedes during the Polish–Swedish Wars, and their gains were recognized in the Treaty of Altmark in 1629. The Commonwealth retained eastern parts Wenden Voivodeship, renamed to Inflanty Voivodeship, till the first partition of Poland–Lithuania in 1772, when it was annexed by Catherine the Great's Russian Empire. The title "Grand Duke of Livonia" was used by later Russian Tsars.
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