prices (although in fact this duty was delegated to the sub-voivode (podwojewoda)). Voivodes of Cracow, Poznań, Vilnius, Trakai, Sandomierz, and Kalisz (as well as the Castellan of Cracow) held the keys to the Crown Treasury (skarbiec koronny) on Wawel. Voivodes were appointed by the king until 1775, when the power to appoint them devolved to the Permanent Council (Rada Nieustająca). The exceptions to this rule were the voivodes of Połock and Vilnius, who were elected by the szlachta (nobility) from their respective lands (although they still had to be approved by the King). Like all officials in the Commonwealth, only members of the szlachta were eligible to hold an official post. After 1565, the principle of incompatibilitas ("incompatibility") precluded voivodes and castellans from holding a second title as a minister—except for the post of hetman—as well as the other voivode of starosta grodowy in his own voivodeship. In the Commonwealth, where the nobility forbade the use of foreign honorary hereditary titles, lifetime titles connected with offices were still considered legal to use. Also the wives and children of a dignitary enjoyed their own forms of his title. Therefore, even though the powers of the voivode were relatively small, it was a prestigious position much coveted by the nobles. Thus, the palatinal families (rodziny wojewodzinskie) are one of the highest rank among today's Polish aristocracy, next in rank below hereditary Princes. Although many individual voivodes had significant power in the Commonwealth, it was not by virtue of their title, but owing to their wealth and influence, which eventually secured them the prestigious title of the voivode. Thus, it is not the title that earned the title. List Even when a voivodeship ceased to exist after borders shifted, the office remained intact and the voivode preserved his privileges, such as the right to sit and vote in the Senate. Thus the number of voivodes increased in time, from 32 after the creation of the Commonwealth in 1569 to 37 by the time of its end in 1795. This is a list of the voivodes’ precedence sitting in the Senate of Poland. They took their seats after the bishops, as the first secular officials, although in practice their power was less than that of Ministers of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (who however sat last in the Senate). Note that among them sat three distinguished castellans (wyróznieni kasztelanowie): Castellan of Kraków (who took precedence over