Starost(a) (
Cyrillic: Старост/а) is a title for an official or unofficial position of leadership that has been used in various contexts through most of
Slavic history. It can be translated as "
elder". Territory administered by a starost was called a
starostwo.
In the early
Middle Ages the starosta was the head of a Slavic community; in
Russia the word was used until the early 20th century to denote the elected leader of
obshchina.
From the 14th century in the
Polish Crown and later through the era of the joint state of
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth till the
partitions of Poland in 1795 the starosta was a royal official. His deputy was known as
podstarości. There were several types of starosta:
- starosta generalny was the official in administration of a specific territorial unit: either the representative of the King or Grand Duke or a person directly in charge.
- starosta grodowy was a county- (powiat-) level official responsible for fiscal duties, police and courts, and he was responsible for the execution of judicial verdicts.
- starosta niegrodowy was the overseer of the Crown lands
In
Galicia and
Bukovina under Austrian rule a starosta supervised the
county administration.
In
Poland between 1918 and 1939 and 1944–1950 the starosta was the head of county (
powiat) administration, subordinate to the
voivode.
In modern Poland, since the
local government reforms which came into effect on 1 January 1999, the starosta is the head of the county (
powiat) executive (
zarząd powiatu), and the head of the county administration (
starostwo powiatowe). He is elected by the county council (
rada powiatu).
The starosta is the
master of ceremonies in the traditional
Carpatho-Rusyn and Polish wedding.
The starosta was a head of various communities: church starosta,
artel starosta, etc.
In the
Czech Republic and
Slovakia,
starosta is the title of a mayor of a town or village (mayors of major cities use the title
primátor).
In
Lithuania since 1991,
starosta () is the title of the head of a province.
See also
