Chancellor

Chancellor (канцлер; kantsler). Head of the chancellery of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, responsible for drafting most state documents on domestic and foreign policy. The chancellor was also in charge of foreign policy. There was an analogous office in the Polish Commonwealth and later, in the Russian Empire.

Chancellor ([полковий] писар; [polkovyi] pysar). In a Cossack regimental system, member of the regimental Cossack starshyna responsible for regimental documents and correspondence. A senior member of the General Officer Staff in the Hetman state who managed the General Military Chancellery and supervised the hetman's domestic and foreign correspondence bore the title of the General chancellor. The title was revived in 1917 under the Central Rada to designate the state functionary who, in a ministerial capacity, guarded the state seal and documents.

[This article was updated in 2010.]