Following the Partitions of Poland, most of Ruthenian Voivodeship, except for its northeastern corner, was annexed by the Habsburg monarchy, as part of the province of Galicia.

In 1349 the Polish portion was transformed into the Ruthenian domain of the Crown, while the Duchy of Volhynia was held by Prince Lubart.

The voivodeship was created in 1434 based on the 1430 Jedlnia-Cracow Privilege (Polish: Przywilej jedlneńsko-krakowski) on territory that belonged to the Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia.

In Polish sources, western outskirts of the region was called Ziemia czerwieńska, or "Czerwień Land", from the name of Cherven, a town that existed there.

For approximately 150 years it existed as the independent Principality of Galicia and Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia, before being conquered by Casimir III of Poland in 1349.

Since these times the name Ruś Czerwona is recorded, translated as "Red Ruthenia" ("Czerwień" means red in Slavic languages, or from the Polish village Czermno), applied to a territory extended up to Dniester River, with priority gradually transferred to Przemyśl.

Zygmunt Gloger, in his monumental book Historical Geography of the Lands of Old Poland, provides this description of the Ruthenian Voivodeship: In the 10th and 11th centuries, Przemysl and Czerwien were the largest gords in this region.

Firs such voivode was Jan Mezyk of Dabrowa.The Ruthenian Voivodeship consisted of five ziemias: those of Lwów, Przemysl, Sanok, Halych and Chelm.

The voivodeship had six senators: the Archbishop of Lwow, the Bishop of Przemysl, the Voivode of Ruthenia, the Castellan of Lwow, and Castellans of Przemysl and Sanok (...) The city of Lwów was the seat of a separate Lesser Poland Tribunal for the voivodeships of Ruthenia, Kijow, Volhynia, Podolia, Belz, Braclaw and Czernihow (...) The County of Zydaczow, even though officially part of Lwow Land, was often regarded as a separate ziemia, with its own coat of arms, granted in 1676.