Volosts of Belaya in 16th-17th centuries: historical-geographical characteristic of the region on the Western border of The Russian State

Stepanova Yuliya ORCID: 0000-0002-3717-1589 PhD in History Senior researcher, Institute of World History of Russian Academy of Science 119334, Russia, Tver, Trekhsvyatskaya str., 16/31, office 207 m000142@mail.ru Other publications by this author

The historical and geographical realities of the early modern era of a number of western territories of the Russian state remain poorly studied. Such regions include the territory of the Principality of Belsky, which from the first half of the XIV century was part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and at the beginning of the XVI century became part of the Moscow State. During the period of the Troubles, the city of Belaya and its volosts were lost by the Russian state. In 1618 they passed over to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and in 1625 the city of Belaya received the privilege of Magdeburg law ^[1]. During the Smolensk War of 1632-1634, the city passed into the hands of the Russian garrison ^{[2, p. 216-231]}, however, according to the Peace of Polyanovsky in 1634, it remained part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In the same and the following year, the demarcation of the Polish-Russian border was carried out at the point of contact of Toropetsky, Rzhevsky and Zubtsovsky counties with the Belsky volosts ^{[3, p. 165]}. The White with volosts became part of the Russian state only during the military campaign of 1654 . Following the results of the Andrusov Truce of 1667, Belaya with the volosts remained part of the Russian state ^{[4, p. 39; 5, p. 16]}.

The Belsky volosts are listed in the letters of truce of 1503 and 1522 ^{[6, pp. 398-402, No. 75; 7, pp. 148-151]}. Only three volosts are classified as White in these documents – Bolshevo, Shoptovo, Verkhovye (Verkhonye), as well as Monevidova Sloboda. The centers of these volosts are found in the cartographic materials of the XIX century . The volost centers and limits of the Belsky Principality as part of the INCL were reflected on the maps compiled by V.N. Temushev ^{[8, maps 4, 8]}. Note that there are no descriptions of the territory of the Belsky volosts of the XV–XVI centuries.

The territory of the Belsky district as part of the Russian state of the XVI–XVII centuries. it remains extremely poorly researched. Until now, there was no detailed idea of the territorial and administrative composition of the county. Y.E. Vodarsky compiled a list of the volosts of the Belsky county based on census materials of the second half of the XVII - XVIII century. and schematically showed their location on a small–scale survey map. Out of 18 volosts and one camp (Osuysky), six volosts were marked by the researcher as palace (Moninskaya, Pustopodleska, Poniklinskaya, Dneprovskaya, Bibirevskaya, Zharkovskaya) ^{[9, pp. 235, 256]}.

The earliest description of Belsky Uyezd dates back to 7165 (1657). This is the census book of the palace volosts of the census of Stepan Nikitich Plemyannikov preserved in a copy of the XVIII century ^{[10, l. 1–70ob.]}. It covers the volosts of Ponizovskaya, Klemyatinskaya, Lodyzhskaya, Chichatovskaya, Verkhovskaya, Dneprovskaya, Shoptovskaya, Zhukopovskaya. S.N. Plemyannikov also described the patrimony of the Alekseevsky monastery in Bibirevskaya volost. In the following year, 7166 (1658), S.N. Plemyannikov conducted a new census of the palace possessions of the Belsky district. In addition to the previously described and taken into the palace Bibirevskaya, it included the territories of Rozhenskaya, Zharkovskaya (Starkovskaya), Moninskaya, Berezovskaya, Yurievskaya volosts ^{[10, l. 71–115ob.]}.  

Note that in these descriptions there are indications of an earlier census of the county of Ivan Ivanovich Zamytsky (died in 1646) ^{[11, p. 220]}, which was used as a seasoning.

The earliest source characterizing the territory of the county covered by the land ownership of serving people is the census book of the Belsky county of the Smolensk Streletsky head of Danila and captain Vasily Cherntsov in 1668 ^[12], that is, shortly after the conclusion of the Andrusovsky truce.  It characterizes the majorities of the Smolensk and Belsky gentry in the Ponizovskaya, Rozhenskaya, Dubrovskaya, Zharkovskaya (Starkovskaya), Moninskaya, Yegorevskaya (Yurievskaya), Klemyatinskaya, Ladyzhskaya, Berezovskaya, Poniklinskaya, Shoptovskaya, Verkhovskaya, Chichatskaya, Bolotovskaya, Usacherskaya, Simonovskaya, Lust volosts. There is no description of the Pustopodleska and Dnieper volosts in the book of 1668. Accordingly, it can be assumed that these territories were occupied mainly by palace land ownership.

In 1678, the palace lands of the Belsky and Dorogobuzhsky counties were described by Pyotr Semenovich Kosminsky. His census covered Moninskaya, Shoptovskaya, Poniklinskaya, Pustozalesskaya, Dneprovskaya, Zharkovskaya volosts ^{[10, l. 161-217]}.

Zhukopovskaya volost was assigned to the district of Rzhev Volodimerov. In 1678, its description was compiled by Fyodor Izyedinov and the subdeacon Fyodor Bishov ^[13].

The "Belsky inscription" stands out as part of the Rzhev Volodimerov district in the second half of the XVI century. The Belsky parts of the Volga and Rtischev volosts are characterized in the scribe book of the Rzhev district 1588-1589 ^{[14; 15, pp. 396-397]}.

The location of the western border of the Belsky Uyezd of the XVI century makes it possible to clarify the description of the neighboring Toropetsky Uyezd of 1540 ^[16].

Thus, a detailed study of the complex of multi-time censuses of the Belsky, Toropetsky and Rzhevsky counties allows us to get an idea of the territory of the Belsky volosts that became part of the Russian state at the beginning of the XVI century, and then in the second half of the XVII century.

In the work on mapping the county, the method of continuous localization of toponyms of census books in the geoinformation project QGIS was used. The method involves correlating the toponymy of scribal descriptions with data from sources of the XVIII–XIX centuries. In this work, the materials of the General Survey of the Smolensk province ^[17], the map of F.F. Schubert ^{[18, L. XXIII, XXIV, XXIX, XXX]} were used. Historical toponymy dating back to the XVII century is reflected on military topographic large-scale maps of the 1940s ^[19]. These materials, currently digitized, have shown good preservation of the historical toponymy of the Belsky district of the XVII century. The result of the study was a detailed mapping of the volosts of the Belsky district in the second half of the XVII century (Fig. 1).

Fig.1. Belsky uyezd in the XVII century.

As part of the Belsky Uyezd of the second half of the XVII century, the Verkhovskaya, Shoptovskaya and Moninskaya volosts dating back to the Belsky Principality (inheriting the Monevidova Sloboda) were preserved. The Dnieper parish may have gone back to Bolshevo, but the village of Bolshevo itself is missing among the palace villages of the parish in the descriptions of 1657 and 1678.

Zharkovskaya (Starkovskaya) volost was part of a large Startsova volost, divided between Toropets and Belaya back in Lithuanian times ^{[20, p. 192]}. The Belsky part of the Startsova Volost covered the course of the Velesa River. Its eastern border was located in the marshy interfluve of the Velesa and Mezhi rivers. The data of the scribe book of the Toropetsky Uyezd made it possible to localize the Toropetsky part of the Startsova Volost. Thus, the data from the descriptions of two counties of the XVI–XVII centuries allow us to reconstruct the location and size of the Startsova Volost before its division.

The parishes of Dubrovskaya (Bibirevskaya) and Rozhenskaya in Lithuanian times belonged to Toropets. They are listed as part of the Toropets volosts in the peace charter of 1503. It is possible that their transfer to the Belsky Uyezd took place in the 1520s-1530s, since there is no description of them in the scribe book of the Toropets Uyezd. On the eve of the conquest of the Belsky volosts in the 1650s, the possession of the Vitebsk Alekseevsky monastery was located in the Biberevskaya volost ^{[10, l. 1; 21, p. 70]}. The Alekseevsky Monastery in Vitebsk – the Church of St. Joseph at the Jesuit Collegium in 1654-1667, converted into a monastery during the Russian-Polish War. After the transfer of Vitebsk to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1667, the monastery again passed to the Jesuits ^{[22, p. 454]}.

Zhukopovskaya parish is localized in the middle reaches of the Zhukopa River. Its territory in the XVI century probably included almost the entire course of the Zhukopa River. Its northern part, which formed the Belsky inscription of the Volga volost, is localized according to the scribe's seasoning book of the Rzhev Volodimerov county 1588/89.

The scribe book of the Rzhev Volodimerov county of 1588-1589 testifies that the former Belsky volost was also the volost of Stary Tud ^{[14, pp. 110-116]}.

The additions from the Belsky district to the Rzhev district took place in the second half of the 1560s in connection with the capture of the Rzhev volosts in Oprichnina ^{[23, pp. 77-85]}. In the XVII century. this territory remained part of the Rzhevsky district.

The description of 1657 testifies that on the eve of the reconquest of Belaya in 1654, the Belskaya Zhukopovskaya volost (probably only part of it) was in the possession of the Vitebsk Jesuits, as was the Dubrovskaya (Bibirevskaya) ^{[10, l. 70]}. After the reconquest of the Belaya Volost, it was taken into the palace, and then assigned to the district of Rzhev Volodimerov in the period between 1668 and 1678.

There was a Zhukopsky pit in the parish, which is mentioned in the "Extract from the Novgorod exile books" ^{[24, p. 285]}. His whereabouts were not established earlier. It is indirectly indicated by the mention of the road "that they go to Rzhev and Toropets" in an extract from the scribe book of Fyodor Izvedinov and the clerk Fyodor Bishov in 1678 ^{[13, l. 109ob.]}. The road from Toropets to Rzhev Volodimerova crossed the Zhukopa River in the dd area. Lavrovo, Minkino (currently exist), Gorki, empty. Dubasovo. It can be assumed that the Zhukopsky pit on the Moscow-Lithuanian border was located here.   

The eastern part of the Belsky District was formed by Poniklinskaya, Berezovskaya, Shoptovskaya, Lustskaya volosts. Poniklinskaya and Berezovskaya volosts, apparently, extended east to the upper reaches of the Beleika and Dubenka rivers. In the 1560s, part of these lands, as well as the Zhukopovskaya volost, was assigned to the Rtischev volost of the Rzhev Volodimerov county. This inscription is localized according to the scribe 's seasoning book of the Rzhev Volodimerov county 1588/89 .

The name of Lustia parish is formed from the Lussa River , a tributary of the Osugi, Volga basin). At the beginning of the XVIII century. the parish was transformed into the Osuysky camp. It was located wedge-shaped between the Rzhev, Zubtsov and Vyazma lands. The international border, where Zubtsov Uyezd "merged with the Lithuanian border to the Belsky Uyezds", was recorded in documents of the first half of the XVII century ^{[25, p. 180]}.

In the description of 1668, confusion was revealed: several villages located in the northern part of the county, between the Moninskaya and Zhukopovskaya volosts, were mistakenly attributed to the Ponizovskaya volost ^{[12, l. 73-75]}, while the palace villages of the Pustozalesky volost are localized here ^{[10, l. 201-204]}.

Census materials show that in the 1650s-1670s, most of the territory of the Belsky district was occupied by the local land ownership of the Smolensk and Belsky gentry, with the exception of the Zhukopovskaya and Dnieper volosts. A significant proportion of the gentry retained the lands they possessed during the Polish period. This is evidenced by the indications in the census of 1668 for the privilei of the 1620s-1630s. The sizes of landholdings inherited from earlier times are different, from very small, in 2-3 villages, to very large, the size of a parish. Thus, Bolotovskaya and Usacherskaya volosts in the Polish period belonged to Jan Poplonsky, who bought these lands from Stanislav Unikhovsky in the 1630s. In Moscow time , these volosts were almost entirely in the possession of Ya 's sons . Leonty and Ivan Poplonsky ^{[12, l. 224-232]}. In the Simanovskaya volost, a large land ownership was assigned to the gentry widow Daria Yanovskaya, Malyshkin's wife, "according to the charter of the great sovereign and according to the refusal books and royal privileges in the royal privelye in 143" (1635) ^{[12, l. 212ob.]}. Part of the ground Cossacks and Belsky gunners retained their possessions. The last posadsky people of Belaya "amicably gave up"suburban fields " in half-locks and in morgues and in dungeons by lot per person, and three people own their old lots, which they owned under the Polish king" ^{[12, l. 246ob.]}. Partial preservation of lands for the former owners was observed in the XVI century, after the conquest Smolensk. In order to control the annexed territory, the withdrawal of Smolyans continued throughout the XVI century, but at the same time the lower layer of servants was initially left in place ^{[26, p. 256]}. After the conquest of the Smolensk region in the second half of the XVII century, the policy of the Russian government towards the local gentry was aimed at preserving its former privileges ^{[27, p. 172]}.

The location of localized settlements and wastelands shows that a significant proportion of the territory of the Belsky Uyezd was uninhabited. The developed territories were located mainly along the banks of rivers and individual lakes in isolated enclaves separated by swamps and forests. According to the data of the XVIII century, the lowest percentage of plowing among the Smolensk counties was observed in the Belsky district – 17%. ^{[28, p. 142]}. This feature of the territory of the county was explained, in addition to the devastation during the war, by the natural landscape, which was characterized by extensive wetlands and forests. The territory of the northern part of the Smolensk land in ancient times was occupied by the Okovsky forest, known according to chronicle data. According to L.V. Alekseev, the development of this space intensified only at the turn of the XV–XVI centuries ^[29].

Thus, the continuous localization of the toponymy of the censuses of the Belsky, Rzhevsky, Toropetsky counties of the XVI-XVII centuries made it possible to map in detail the volosts of the county and its territory as a whole. Scribal descriptions of the XVI–XVII centuries of three adjacent counties – Belsky, Toropetsky and Rzhevsky – allowed us to get an idea of the transformation of the territory of the Belsky district during this period. The idea of the territory of the Belsky volosts in the period after their entry into the Russian state at the beginning of the XVI century was obtained . In the first half of the XVI century, the Toropets volosts of Rozhnya and Bibirevo moved to Belaya. In the second half of the 1560s, part of the Belsky Uyezd became part of the Rzhev Volodimerov Uyezd. After the Time of Troubles, the Polish-Russian border was established along the border of Toropetsky, Rzhevsky and Zubtsov counties with Belsky volosts. After the entry of Belaya into the Russian state and the transfer to Rzheva Volodimerova of the former possession of the Catholic Church in the Zhukopov parish, the Belsky district acquired the outlines that existed in the XVIII century. Part of the territory of the county as a result of confiscations from the Catholic Church and secular landowners passed into the category of palace lands. However, a significant proportion of the Smolensk and Belsky gentry retained their possessions.

The involvement of the assembly material in conjunction with the materials of the scribal case will allow further study of the dynamics of land ownership in the territory of the Belsky volosts, including the pre-Moscow period.  

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