Gorodetsk

Gorodetsk stood where the Ostrechina joins the Mologa, in the region known as Bezhetsky Verkh. Its older neighbor Bezhichi, a settlement of the Novgorod lands, was destroyed in 1272, after which the regional center shifted to the fortress of Gorodetsk. Medieval documents name Gorodetsk among the settlements of the Bezhetsk district and record the prince's judicial rights there. The area came under Moscow in the early fifteenth century, and from 1433 had its own prince subordinate to the Grand Prince of Moscow.

Gorodetsk remained the principal town of Bezhetsky Verkh through the changes of the eighteenth century. It was placed in Ingermanland Governorate in 1708 and transferred to Moscow Governorate in 1727. In 1766 it was renamed Bezhetsk; after the creation of Tver Viceroyalty it became the seat of Bezhetsky Uyezd in 1776. Its later name preserved that of the older district and settlement, though the town stood on the site of Gorodetsk.