Izborsk

Izborsk guarded the western approaches to Pskov from its heights above the lake country. A fortified settlement existed here by the early medieval period, and the town became a key stronghold on the frontier of the Novgorod lands. It was taken and retaken during wars with the Livonian knights in the thirteenth century. In 1330 Sheloga, a Pskov #italic posadnik#!, and the people of Pskov and Izborsk built a new stone fortress on Zheravya Hill, digging ditches below its walls.

Izborsk belonged to Pskov when that republic separated from Novgorod in 1348. The fortress withstood repeated sieges, but in 1569 a small Lithuanian force gained entry by deception and briefly took it. Ivan IV recovered the stronghold, yet the affair provoked executions and deepened his suspicions of treason in the northwestern towns. Lithuanian troops captured Izborsk again during the siege of Pskov in 1581; the truce of Yam-Zapolsky returned it to Russia the following year. After the Great Northern War moved the frontier westward, Izborsk's ancient walls no longer guarded the edge of the state.