Kurmysh

Kurmysh stands where the Kurmyshka meets the Sura, on a river long contested between the Rus' principalities and the powers of the middle Volga. Its fortress was an eastern outpost of the Nizhny Novgorod lands, protecting the approaches to the Oka and Volga. Churches and settlements grew beyond the wooden walls.

Prince Boris Konstantinovich founded the fortress in 1372. It appears in the late medieval list of Russian towns, but its frontier position brought repeated danger. Edigu's forces destroyed it in 1408, after which it was rebuilt. In 1445 Uluğ Muhammad of Kazan occupied Kurmysh after defeating and capturing Grand Prince Vasily II. The fortress remained an important border post until the advance of Muscovite power farther east and the conquest of Kazan changed its military role.