Mikhaylov

Mikhaylov stands on the steep left bank of the Pronya, on the southern approaches to the Ryazan lands. Its wooden walls and ditch guarded a frontier exposed to raids from the steppe. The town became a home to soldiers and craftsmen whose work sustained the fortress as well as the surrounding settlement.

A chronicle records the building of Mikhaylov as a defensive town in 1551, under the direction of the voivodes Vorotynsky and Golovin. Streltsy, gunners and Cossacks served in its garrison, while carpenters, smiths and coachmen supplied other needs. Suburbs grew around the fort, many bearing the names of their inhabitants' occupations. The service population also farmed and traded; as the frontier moved farther south, the town's role gradually changed from a military outpost to a local centre of the Ryazan countryside.