Rostislavl-Ryazansky

Rostislavl stood on a high promontory above the right bank of the Oka, on the northwestern frontier of the Ryazan principality. A ravine and the river protected the site, while earthworks and wooden walls strengthened its defences. The Nikon Chronicle attributes its foundation in 1153 to Prince Rostislav Yaroslavich of Ryazan.

In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries Rostislavl was the seat of a branch of the Ryazan princely house. Its small fortified core and adjacent settlements housed a prince and his followers as well as townspeople. After Ryazan's incorporation into Moscow in 1521, the town lost importance to nearby Zaraysk, where a brick fortress was built. Rostislavl continued to appear in records into the seventeenth century, but its urban life declined, leaving an earthwork above the Oka as a reminder of the former frontier town.