Trubchevsk

Trubchevsk stands above the Desna in the Severian lands. Known in medieval times as Trubetsk or Trubech, it was the seat of a small principality and is named in The Tale of Igor's Campaign. The poem praises the courage of Prince Vsevolod Sviatoslavich and his warriors in the struggle against the Cumans.

The town came under Lithuanian rule in the late fourteenth century and passed to Moscow in 1503. The town had its own line of princes during several periods of the Middle Ages. Its princely family later settled in Moscow and became known as the Trubetskoy princes. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth recovered the town in 1609, but it returned to Russia in 1644. Polish and Tatar forces besieged it again in 1663 and 1667, illustrating the continuing struggles over the frontier.