Vereya

Vereya stands on the Protva, west of Moscow, with the earthworks of its old fortified centre above the river. Alongside Mozhaysk, Borovsk and other towns, it formed part of a line of strongholds on the western side of the Muscovite lands. Its first secure chronicle mention concerns the Lithuanian prince Algirdas’s campaign toward Moscow in 1371.

Vereya belonged to the Mozhaysk appanage from 1389 until 1432, when it became the centre of a principality held by Mikhail Andreyevich, a grandson of Dmitry Donskoy. Mikhail also held Beloozero far to the north. Lithuanian forces devastated the district in 1445, and after Mikhail’s death in 1486 the principality passed to Moscow. During the Time of Troubles Polish-Lithuanian troops ravaged the town repeatedly, leaving it long in decline. In 1812 the French occupied Vereya while Napoleon’s army held Moscow. Russian forces retook the fortified town, but it again lay in the path of the retreat after the battle of Maloyaroslavets. Napoleon halted here briefly in October, and the war left the town damaged once more. Its riverbank earthworks retained the outline of the earlier fortress through these later struggles.