Zvenigorod

This Zvenigorod lay in the Chernigov-Severian lands, distinct from the town of the same name west of Moscow. Its old fortified site on the Nepolod, a river in the upper Oka river basin, was associated with a small local principality that emerged from the Karachev lands. The princes of Zvenigorod belonged to the Chernigov line, and the Bolkhov princes traced their descent from that family.

The upper Oka principalities stood between Lithuania and Moscow as both powers expanded. Prince Alexander of Zvenigorod entered Moscow’s service after 1408, while his former appanage ceased to exist under Lithuanian authority. A later survey records a churchyard on the land of the old Zvenigorod fortified site, preserving its name after the princely town had disappeared.