Ryl’sk, Russia

History

Rylsk was first mentioned in a chronicle in 1152 as one of the Severian towns. It had become the seat of an appanage principality by the end of the 12th century before coming into the hands of Lithuanian rulers sometime in the late 13th or early 14th century. The Polish king Casimir IV made a grant of it to Dmitry Shemyaka's son Ivan, who had settled in Lithuania. Ivan's son Vasily defected to the Grand Duchy of Moscow, but Lithuanians held the town until 1522.

During the Time of Troubles, it was one of the first towns to welcome False Dmitry I as the Tsar. After Ukraine's integration into the Russian Empire, Rylsk capitalized on the trade between Little Russia and Great Russia. Numerous merchants resided in the town. Today its population is the same as it had been about a century before.

Soviet authority in Rylsk was established in November 1917. In mid-1918, at the end of the first Ukrainian–Soviet War, Rylsk briefly became part of the Ukrainian State. It was retaken by the Soviets at the start of the second war.

During World War II, the town was occupied by the German Army from October 5, 1941 to August 31, 1943.

From the History section of Rylsk, Russia on Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.