Further along the river. Rubezhvits®, which flows at the borders of Vitebsk. and Mogilevsk. gub., the border reached the borders of Smolensk. lips., where it flows into the Palenitsa, a tributary of the Kaspli. On the Kasple Mountains. Kaspli (the village of Kaspli is not far from the lake of the same name). Edge of the mountains Kaspli on this border we will notice /Zhi-_chichi, ancient Zhidchichi. From Vaspli the borders went to Dvin$, approximately opposite Usvyat, Surazhek. y., and, perhaps, cut the Dvina south of Lake. Dvinya, from which the border ran along the divide between the rivers Kunya, a tributary of the Lovat, and Toropa, a tributary of the Dvina, ending north of Toropets Pekovsk. gub., from where the line turned to the east. On this border we see the Ibizhi tree near the lake. Zhizhetsky Toropetskogo u.
Turning to the data of modern geographical nomenclature, we encounter: north, on the very borders, Rubezh, and finally Gorodech to "p. from Usvyat.
As for the regional border of the Smolensk Principality, it is difficult to determine due to the lack of written data. The Smolensk Vrivichs bordered to the north with a very related tribe of the Novgorod Slavs, and besides, the trade and interests of the neighboring regions were so common that there were very frequent clashes between them. All this leads to the fact that at this frontier the slfds of the Ukrainian frontier are least affected, and at the same time the chronicles do not have the opportunity to mention the foreign phenomena.
The northern border of the Smolensk region with Novgorod began north of Toropets, which belonged to the Smolensk region; further the line went to Lake Seliger, although it was unknown whether this important point of the waterway was in the possession of the Novgorodians alone or they owned it together with the Smolyans “?). From Seliger the line went along the Volga to the city of Rzhev, Tver province, from
49) Prof. Barsov leans toward the more recent assumption, “Essays on R. Historical Geotr.”, p. 190.
EGINNING. KhPG ST. 29
which he crossed along the south-eastern direction to Gzhatsy u. Smolensk lips 50). These were the boundaries of the Grand Duchy of Smolensk in the first era of its independent life, as a separate independent domain, which actually dates back to half of the 19th century. during the time of Prince Rostislav Metislavich, grandson of the great Monomakh.
Having determined the border of the Smolensk land, let us now turn to its cities.
To restore the border of the Smolensk Principality in the period until the end of the 16th century. We will indicate a little in the chronicle and, in addition, a very important document - the Charter of Prince Rostislav Mstislavich, given by him to the Smolensk diocese in 1157. 51) The chronicle and the recognized charter mention almost 60 cities, the history of which (at least `mvr tbx, which can be found on modern maps) with sufficient clarity makes it possible to determine the boundaries of the principality.
Rostislav's charter is an important geographical document. Ola mentions 47 cities, of which only a few are mentioned in the `Topis. Before moving on to the definition of the cities of the Smolensk land, let’s look at the composition of the said charter.
When identifying cities on modern maps, named in the Rostislav Charter, researchers usually look for similar-sounding names of current mudflows in the territories of the former Smolensk Principality, if other, more specific names are found. But at the same time, there are often several identical or similar-sounding Name it. Which one should you give to the reader? Which one was a city or a village in the time of Rostislav? So, in the documents Dobryatino and Dobrochkovo are mentioned. On modern maps of the Smolensk and eastern parts of the Mogilev province, you can indicate many villages, the names of which come from the word good: Dobroe, a village in Chausskomt.
50) Laurel. 5. Wed. The Smolensky page is defined in Barsov, “Essays on Historical Geography,” p. 184,:91. wow
51) This document was published from the lists of KhUT c. in Add. to acts of history, vol. [, No. 4 in Khrest. in Russian ist. Aristova, pp. 678-681, in Khrest. according to et. Russian rights of Vladimirsky-Budanog, vol. T, 241-249.
Uzdv of Mogilev province, Dobromysl of Orsha Uzzd of the same province, Dobrichki of Rogachevsky u%zd, which Barsov points to. °*) We will also add Dobreiki on Dn$zpr, between Kopys and Mogilev, etc. d. If you directly select according to the map, then each of them has equal morality to be recognized as the mentioned villages in the charters. This definition is not very satisfactory. It would be important to determine at least approximately the range in which to look for the named cities.