On 5 May 1626, Eustachy (Ostafi) Szaszkiewicz sold to Prince Stefan Światopołk-Czetwertyński, chamberlain of Bracław, all of his family's lands on the Kosnica and Kamienica. The price — 30,000 Polish zlotys — was a substantial sum for land without a single inhabitant. The type of agreement was więczysta przedaż, a perpetual purchase: there was no way back.

The oblata (the official registration) was entered on 24 January 1628 in the land court of Winnica (Vinnytsia). What exactly did Czetwertyński receive? Jabłonowski lists the items — and these are not villages, but geographical points:

«...przekazując im same „sieliszcza” jeszcze tylko, mian. Kosnicę nad Dniestrem, u ujścia rzeki tejże nazwy, Kosniczkę u jej wierzchowiska, Hruszkę u Dniestru, Kuźmin u ujścia Kiserniaku, Kiserniak — wyżej, nadto Kamienicę u ujścia Kamionki.»

«...handing over to them only the «sieliszcza» (settlement sites) as yet, namely: Kosnica on the Dniester, at the mouth of the river of the same name, Kosniczka at its headwaters, Hruszka on the Dniester, Kuźmin at the mouth of the Kiserniak, Kiserniak — further upstream, and Kamienica at the mouth of the Kamionka.»

Jabłonowski, A. — Ziemie ruskie, T. 3, pp. 724–725 (ref. Źr. dz. XX, 128)

The original act (Źr. dz. XX, 128) also names a seventh item — Pusta (Pustej). The general formula is «cum attinentiis aż w połowie rzeki Dniestra», that is, with all appurtenances as far as the middle of the Dniester's channel. Czetwertyński was buying not a patch of land, but the entire territory between the headwaters and the Dniester — three river basins.

An important detail: Czetwertyński was not merely a buyer. From 1625 he held the office of chamberlain of Bracław (podkomorzy bracławski) — the chief judge in land disputes within the voivodeship. It was the chamberlain who delimited estates, settled boundary quarrels, and confirmed deeds of purchase — and who at the same time was buying up land for himself. The conflict of interest is obvious: the man who was supposed to judge whose soil was whose was himself becoming the largest landowner in the region. This explains why he so easily obtained such a vast tract from the Szaszkiewicz family — and why no one challenged the deal.

Seven points — and each one anchored to a river mouth or headwater. Not manor houses, not fields, not boundaries — but places by the water where one could plant a village. Czetwertyński was buying not an estate, but the skeleton of a future colonization: the key points on three rivers — the Kosnica (Markivka), the Kiserniak (Oknitsa) and the Kamionka.

The first results: the 1629 register

Three years after the purchase — the first quantitative snapshot. The hearth-tax tariff (taryfa podymnego) of 1629 (Jabłonowski, T. 1, p. 234) records only three taxable settlements in the basin:

Hearth-tax tariff of Bracław Voivodeship, 1629. Estates of «Ks. Stefan Czetwertyński podkomorzy bracław.»: Żywotów (1689 hearths), Komargród (300), Kamienica (100), Rosowka (50), Kosnica mko nowoos. (40), Markowka (50), Kitajgród (94), Tymonowa wysznia (152).

Źródła dziejowe, T. XX (1894), p. 136

Kosnica is marked «mko nowoos.» — a town newly planted. Three years after the purchase, it was only just being colonized. Markivka (50 hearths) was already somewhat larger — perhaps settled earlier. The rest of the purchase — Kosniczka, Hruszka, Kuźmin, Kiserniak, Pusta — were still empty, without a single house.

And the crucial point: Miastkivka is not here. Neither in the register of 1629, nor in the purchase deed of 1626, nor in any other document of the period.

An important nuance: the tax rate was «z dymu po ½ złot.», but slobodas (new settlements on a grace period) were wholly exempt from the levy. Jabłonowski warns in his introduction: «epoka to słobod, całkowitych oraz dymów na „woli” — poborowi zupełnie nie poddawanych» — this was the age of slobodas, of whole villages «na woli» (on freedom), not taxed at all. That is why Kosnica entered the register as «mko nowoos.» — its privilege was in force, but its grace period had expired. Settlements still «na woli» were simply not recorded.

This means that the absence of Miastkivka from the 1629 register is not absolute proof that it did not exist. It could have existed as a young sloboda on its grace period. But, as we will see below, the sum of evidence indicates that at this time Miastkivka indeed did not yet exist. The middle Markivka — dozens of kilometres between Kosniczka and Kosnica — remained empty. The Czetwertyńskis had secured the edges, but the core of the wilderness was beyond their reach.

The river, two Kisnytsias, and the muddle of names

It is easy to become confused here, because one name is applied to three different things. Kosnica (Kisnytsia) is both a river (the modern Markivka) and two different settlements at its opposite ends:

Velyka Kisnytsia was a strategic point on the Dniester, and it was precisely here that the Szaszkiewicz family had planned their town in 1605. After the purchase of 1626, the Czetwertyńskis planted it first — by 1629 it already appears in the registers as a «newly planted town» with 40 hearths. Later, however, it passed to the Koniecpolskis — according to Sietsinskyi, «принадлежала Замойскимъ, Конецпольскимъ и Любомирскимъ» («it belonged to the Zamoyskis, the Koniecpolskis, and the Lubomirskis»).

Mala Kisnytsia (Kosniczka, later Janogród) — at the headwaters, at the opposite end of the basin — remained with the Czetwertyńskis. Sietsinskyi (parish no. 1340): «В XVIII ст. принадлежало кн. Четвертинскимъ» («in the 18th c. it belonged to the Princes Czetwertyński»). During excavations in the 1860s an ancient burial ground was found here (~60 skeletons with metal ornaments in the form of animals and birds) along with an underground passage to the river — traces of the very «sieliszcza» that the Szaszkiewicz family sold in 1626.

Kosnica on the Dniester — 1645

The Czetwertyńskis held their share for a long time. According to Boniecki's armorial (1901), Prince Mikołaj Czetwertyński (Stefan's son) still held the town of Kosnica on the Dniester in 1645 — that is, nineteen years after the purchase from the Szaszkiewicz family. Stanisławski brought suit against him over fugitive subjects «do Kośnicy».

Komargród: built by the Zamoyskis, occupied by the Czetwertyńskis

A curious detail: Komargród, built by the Zamoyskis in 1604 on the disputed «Drahushivskyi ground», was by 1629 already entered in the hearth-tax tariff as an estate of Czetwertyński (a sloboda, 300 hearths). Jabłonowski confirms directly: «W r. 1629 tedy do ks. Stefana już należą… m. Komargród» (T. 3, p. 602). After the purchase of the lands from the Szaszkiewicz family in 1626, Czetwertyński received Komargród as well — together with the other disputed tracts over which the Szaszkiewicz family had litigated with the Zamoyskis. The Zamoyskis kept Tomaszpol and Jampol on the Rusawa.

The delimitation of 1636

On 14–23 April 1636 an official delimitation of lands took place between Tomasz Zamoyski (Grand Crown Chancellor) and the Czetwertyńskis (Stefan — chamberlain of Bracław, and his sons Mikołaj, Iliasz, and Jan). The super-arbitrator was Jerzy Dydyński, chamberlain of Kamieniec. The document is preserved in the Crown Metrica (MK 181, nr 1344) and gives a detailed route of the border.

The start — between Komargród and Tomaszpol: the first kopce (boundary mounds) were raised south of the road, dividing the land in the proportion 2/3 and 1/3. The commissioners worked in two phases. First — to the north: the border ran from the Komargród–Tomaszpol road to the north-west, through Biała Krynica (Whitewell Spring, left on the Tomaszpol side), the Biała valley, the apiaries of Wołkowiński, to the forest of Sołony — opposite the road to Jurkówka. There they closed out the northern stretch and returned to the first mound.

The second phase — to the south, the main direction. From the first mound the border ran to the river (in the document — Rusawa; modern Rusavka — a tributary of the Rusava) and to the pond of Ostaszkowski (Ostaszkowski albo Staszkowski), which was left on the Tomaszpol side. On the far side of the pond it continued to the Matskova valley and out to the Soroka road — the route that ran from Kosnica to Soroca on the Dniester. Then — past the Matskova spring (Krynica Mackowa), across open land between the forests: Drakusz (to the right, on the Tomaszpol side) and Pohoryły (to the left, on the Komargród side). On emerging from the forests — back onto the Soroka road, as far as a fork: one way led to Soroca, the other to Kłembówka.

Here the Bulwany (Bułwany) appear — large stones on the watershed between the Rusawa and Kosnica basins. Bułwan (Polish/Ukrainian bovvan) means a stone boulder jutting out of the ground; in boundary descriptions of the 17th century such stones served as natural landmarks. The document records: «Bułwan pozostał po lewej stronie, w gruncie kosnickim» — the Bulwan remained to the left, on «kosnicki ground», that is, on Czetwertyński lands. Krawczuk marks them as «niezlok.» — unlocalized.

Next, the border ran along the Soroka road, through Hłuboczek — not merely a valley, but a river: the document says «nad samym Hłuboczkiem» (over the stream itself) and «gdzie wpada do Dniestru» (where it flows into the Dniester). The border crossed the road from Tomaszpol to Kamenica (Kamianytsia Dnistrova) and the road from Kosnica to Jampol — and right beside it the document records: «gdzie Jałaniec wpada w Kosnicę» — where the Jałaniec flows into the Kosnica. Kosnica here is unambiguously a river, and not only a settlement.

Hłuboczek itself became the boundary — «Doliną Hłuboczka wytyczono granicę». The left bank (east) was «grunt kosnicki», the lands of the Czetwertyńskis. The right bank (west) was «grunt Tomaszpola, i rzeki Rusawy», the lands of the Zamoyskis. The final mounds were raised on both sides: «jeden od strony Kosnicy, a drugi Jampola».

In its upper reaches Hłuboczek was still a shallow stream amid open fields. The document says «polem do Hłuboczka» — the border approaches across a field. Here it is crossed by the roads: Tomaszpol → Kamenica and Kosnica → Jampol — both of them linking settlements of different estates across a boundary river. Further downstream, however, the valley deepens; side ravines appear («dwie dolinki wpadające w Hłuboczek»), and before it reaches the Dniester the Hłuboczek becomes an impassable canyon — «z powodu skał i głębokości». The commissioners had to take a detour along the heights to the point where it falls into the Dniester. There «usypano dwa kopce… Łącznie usypano 132 kopce».

Where exactly is that place? Between Velyka Kisnytsia and Jampol, only one small river flows into the Dniester. Two villages stand on it — Severynivka and Frankivka. On modern maps this river is labelled «Nameless» — it has literally lost its name.

But the document of 1636 knows its name: Hłuboczek — Hlybochok. A small river that begins as a stream amid open fields and, before the Dniester, cuts through a rocky canyon — the typical relief of the Transdniestrian region. Four hundred years ago a border was drawn along it and the last kurgans were raised. Then the river lost its name — and to this day it is listed as «nameless».

Crown Metrica MK 181, nr 1344 (p. 117) Route of the border: from Komargród through the Rusavka, the Bułwany, and Hłuboczek to the Dniester. 132 kurgans. To the left — «grunt kosnicki» (the Czetwertyńskis), to the right — «grunt Tomaszpola» (the Zamoyskis).

AGAD, MK 181, k. 233–240; Krawczuk, Sumariusz, pp. 116–118

To the left of the border — «grunt kosnicki», the Czetwertyński lands: the entire basin of the Kosnica (Markivka) with its tributaries the Jałaniec and the Vilshanka, as well as the Kamionka and the Kiserniak. To the right — the Zamoyskis: Tomaszpol and Jampol on the Rusawa. Komargród — although built by the Zamoyskis in 1604 — already belonged to the Czetwertyńskis by 1629 (300 hearths in the tariff), and the border of 1636 begins between Komargród and Tomaszpol. Pobereże («the Shore») — the Dniester borderlands — was officially divided.

What was left after ten years

Over ten years (1626–1636) the Czetwertyńskis had done a great deal: they had bought 28 square miles of wilderness for 30,000 zlotys, planted three settlements (190 hearths by 1629), and concluded an official delimitation with the Zamoyskis. The headwaters (Markivka, Mala Kisnytsia) and the Dniester mouth (Velyka Kisnytsia, Kamienica) — these were settled. But between them — 40 kilometres of emptiness along the middle Markivka.

And then, on one old map, printed in Gdańsk, in the middle of that emptiness a mark appears — a settlement with two slobodas on both sides of the river that appears in no register at all. The name matches none of those known. Its coordinates point to a stone ford across the Shumylivka.

Who founded it, and when — must be worked out one source at a time.