The last document to mention Miastkivka in the 17th c. — the Koniecpolski estate-list drawn up in 1676–1679. Then — silence. Not a single register, not a privilege, not a letter. There is a reference to an inscription of 1708 on Zelenskyi's Gospel — but it is known only from a later retelling, without any photograph of the original. The first verified document after 1679 — the protocol of an interrogation in the castle court of Bar, September 1732. And this criminal case tells us more about Miastkivka than all the earlier sources put together.

This chapter covers the 18th century: from the Peace of Karlowitz (1699) to the last mention in the Arkhiv Yugo-Zapadnoi Rossii (AYuZR, 1789). It is about the Szpakowy Trail, the inn, the bandit-shielding sotnyk, the Jewish kahal, and the new masters — the Lubomirskis. About how a frontier fortress became a market town.

Between Two Epochs

Recall where we left off. In 1682 the childless Stanisław Samuel Koniecpolski passed his estates to his cousin Jan Aleksander. In 1699 the Peace of Karlowitz returned the Bracław region to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In 1719 Jan Aleksander — the last male of the line — died childless. At his funeral the family arms were broken.

Yet Miastkivka was not «empty». The Zelenskyi thread, which we have traced from the 1649 Register, was not broken. Dmytro Zelenskyi, son of sotnyk Mykhailo, became colonel of Lubny, in-law and comrade-in-arms of Hetman Mazepa. And Miastkivka was tied to him. The Topographical Description of Podolia Governorate at the End of the 18th Century (ed. Lehun Yu., Vinnytsia, 2017; a revised edition of 2025 is reported) records that in 1708 Dmytro Zelenskyi rebuilt in stone the Church of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos — the very church that still stands in Horodkivka today: «stone, not very large, very old… Built by His Honour, colonel of Lubny of the Zaporozhian Host Dmytro Zelenskyi in 1708, in the name of the Annunciation of Our Lady and Mother of God, the church». A wooden church had stood on this spot at least since 1654 (Paul of Aleppo), but it burned in Tatar raids (Sietsinskyi: 7 burnings).

On the margin of the altar Gospel (printed at the Kyiv-Caves Lavra, December 1697), presented on the occasion of the consecration, — a marginal inscription: «This Gospel… at the expense of His Grace Pan Dmytro Zelenskyi… colonel of Lubny, is given to the town of Miastkivka, his estate, for the Church of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos, in the year 1708».

After Poltava (1709) Dmytro Zelenskyi surrendered to the tsar's forces. Under interrogation he denied knowledge of the Swedish alliance — he was not believed. In 1711 he was exiled to Siberia, where he died in poverty. With him ended Cossack authority over Miastkivka. The town passes to the Lubomirskis. The first of them — Jerzy Aleksander Lubomirski (1666–1735), voivode of Sandomierz, who acquired part of the Koniecpolski estates from their collateral kinsman Leonard (c. 1713). Heleniusz (Pamiątki polskie, 1882) dates the acquisition to 1724; in 1744 the Lublin Tribunal confirmed their ownership against the claims of the Chałaims. An archival document of 1746 (CDIAK, fund 236, op. 1, file 15 — «Specifakacya dóbr klucza Lubomirskich») records Miastkivka among the estates of the two sons of Jerzy Aleksander: Stanisław (1704–1793, Crown podstoli) and Józef (1704–1755, Grand podstoli of Lithuania, childless — upon his death everything passed to his brother).

Heleniusz (Iwanowski), Pamiątki polskie, T. 1 (1882), pp. 332–333 «Roku 1724, dobra Koniecpolskich nabyli Lubomirscy» — the Koniecpolski estates acquired by the Lubomirskis in 1724. Tribunal decree of 1744 against the Chałaim claims.

Heleniusz (Iwanowski E.), Pamiątki polskie, T. 1, Kraków, 1882

But is this our Miastkivka? Yes. In 1751 the full title of Józef Lubomirski includes Miastkivka directly:

«Hrabia na Wiśniczu i Jarosławiu… Krasnem, Miastkówce, Tomaszpolu, Raszkowie, Sawraniu…»

Rawita-Gawroński, Studya i szkice historyczne, seria 1, Lwów, 1903, p. 61

Rawita-Gawroński (1903), p. 61 Miastkivka (Miastkówce) in the full title of Józef Lubomirski (1751) — alongside Krasne, Tomaszpol, Raszków, Savran.

Rawita-Gawroński F., Studya i szkice historyczne, seria 1, Lwów, 1903

And Rolle (Zameczki podolskie, 1880) lists Miastkivka among the nine towns of the Krasne latifundium — the chief Lubomirski holding: Busha, Raszków, Józefgród, Savran, Chechelnyk, Tsekinivka, Kruta, Miastkivka, Rybnytsia, Tomaszpol — 7 keys, 3 districts.

Rolle, Zameczki podolskie, vol. 3 (1880), p. 282 Miastkivka in the list of towns of the Krasne latifundium of the Lubomirskis.

Rolle J.A., Zameczki podolskie, vol. 3, Kraków, 1880

Three independent sources (Heleniusz, Rawita-Gawroński, Rolle) confirm it: Miastkivka — part of the Lubomirski estates, within the Krasne key. But all this testimony concerns the owners. About the town itself — silence. Until September 1732, when in the castle court of Bar the confession of an arrested criminal was written down.

The Confession of Kost Marchenko

September 1732. The castle court of Bar interrogates Kost Marchenko — a young furrier from Kalush. He is charged with a series of thefts and murders. Kost confesses. And his confession incidentally fixes a living town: the inn, the sotnyk, the fair, the trade road, the language and even the prices.

AYuZR, pt. III, vol. 3, pp. 38–39 Protocol of the interrogation of Kost Marchenko, September 1732. Castle court of Bar. Original: Vinnytsia grodzki books, ff. 4727–4730.

Arkhiv Yugo-Zapadnoi Rossii, pt. III, vol. 3 «Akty o gajdamakakh», 1876

Who Kost was

The first thing the protocol records is the biography of the accused:

«Kost' Marchenko syn, z Kalusza, mający lat 30, w szkołach greckich w mieście rodzinnym lat 6, a szkół łacińskich w Szarogrodzie z xięży Dominikanow lat dwie, potym u kuśnierza w Kaluszu lat 3.»

AYuZR, pt. III, vol. 3, p. 38

Thirty years old. Six years of Greek schools in Kalush, two years of Latin schools with the Dominicans in Szarogród, three years as an apprentice to a furrier. Eight years of education — for the son of a craftsman in early-18th-c. Podolia, this is striking. Greek and Latin schools were accessible not only to the szlachta but also to townsmen.

An educated furrier, married, with his own workshop — and yet he slid onto the criminal path. The protocol fixes the moment: after his wyzwoliny (the drinking party marking the end of apprenticeship) Kost drank himself out of everything — «żem gorzały został», «that I was left of vodka» (= left with nothing). He went out into the town «na poprawkę» — for the hair of the dog. By a log he met Yakym from Serebriya. Yakym turned out to be an acquaintance through Kost's aunt, who had married Ulas, the wójt of Serebriya. Yakym talked Kost into it: «jedź ze mną, ja cię zawiodę» — «come with me, I'll take you». Where, why — the protocol does not say, and Kost, it seems, did not ask. What followed was a chain that began with stolen horses and ended with a double murder.

«Having ridden out of the town»

«Ztamtąd pojechali do Miastkowki y, za miasto wyjechawszy, Jakim schodził do sotnika, a Kost' przy wozie został; powróciwszy się Jakim, przyniósł chlib z sobą y mówił: «że trzeba jechać na… do Krutych».»

AYuZR, pt. III, vol. 3, p. 38

Translation: «From there they rode to Miastkivka and, having ridden out of the town, Yakym went down to the sotnyk, while Kost stayed by the wagon; returning, Yakym brought bread with him and said: "that we must go to… to Kruti".»

The sotnyk

But the sotnyk of Miastkivka is not merely an administrator. On the way back from the fair in Kruti, Yakym boasts to Kost:

«Chlubił się Jakim przed Kostiem: «że mam pistolet od sotnika niezawodny, choć y w wodę umoczyć. Wrah by ioho bat'ka wbyw, chot' ty koni krady, to ważko ich zbuty, ałe kołyb sia myni iakij żydok trapyw, zaraz bym ioho zastreływ; najłuczsze myni do sotnyka, to toy w bidu ne uważyt, ałe szcze wyjme.»

AYuZR, pt. III, vol. 3, p. 39

Translation: «Yakym boasted to Kost: "I have a pistol from the sotnyk, reliable, even if you dip it in water. Devil take his father, even if you steal horses, it is hard to dispose of them, but if some little Jew should come my way, I'd shoot him at once; best of all for me — to the sotnyk, he won't leave me in trouble, he'll even pull me out."»

«Bude y tobi teje, wrażyj synule»

The second visit to Miastkivka. Yakym and Kost are riding back from Kodyma together with Jewish merchants who are driving a wagon loaded with wax and hides. On the approach to Miastkivka the roads diverge:

«Żydzi pojechali do Kodymy, a wspomnieni pojechali gostińcem Szpakowym ku Miastkówce, gdzie w takowey karczmie Jakim ukradłszy siekirę, wraz z swoią podał Kostiowi, a za tą karczmą w polu nocowali.»

AYuZR, pt. III, vol. 3, p. 39

«By the Szpakowy highway towards Miastkivka» — the trade route has its own name. In the inn Yakym steals an axe, and together with his own passes it to Kost. Behind the inn — a night in the fields. And then the roads converge again:

«Znowu popasali pod Haraczkowką, y tam obnocowali w czaharach, wraz z żydami, którzy nagnali wspomnionych: Jakima y Kostia. Na popasie żydzi, przyniosłszy siana, posłali się na wozie, y tam zasnęli.»

AYuZR, pt. III, vol. 3, p. 39

Near Horachkivka, in the thickets, the Jews caught up with Yakym and Kost. They spread hay on the wagon. They fell asleep.

«Jakim poszedł, wziowszy siekirę […] strzelił w piersi, aż koszula się zajęła na starszym żydzie Herszku; któren, zwaliwszy się z wozu, upadł, a leżącego na ziemi, siekirą w łeb bijąc, zabił.»

AYuZR, pt. III, vol. 3, p. 39

Yakym went, having taken the axe. He fired into the chest — from that same pistol «from the sotnyk, reliable» — so that the shirt caught fire on the elder Jew, Herszko. Herszko tumbled from the wagon, fell to the ground. As he lay there — Yakym killed him, striking his head with the axe.

The second merchant remained — on the wagon:

«Wrociwszy się Jakim do wozu, pyta się Kostia: «gdzie drugi żyd?» Odpowiedział Kost': «na wozie». A żyd, siedzący na wozie, pytał się Jakima, gdzie drugi żyd? Jakim odpowiedział: «bude y tobi teje, wrażyj synule» — y w tym, rzuciwszy na ziemię, siekirą w głowę ugodziłszy, zabił.»

AYuZR, pt. III, vol. 3, p. 39

«Bude y tobi teje, wrażyj synule» («The same for you, you devilish brat») — Yakym answers the second merchant in Ukrainian, written down in Polish phonetic spelling, and kills him with the axe. This is a rare record of living colloquial Ukrainian, fixed in a criminal protocol of 1732.

After the murder: the loot — wax, 30 hides, a horse. And that same night — a third visit to Miastkivka:

«Ztąd przez Miastkowkę przejechali y jechali przez całe noc; za Miastkowko tey samey nocy ukradli parę koni: jedne gniade, obie klaczy, a te, z wozu wyprzęgłszy: jednego po zabitych żydach, a drugiego karego porzucili na tłokę.»

AYuZR, pt. III, vol. 3, p. 39

«They passed through Miastkivka and rode the whole night; beyond Miastkivka that same night they stole a pair of horses» — two bay mares; the surplus horses «they abandoned on the tłoka» (the common pasture). Even in the middle of the night, after a double murder, the criminals come back here — the town is familiar to them, there is something to steal, there is somewhere to flee.

The furriers turn him in

Next — they split up. Yakym went to Hrehorivka, to his son-in-law — to hide the loot. Kost waited by the river in Serebriya, did not see Yakym — and set off alone, with the whole wagon, back to Kalush, to his brother-in-law Łukian. There he left the wagon — and went into the town.

Kost stops at an inn «for a drink with the furriers» — to drink with his former colleagues of the guild — and admits that he has stolen goods. The furriers report to the authorities. Arrest. Confiscation: 39 zlotys 15 grosz.

«Poszedł do miasta na podpitek z kuśnierzami y przyznał się, że kradzione mam rzeczy; y tak dano do zwierzchności znać y w areszt wzięto.»

AYuZR, pt. III, vol. 3, p. 39

The route and geography of the case

Now that we have walked through the whole story step by step, let us look at it from above. A single interrogation protocol — and Miastkivka appears three times: the sotnyk, the inn, the horse-theft. Three visits to one townlet on a single «run» — this is no accident, it is a base-point in a network.

The Szpakowy Trail

«By the Szpakowy highway towards Miastkivka» — this phrase from the 1732 interrogation has proved the key to a wider picture. Miastkivka stood not merely «by a road» — it stood on one of the main chumak trade routes of the Pobereże.

Military-Statistical Review of Podolia Governorate (1849), p. 59 «Самый главный есть, такъ называемый, Шпаковъ шляхъ. Мѣстечко Красное есть средоточный пунктъ…»

Voenno-stat. obozrenie Podolskoi gubernii, 1849

Four independent sources fix this road:

«Szlak Szpakowy zaczynał się w okolicy Lipowca, ciągnął się na Bracław, Krasne, Berszadę, Krute, Miastkowkę […] do Bałty, ztąd zaś do Olwiopola i nareszcie u przeprawy Nikityna ginął zupełnie. Mylili się więc Skalkowski utożsamiając tenże szlak z Czarnym, który zupełnie inny zachowywał kierunek.»

Słownik Geograficzny, vol. XII, p. 783

The Szpakowy Trail is not the Black Trail and not the Kuczmański Trail. The Słownik directly refutes Skalkowski, who identified the Szpakowy with the Black. The Black ran along the Dnieper–Bug watershed, the Kuczmański along the Bug–Dniester. The Szpakowy is a separate route, probably a local offshoot, but with its own name, its own etymology (from the haidamaka leader Szpak) and its own function.

Mappa Geograficzna Województwa Bracławskiego (1790) Geographical Map of the Bracław Voivodeship, redrawn in 1790 through the efforts of Piotr Poloński, commissar of the Civil-Military Commission.

Scale: 10 German miles / 8 free Ukrainian miles

Fragment: the region of the Szpakowy Trail Raszków, Kodyma, Dubăsari and settlements along the route from the Dniester.

Mappa Geogr. Woj. Bracławskiego, 1790 (fragment)

Military-Statistical Review of Podolia Governorate (1849) Description of the road from Kosnica to Miastkivka: «a continuous defile between ravines».

Voenno-stat. obozr. Podolskoi gub., 1849

And here is what the road to Miastkivka looked like coming from the Dniester:

«Отъ Косницы до Мятковкіи дорога проложена между ручьями Косницею и Марковною, текущими въ глубокихъ оврагахъ, такъ что составляетъ собою непрерывную дефилею, между вѣтвями овраговъ, стремящихся въ обѣ рѣки.»

Military-Statistical Review of Podolia Governorate, 1849

A defile — a narrow passage between two obstacles. The road from the Dniester to Miastkivka ran between the deep ravines of the Kosnica and the Markivka. The very terrain that made Miastkivka «крЪпкою» («strong») in 1674 (when the Horde could not take it), in the 18th–19th c. worked as a trade corridor: the only convenient route from the Dniester crossing into the depths of the Pobereże.

The New Masters

We have already seen how Miastkivka changed owners: the Lubomirskis acquired the Koniecpolski estates in 1724, the 1744 tribunal confirmed their ownership, and in 1751 Miastkivka appeared in the title of Józef Lubomirski. But what exactly did the new owners do with the town?

The kościół: 1747 or 1785?

One of the first signs of the new owners' presence — the Roman Catholic church (kościół). But the sources contradict one another.

The contradiction is resolved by the schematyzm of 1831 (the scholarly edition by Szczepaniak, in the Textus et Studia series; archival file DAChmO, fund 685, op. 4, file 23). It is unequivocal: the masonry church with treasury and sacristy, of brick on stone foundations, was built in 1747 at the expense of Prince Józef Lubomirski (not Stanisław!). In the same year the founder endowed a fundusz of 800 zlotys for the maintenance of the parish priest.

Schematyzm of the Diocese of Kamieniec, 1831 (ed. Szczepaniak, Textus et Studia), pp. 79–80. Entry on Miastkivka: masonry church of 1747, founder Prince Józef Lubomirski, restoration 1785 (Bielski + Jaroszyński), parish erected 1808.

DAChmO, fund 685, op. 4, file 23, ff. 273–273v, 275

1785 is a restoration, not a construction. At the expense of Antoni Bielski and Mikołaj Jaroszyński, stolnik of Vinnytsia. Bielski additionally endowed 1,600 zlotys for the maintenance of two vicars. The parish was formally erected only in 1808, and consecrated by Bishop Franciszek Borgiasz Mackiewicz only in 1841.

Marczyński, vol. III (1823), pp. 199–200 «Miastkówka, za przywileiem rzeczypospolitey polskiey założona przy końcu wieku XVI…» The first full description of Miastkivka.

Marczyński W. Statystyczne… opisanie gubernii podolskiey. T. III. Wilno, 1823

Jewish Miastkivka

The 1732 criminal case incidentally records the presence of Jews: merchants with wax and hides, a shared journey from Kodyma, trade ties between Jewish and non-Jewish inhabitants. But the true scale of Jewish Miastkivka is revealed by the four successive censuses of 1765–1791.

In 1765 Miastkivka, with 604 Jewish souls, ranked fourth in the Bracław Voivodeship — after Józefgród/Bałta (756), Granów (662) and Braiłów (642). For comparison: Nemyriv — 602, Tulchyn — 546, Vinnytsia — 465. Miastkivka was larger than Vinnytsia.

The kahal (Jewish community council) district of Miastkivka encompassed 25–30 settlements: Zabokrych, Jałaniec, Chrystyshche, Verbka, Sokolivka, Pyschanka, Levkiv, Chobotarka, Sharapanivka, Vysoka Hroblia, Horachkivka, Vilshanka, Dmytrashkivka… Familiar names — all these villages we have already seen in the 17th-c. documents.

The censuses also record specific individuals. The rabbi — Maorko Helskowicz; the kwartalny (elected representative) — Nota Chajmowicz; the szkolnik (synagogue warden) — Gdul Ickowicz. The inspector (state inspector) — Kazimierz Myśliński, inspector of Tomaszpol.

The Haidamaka Movement

The 1732 interrogation of Marchenko is not an isolated criminal case. It was published in the AYuZR volume titled «Akty o gajdamakakh» («Records of the Haidamakas»). Miastkivka stands at the very heart of the region that gave birth to the Haidamaka movement.

Simashkevych (1872) directly names the Józefgród (= Markivka) — Bałta district as one of the two principal centres of haidamaka band-formation in Podolia: «they withdrew into the steppes around Józefgród and Bałta and there they formed robber bands under the name „kharcyzy“ or „haidamaky“». Józefgród is the renamed Markivka, the very river on which Miastkivka stands. Bałta — 30 km to the south.

June 1734 — the uprising of Colonel Werłan (a Wallachian from Silesia). A thousand fighters are gathered from the Raszków key, Markivka (estates of the Czetwertyńskis), Kisnytsia. The camp stands by the village of Popeliukhy — a parish of Miastkivka. From there detachments go out: 12 mounted men for plunder, 50 mounted against the Cossacks of Sharhorod. Among those sworn in are Kifa, a rotmistrz from Markivka (estate of Prince Czetwertyński), a porucznik from Raszków, a sotnyk from Komargród.

1738 — Kurjer Polski reports: the haidamakas «Raszków i Granów ze wszystkim wyrabować y wielu żydów wykłuć» — plundered Raszków and Granów utterly, stabbed many Jews to death. Raszków is a neighbouring Lubomirski key, ~25 km from Miastkivka.

1765 — a blow to the owner. Krasne — the administrative centre of the same Lubomirski key as Miastkivka (though far off, ~60 km to the north-west) — was utterly destroyed by the haidamakas: the castle and the town levelled with the ground, in spite of a numerous militia. The Krasne key was the single administrative structure linking Miastkivka, Raszków, Chechelnyk, Savran. When the centre of the key fell, the periphery was left defenceless.

1768 — the Koliivshchyna. Maksym Zalizniak and Ivan Honta raise the largest uprising of the 18th c. The massacre at Uman. Batyushkov lists the towns that «burned in fire and were drenched in the blood of Jews and Poles»: Bracław, Vinnytsia, Mohyliv, Bar, Nemyriv, Savran. Sotnyk Shylo leads his detachment against Bałta, slaughters all the Jews and engages the Turks beyond Kodyma. After the uprising was crushed, a military tribunal sat at Mohyliv-Podilskyi — 90 km from Miastkivka.

No direct account of the events of 1768 in Miastkivka itself has been found. But «100 Jewish Townlets» says plainly: the Jewish community of Miastkivka suffered at the hands of haidamaka bands. And in the Olhopil County, within which Miastkivka lay, toponyms are preserved to this day: the Haidamaka Valley and Haidamaka Well (v. Fliuryna), the Haidamaka Graves (Chetvertynivka).

«From beyond Miastkivka, from Horachkivka»

The year 1789. Twenty-one years after the Koliivshchyna. The Order Commission of Podole Voivodeship investigates rumours of a new anti-szlachta revolt. An Orthodox priest, Pavlo Kotelskyi, parish priest of Lanckoroń, warns peasants at confession: «do not spend the night in the manor… for in these times they will be slaughtering Poles and Jews». Lieutenant Marszycki reports to the commission. A series of interrogations follows.

Among those interrogated is Ivan, son of Fedko Rypenko. He works as a hired hand for the parish priest at Vorobiivka. But he comes —

«Iwan Fedka Rypenka syn z za Miaskowki z Horaczkowki, w Worobijowce u xiędza parocha teyże wsi służący rok […] zeznał: iż ja, będąc pijanym, możem mówił te słowa, ktore na mnie włożyli żydzi, że w żydowskiey y lackiey krwi broczyć będziemy у one pić, ale tego nie pamiętam.»

AYuZR, pt. III, vol. 5, p. 562, document CCXCVII

«From beyond Miastkivka, from Horachkivka» — Miastkivka as the principal landmark for the surrounding villages. The same formula as in 1654 (Krypiakevych: «to the town of Miastkivka belonged the townlet of Horachkivske and Vilshanka»). After 135 years, Horachkivka is still defined «through Miastkivka».

And Ivan's confession is a mirror of the 1732 criminal case. Again Miastkivka as a geographical node. Again everyday speech:

«Że welyка bude bida, bo lachiw у żydiw rizaty budut.»

AYuZR, pt. III, vol. 5, pp. 562–563 (testimony of another witness)

«That there will be great trouble, for they will slaughter Poles and Jews» — living colloquial Ukrainian of 1789, written down in Polish phonetic spelling. Compare with 1732: «bude y tobi teje, wrażyj synule». Two cross-sections of the same language, at an interval of 57 years.

What Marczyński Sees

c. 1823. Wawrzyniec Marczyński, author of a statistical description of Podolia Governorate, leaves the first extended description of Miastkivka:

«Miastkówka, za przywileiem rzeczypospolitey polskiey założona przy końcu wieku XVI, leży nad Szumiłówką do Dniestru płynącą, porządnie z drzewa zabudowana, należała dawniey do Xiążąt Lubomirskich i Bielskich. Kościół parafiialny murowany z cegły, założony 1785 r. przez Bielskiego. Jest tu kamień wapienny, ciosowy, murowy, młyński i na brusy oraz toczydła sposobny.»

Marczyński W. Statystyczne… opisanie gubernii podolskiey. T. III. Wilno, 1823. P. 200

Translation: Miastkivka, founded by a privilege of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth at the end of the 16th c., lies on the Szumiłówka, which flows into the Dniester, neatly built of wood. Formerly belonged to the Princes Lubomirski and to the Bielskis. The parish church is of brick masonry. There is here limestone, ashlar, millstone.

Note: Marczyński writes «należała dawniey» — «formerly belonged». In 1823 the Lubomirskis and the Bielskis no longer own Miastkivka. But by the end of the 18th c. the town is already with the Bielskis. Rolle (Zameczki podolskie, vol. 3) tells how. The voivode of Kyiv, Lubomirski, was «niespełna rozumu» (of unsound mind). According to Przeździecki he gambled away his estates at cards:

«Fortunę taką, królestwo rzec można, przegrał on w karty Józefowi Sosnowskiemu, pisarzowi w. litewskiemu.»

Rolle, Zameczki podolskie, vol. 3, p. 281 (after: Przeździecki, vol. II, p. 55)

Rolle, Zameczki podolskie, vol. 3 (1880), pp. 281–282 «Przegrał on w karty Józefowi Sosnowskiemu» — the loss of the estates by Lubomirski. Bartoszewicz's version: purchase for next to nothing from the mentally ill prince (1768); marriage of Sosnowski's daughter Ludwika to Prince Józef Lubomirski; the estates returning as her dowry.

Rolle J.A., Zameczki podolskie, vol. 3, Kraków, 1880

But Bartoszewicz gives a different version: Sosnowski grew close to the prince's wife, and in 1768 in Lwów bought the Szarogród estate for next to nothing from the sick man. The wife stole the promissory note and gave it to Sosnowski. The sons sued; the Sejm of 1775 heard the case. Compromise: Sosnowski's younger daughter, Ludwika, married the son of the podstoli, Prince Józef Lubomirski, and received the Szarogród estate as her dowry — the estates returned to the Lubomirskis through marriage (Rolle, vol. 3, pp. 282–283).

But this «soap opera» concerns the Szarogród estate. The Miastkivka key was part of the Krasne latifundium, and had a different fate. In 1766 Lubomirski sold Krasne with 9 villages to Mikołaj Piaskowski, starosta of Taraszcza (ESU, entry «Krasne»). Miastkivka was not included in that sale — most likely it was sold separately, directly to the Jaroszyńskis, somewhere between 1766 and 1785.

Who was Antoni Bielski? The genealogy supplies the answer: Antoni Bielski herbu Jelita (c. 1720–28.II.1789, Pieniaki) — Court Master of the Hunt of the Crown (from 1750), starosta of Czerwonogród, Austrian count (1778), knight of the Order of the White Eagle (1782). His principal residence was Pieniaki (modern Brody Raion, Lviv Oblast). His wife — Tekla née Kalinowska, daughter of Ludwik Kalinowski, starosta of Vinnytsia (Boniecki, Herbarz Polski, entry «Kalinowski»: «Teklę, za Antonim Bielskim, łowczym nadwornym koronnym», Gr. Lwows. 1762; PSB, vol. II, p. 60).

Marczyński (1823) confirms: Miastkivka «należała dawniey do Xiążąt Lubomirskich i Bielskich». The 1831 schematyzm: the church was «odnowiono w 1785 r. z funduszy Antoniego Bielskiego oraz Mikołaja Jaroszyńskiego» — restored at the expense of both. Bielski also endowed 1,600 zlotys for the vicars.

In 1785, Bielski (Antoni) and Mikołaj Jaroszyński are recorded as co-founders of the church's restoration (1831 schematyzm; DAChmO, fund 685, op. 4, file 23).

And already in 1791 the Land Tabula of Lwów (CDIAL, fund 166, op. 13, file 360) records Mikołaj Jaroszyński as sole owner of Miastkivka. That is, the Bielskis owned the town for only a very short time — a few years, perhaps less than a decade. Mikołaj Jaroszyński — deputy to the Great Sejm (1790) from the Bracław Voivodeship, knight of the Order of the White Eagle — died in Miastkivka on 2 October 1805 (sejm-wielki.pl). His son Jan (1783–1842) — is the very marshal of Olhopil County whom Marczyński will record in 1823.

From 25 hearths (1664) to 604 Jewish souls (1765) — and that is the Jewish population alone, without the Orthodox and Catholics. From a «sloboda» to a «town» with a sotnyk, a kahal, a masonry church and a trade road. No longer a frontier fortress — a market town on a chumak route.

A Century of Reckoning

The 18th century is the century in which Miastkivka ceased to be a fortress and became a market town. The Kuczmański Trail no longer carries the Horde — along it travel chumak caravans. The Stone Ford — no longer a bridgehead but a crossing for merchants. The sotnyk — no longer a garrison commander but a middleman (and not always an honest one). The inn — not merely a tavern but an infrastructural node on the road from the Dniester to Bałta.

But the 18th c. is also the century of blood. The haidamaka uprisings of 1734, 1750, 1768 rolled over the Pobereże in waves of anti-Jewish and anti-Polish violence. Krasne — the centre of the same Lubomirski key — was levelled to the ground (1765). Sotnyk Shylo slaughtered the Jews at Bałta (1768). The Koliivshchyna of Zalizniak and Honta was a catastrophe for dozens of townlets. The Jewish community of Miastkivka shrank by a quarter, and in 1797 was forced to take out a loan of 1,200 zlotys from the Catholic church, which it paid off over 60 years.

The Koniecpolski line died out, but their town lives on. The Lubomirskis build a church. Bielski replaces it with one of masonry. None of them will be remembered as Stanisław Koniecpolski is remembered, who founded Miastkivka «for the defence of the Kingdom», or as sotnyk Zelenskyi, who held it against the Horde. But it is they — the Lubomirskis, the Bielskis, the Jaroszyńskis, rabbi Maorko Helskowicz, the kwartalny Nota Chajmowicz and even the criminal Kost Marchenko — who made Miastkivka a market town, and not a monument to a vanished fortress.

And then two voices have outlived them all: Yakym's «bude y tobi teje, wrażyj synule» (1732) and the peasant's «welyка bude bida, bo lachiw у żydiw rizaty budut» («there will be great trouble, for they will slaughter Poles and Jews», 1789). The living language of the Pobereże — written down by an alien hand in the protocols of interrogations. No other records of Ukrainian speech tied to our settlement have been found from the 18th c.