Timeline
Wilderness 1459–1626
1459
Grant of Semen Olelkovych
The earliest document: Prince Semen Olelkovych of Kyiv grants Shashko his «otchyna and didyzna»
(paternal and ancestral estate) on the rivers Rusava, Kosnica, and Kamienica. The lands in the basin of the future Horodkivka appear in written sources for the first time.
The Szaszkiewicz — a Volhynian noble family, who preserved this grant as the chief proof of their rights to the Bracław lands for the next
170 years. The whole basin of the Kosnica/Markivka remained an uninhabited wilderness.
→ Chapter I: The Wild Fields
→ Chapter I: The Wild Fields
1569
«Empty settlement-sites»
The Union of Lublin. The Szaszkiewicz live in Volhynia, while their Bracław grounds are «sieliszcza puste» (empty settlement-sites).
No one dares to settle the steppe frontier.
1604–1609
Litigation of the Szaszkiewicz
The Szaszkiewicz take the Zamoyski family to court over «the Drahushowski ground» (1604) and
over raids on the Kosnica and Rusava grounds (1609). The privilege of 1605 allows them
«to found a small castle and to settle a town» on the Kisnytsia — but it is never realized.
The privilege of Sigismund III of 1605 — the first attempt at colonizing precisely this region.
The Szaszkiewicz had no resources for actual settlement, and the lands remained empty for another 20 years.
→ Chapter I: The Wild Fields
→ Chapter I: The Wild Fields
Founding and the Cossack Era 1626–1654
5.V.1626
Sale of the lands to Czetwertyński
Eustachy (Ostafi) Szaszkiewicz sells to Prince Stefan Czetwertyński the lands on the Kosnica and Kamienica
for 30,000 zlotys. The beginning of the real colonization of the Markivka basin.
The oblata (official registration) of the agreement in the land court of Winnica — 24.I.1628. This is the key moment:
the lands pass from old but passive owners to an active colonizer.
→ Chapter II: The First Colonization
→ Chapter II: The First Colonization
1629
Hearth-tax register
The first census: Markivka — 50 hearths, Kosnica — 40 («newly planted»), Kamienica — 100.
Miastkivka is not yet there — it will be founded later.
The hearth-tax tariff of 1629 records the first settlements in the Markivka basin. The absence of Miastkivka
means that it appeared after the privilege of 1637.
→ Chapter II: The First Colonization
→ Chapter II: The First Colonization
14–23.IV.1636
Delimitation of the lands
Delimitation Zamoyski / Czetwertyński: 132 kopce (boundary mounds) from the Dniester along the watershed heights.
The borders of the estates in which Miastkivka will soon appear are determined.
A ten-day circuit of the boundary fixed the topography, which helps to locate precisely
the early settlements of the Kosnica/Markivka basin.
→ Chapter II: The First Colonization
→ Chapter II: The First Colonization
27.II.1637
Privilege of Władysław IV
King Władysław IV grants 8 towns Magdeburg law upon the Kuczmański Trail (MK 182).
Mass urbanization of the steppe frontier under Koniecpolski's aegis.
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~1637
Founding of Miastkivka
After the privilege of 27.II.1637 the Grand Crown Hetman Stanisław Koniecpolski
founds the town on the Markivka near the stone ford. The name Miastkówka — «little town».
Krykun's footnote (CDIAUK, f. 256) points to ~1635, but is not verified.
Until 1625 the Koniecpolskis had nothing in the Bracław region. The whole Markivka basin remained a wilderness.
Koniecpolski's colonization was unprecedented in scale: 170 towns, 740 villages, 120,000 subjects.
→ Chapter III: The Founding
→ Chapter III: The Founding
before 1648
Kamionobrod on Beauplan's map
The French engineer Guillaume Levasseur de Beauplan places the settlement on his map as Kamionobrod
with two slobodas (⊕⊕) on either side of the Shumylivka. The coordinates match modern Horodkivka to within 400 m.
Beauplan recorded the colloquial name of the crossing — «Stone Ford» — not the chancery «Miastkowka».
Per Beauplan's legend, ⊕ = «Sloboda, latine nova Colonia» — two slobodas (new colonies) on either side.
→ Chapter III: The Founding
→ Chapter III: The Founding
26.IX.1643
Koniecpolski on the Bug Trakt
The diariusz of Oświęcim: Hetman Koniecpolski rides the Bug Trakt, passing through Markivka-Savranska
(not our Markivka on the Shumylivka). The itinerary confirms the order of settlements on the Bug Trakt.
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1646
Death of the founder
Stanisław Koniecpolski — founder of Miastkivka and one of the most powerful
figures of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth — dies. The estates are inherited by his sons.
1648
The Khmelnytsky Uprising
The Cossack uprising: the Polish szlachta are expelled from Podolia and the Bracław region.
Miastkivka becomes the seat of a Cossack sotnia.
1649
The Cossack sotnia
1649 Register of the Zaporozhian Host: the Miastkivka sotnia of the Bracław regiment —
253 Cossacks, sotnyk Mykhailo Zelenskyi. 60 Cossacks are enrolled from Miastkivka itself.
To the sotnia belonged Stina, Rakhnivka, Shpykiv, Kankiv, Popkivtsi — all former Koniecpolski estates.
→ Chapter IV: Cossack Miastkivka
1649 Register of the Zaporozhian Host
The Miastkivka sotnia of the Bracław regiment — 253 Cossacks, 4 pages.
1649 Register, edition of 1995
→ Chapter IV: Cossack Miastkivka
Jan. 1654
«Miaskovka pusta»
The Pereiaslav Council (8.I.1654). Boryatinsky's roll: «Мясковка пуста» (deserted),
but records «городъ Мясковка» with two subordinate small towns — meaning the fortress still stands.
«Deserted» does not mean destroyed — the walls and the fortress may have survived.
The population returned to the standing fortifications after the Pereiaslav Council.
→ Chapter V: «Deserted»
→ Chapter V: «Deserted»
24–26.III.1654
The Easter massacre
The Poles carry out a coordinated night raid during Holy Week —
simultaneously on 70–80 market towns. The Cossacks are in the churches, it is Lent,
no one takes up arms. It is after this that Miastkivka feverishly digs its trenches.
«Въ нынѣшнемъ году на Пасхѣ, именно въ ночи на великую пятницу, субботу свѣта и Пасху, они пришли и напали неожиданно на 70—80 базаровъ въ странѣ казаковъ, зная, что жители ихъ заняты молитвами въ своихъ церквахъ и что казаки никогда не берутся за оружіе въ великій постъ. Ляхи (сдѣлали это) главнымъ образомъ съ цѣлью досадить царю, къ которому казаки прибѣгли подъ защиту. При этомъ нападеніи они избили мечомъ всѣхъ, кого застигли, даже грудныхъ младенцевъ, распарывали животы у беременныхъ женщинъ и убѣжали.»Paul of Aleppo, bk. IV, ch. III–V (trans. Murkos)
Paul of Aleppo — bk. IV, pp. 13–14
The Easter massacre: «избили мечомъ всѣхъ, кого застигли, даже грудныхъ младенцевъ».
The Travels of the Patriarch Macarius, trans. Murkos, bk. IV
→ Chapter V: «Deserted»
~12.VI.1654
Patriarch Macarius at Miastkivka
The Patriarch of Antioch Macarius describes the small town: a wooden wall, a fortress, 2 churches,
Colonel Mikhail with his army, trenches. The most detailed description of the town in the 17th century.
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18–21.VII.1654
The siege of Miastkivka
Machowski, with 8,000 Poles and Moldavians, besieges Miastkivka. Zelenskyi is trapped.
The Cossack Vlasenko carries the news to Khmelnytsky; the order goes «наспѣхъ» (with all haste) to the Uman regiments.
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The Ruin and Recovery 1664–1732
1664
Sloboda — 25 hearths
After the Ruin, Miastkivka is demoted to a sloboda: only 25 hearths and 2 mills.
But Mykhailo Zelenskyi is now colonel of the entire Bracław regiment.
1664 hearth-tax register: «Z Miastkowki, słobody». For comparison: neighbouring Stina had 85 hearths.
→ Chapter VI: «Not Yet Taken»
AYuZR VII.2, p. 561
1664 hearth-tax register — «Z Miastkowki, słobody», 25 hearths.
Arkhiv YuZR, pt. VII, vol. 2, p. 561
→ Chapter VI: «Not Yet Taken»
1672
Ottoman occupation
The Peace of Buczacz: the Ottoman Empire acquires Podolia and the Bracław region.
For a quarter of a century the region falls under Turkish-Tatar control.
~1672–1682: the Koniecpolski Connotatio dobr records Miastkivka and Kamianobrid
in two trakts (Dniester and Bug) — 170 towns and 740 villages in total.
→ Chapter VI: «Not Yet Taken»
→ Chapter VI: «Not Yet Taken»
Aug. 1674
«Not yet taken»
The Crimean khan stands at Miastkivka for 33 days during a major campaign.
Captured Tatars confess: «Месковт, же містечко ще не взято» (Meskov — the small town has not yet been taken) —
Miastkivka holds out, while other towns are already in ruins.
12.VII.1674 — Zelenskyi writes from Kleban about the fall of Kosnica: «зо всЪмъ пропала».
→ Chapter VI: «Not Yet Taken»
AYuZR XI, p. 612
The khan camps at Miaskovka — report of 1674.
Arkhiv YuZR, pt. XI, p. 612
AYuZR XI, pp. 615–616
«Месковт, же містечко ще не взято» — interrogation of captured Tatars.
Arkhiv YuZR, pt. XI, pp. 615–616
→ Chapter VI: «Not Yet Taken»
1676–1682
The last Koniecpolskis
Miastkivka is in the estate-list of Stanisław Samuel Koniecpolski.
1682 — Oblata Donacyi: the childless St. Samuel transfers all his estates to his cousin Jan Aleksander.
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1699
Peace of Karlowitz
The Bracław region returns to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth after 27 years of Ottoman control.
The rebuilding of the devastated region begins.
1708
The stone Church of the Annunciation
Dmytro Zelenskyi — Cossack colonel, descendant of Mykhailo —
rebuilds in stone the wooden Church of the Annunciation. It stands to this day.
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1719
Extinction of the Koniecpolskis
Jan Aleksander Koniecpolski — the last male of the line — dies childless.
At his funeral «the coats of arms were broken». Miastkivka passes to the Lubomirskis.
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~1724
The Lubomirskis acquire the estates
Prince Jerzy Aleksander Lubomirski acquires the Koniecpolski estates.
A new era begins in the history of Miastkivka.
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Sept. 1732
«Miasto» with a sotnyk
Interrogation of the criminal Kost Marchenko: Miastkivka figures again as «miasto» (a town) with a sotnyk.
At the town gate — an inn; the road — the Szpakowy Trail. The document fills a 53-year gap.
New Owners 1744–1901
1744–1746
The Lubomirskis — confirmed owners
1744 — the Lublin Tribunal confirms the Lubomirskis' ownership.
1746 — Specyfikacya dóbr klucza: Miastkivka among the estates.
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1747
Building of the Roman Catholic church
Prince Józef Lubomirski builds the Roman Catholic church (kościół) of the Immaculate Conception (800 zl.) —
a sign of the town's revival after decades of war and Ottoman occupation.
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1764
Parish registers of the Michael's church
The earliest parish-register entry of the church of the Holy Archangel Michael
in Rotmystrivka — the third church of the parish,
built from the charred remains of its predecessor.
This is the earliest surviving document of the Rotmystrivka parish.
CDIAK f. 224, op. 1, spr. 1112
1765
The Jewish community
Jewish poll-tax census: 604 souls, the 4th kahal district of Bracław Voivodeship.
Miastkivka — centre of a district of 25–30 villages.
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1734–1768
The Haidamaka movement
The Józefgród–Bałta district — one of two centres of the Haidamaka movement in Podolia.
The Jewish community of Miastkivka «suffered at the hands of haidamaka bands».
1768 — the Koliivshchyna: Zalizniak and Honta raise the largest uprising of the 18th century;
Bracław, Vinnytsia, Mohyliv, Savran burn.
1734 — Verlan's rebels camp near Popeliukhy (a Miastkivka parish village).
1738 — Raszków is sacked. 1765 — Krasne (centre of the same key) is utterly destroyed.
1768 — sotnyk Shylo slaughters the Jews of Bałta; the tribunal — at Mohyliv-Podilskyi.
No direct account of events in Miastkivka itself has been found.
→ Chapter VII: The Haidamaka Movement
→ Chapter VII: The Haidamaka Movement
1785
Renovation of the Roman Catholic church
Bielski and Jaroszyński fund a renovation of the Roman Catholic church (1,600 zl. for two vicars).
The new owners invest in the town's religious infrastructure.
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1789
«Great will be the calamity»
Inquiry into rumours of an anti-szlachta revolt. The hired hand Ivan Rypenka from near Miastkivka
confesses: «będąc pijanym, możem mówił te słowa» — «being drunk, perhaps I did say those words».
Living Ukrainian in a Polish protocol: «welyка bude bida, bo lachiw y żydiw rizaty budut».
The last mention of Miastkivka in AYuZR. 57 years after Marchenko's interrogation (1732) —
a second cross-section of the living colloquial language of the Pobereże.
→ Chapter VII: An Inn on the Road
→ Chapter VII: An Inn on the Road
1791
Jaroszyński — sole owner
Mikołaj Jaroszyński becomes sole owner of Miastkivka (CDIAL f. 166).
The era of the Jaroszyńskis begins.
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1791
One of 8 parishes of Bracław district
The constitution «Sejmiki» of the Great Sejm defines a new administrative division:
Bracław district consists of 8 parishes —
Bracław, Kopiivka, Tulchyn, Tomaszpol, Miastkivka, Raszków, Chechelnyk, Józefgród-Bałta.
Miastkivka alongside Bracław, Tulchyn, Raszków and Bałta —
this attests to the town's high administrative-ecclesiastical status.
In the same VL T.9 Mikołaj Jaroszyński is entered first
in the list of deputies of Bracław Voivodeship.
→ Chapter VII: An Inn on the Road
Volumina Legum T. IX, p. 170
The «Sejmiki» constitution — Miastkivka among the 8 parishes of Bracław district.
Volumina Legum. Tom IX. Kraków, 1889
→ Chapter VII: An Inn on the Road
1793–1804
From voivodeship to district
Four administrative transformations in 11 years: Bracław Voivodeship (until 1793) →
Iziaslav Vicegerency (1793) → Bracław Governorate (1795) → Podolia Governorate,
Olhopil district (1796; final establishment — 1804).
The Olhopil district was at first called Chechelnyk —
Miastkivka and Chechelnyk (both from the former Koniecpolski key) ended up
in the same administrative unit. The district seat became the town of Olhopol,
and Miastkivka had a volost board (Huldman, 1893).
→ Chapter VIII: «Neatly Built of Wood»
→ Chapter VIII: «Neatly Built of Wood»
2.X.1805
Death of Jaroszyński
Mikołaj Jaroszyński dies in Miastkivka. His son Jan (1783–1842) —
the future marshal in Marczyński's account.
More ▾
1808
Erection of the parish
The Miastkivka parish was formally erected —
61 years after the Roman Catholic church was built (1747).
Until then the kościół functioned as a chapel or filial church.
Miastkivka entered the Bałta deanery.
Among 19 new parishes erected in 1798–1831,
Miastkivka — one of the first. Likely explanation of the delay:
before the Russian annexation (1793) the diocese of Kamieniec had no resources
for formal erection.
→ Chapter VIII: «Neatly Built of Wood»
Szczepaniak, Diecezja kamieniecka (2019), pp. 70, 135–136
Erection of the parish and full description of the Miastkivka Roman Catholic church.
Szczepaniak J., Diecezja kamieniecka (2019); DAChmO, f. 685, op. 4, spr. 23
→ Chapter VIII: «Neatly Built of Wood»
~1809
The Polozhenie-Poyasa church dismantled
The wooden Polozhenie-Poyasa (Placing of the Girdle) church is dismantled — the last trace
of the Greek Catholic (Uniate) presence in Miastkivka.
Since the mid-18th century it had been seized by the Uniate dean Lubiński
and converted into a Uniate one; it had no Orthodox parishioners at it,
while the priest used all the church properties.
Sietsinskyi, No. 1031
1810
The Michael's church in disrepair
The consistory orders the church of the Holy Archangel Michael
in Rotmystrivka sealed — the building, put together from charred remains,
had become dangerous. Yet a parish-register entry of 1814
shows that the order was not fully carried out —
or the church was quickly unsealed.
DAChmO f. 315
1822
Fire of the Church of St. Nicholas
The Church of St. Nicholas in Rotmystrivka burned along with all its documents.
A significant part of the parish's early registers was lost.
The Michael's church, sealed since 1810, had to be returned to service —
a parish-register entry of 1826
confirms that it functioned as the parish's sole church
until the Kazan church was built (1847).
Sietsinskyi, No. 1032; DAChmO f. 315
~1823
Marczyński's description
Marczyński describes Miastkivka: 1130 male souls (~2260 inhabitants),
«neatly built of wood», with limestone extraction for construction.
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1841
Consecration of the Roman Catholic church
Bishop Franciszek Borgiasz Mackiewicz consecrates the Roman Catholic church
of the Immaculate Conception — 94 years after it was built (1747)
and 33 years after the parish was erected (1808).
Szczepaniak J., Diecezja kamieniecka (2019), pp. 135–136;
DAChmO, f. 685, op. 4, spr. 23
→ Chapter VIII: «Neatly Built of Wood»
1841
Jaroszyński / Jewish community conflict
Ivan Jaroszyński raises taxes exorbitantly. The Jews complain to the governorate administration
of «the ruining of their homes, the forbidding of the sale of wine».
One of the last Polish-language traces of the Jaroszyńskis as owners —
later they are recorded in Russian archival files (see 1845 and 1856).
100 Jewish Townlets of Ukraine. Issue 2. Pp. 224–225.
Primary source: RGIA, f. 577, op. 29, d. 1414, l. 72
→ Chapter VIII: «Neatly Built of Wood»
1845–1851
Inventories of the Jaroszyński heirs' estate
The Bibikov inventory reform describes the whole estate as the property
of the heirs of Jan (Ivan) Jaroszyński —
nine objects, including the town of Miastkivka, the hamlet of Marianivka
and the two Miastkivka folwarks.
DAKhmO f. 241 op. 1
1847
Stone church in Rotmystrivka
A new stone church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God is built in Rotmystrivka — in place of the burned St. Nicholas's.
1856
Henryk Jaroszyński inducted into possession
The Olhopil District Court formalises the induction into possession
of the Miastkivka estate of the landowner Henryk Jaroszyński
(Jan's heir), 1856–1860 — the first owner of Miastkivka
named by name after Jan.
DAVO f. 468 op. 1 file 364
1859
Last entry of the Michael's
The last parish-register entry of the church of the Holy Archangel Michael
in Rotmystrivka. After that the parish is served
by the Kazan church alone (1847).
DAChmO f. 315; DAVO f. 904
1862
The first school
The first parish school opens in Miastkivka — the beginning of organized education in the town.
1881
Ministerial school
A single-class ministerial school opens — a state school in place of the parish one.
~1885
A developed market town
Słownik geograficzny: 722 households, ~3000 inhabitants, 26 fairs a year,
30 shops, a synagogue, limestone quarries, a parish centre for dozens of villages.
Half of the inhabitants are Jews (~1500). Growth from ~550 Jewish souls in 1790
to ~1500 in 1883 — a realistic rate of ~1% per year.
→ Chapter VIII: «Neatly Built of Wood»
→ Chapter VIII: «Neatly Built of Wood»
?–1885
The estate passes to Kochubey
Forced sale of the Jaroszyński estate — Miastkivka passes to Kochubey.
The end of szlachta ownership in the town.
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~1885–1898
Tereshchenko in Huldman's register
Huldman (1898) records Natalia Fedorovna Tereshchenko
(noblewoman of Kyiv Governorate) as owner: 3550 desiatinas.
SG (1885) and Sietsinskyi (1901) still write «Kochubey» —
the contradiction is unresolved.
Huldman (1898): the estate includes the folwark of Mordyt, the village of Marianivka, the village of Lysohirka.
Manager — S.F. Khyzhynskyi. Local tradition named «F.A. Tereshchenko» —
now verified as Natalia Fedorovna.
→ Chapter VIII: «Neatly Built of Wood»
Huldman, Landed Estates (1898), p. 224
Miastkivka — Tereshchenko N.F., 3550 des.
Huldman V.K. Landed Estates in Podolia Governorate. Kamianets-Podilskyi, 1898
→ Chapter VIII: «Neatly Built of Wood»
1888
New iconostasis
The iconostasis of the Church of the Annunciation is replaced — the same church that Dmytro Zelenskyi rebuilt in stone in 1708.
1897
The all-imperial census
The census: 2105 Jews in Miastkivka — 26% of the population.
A stone synagogue, two houses of prayer, a rabbinic tradition.
The whole Olhopil district —
284,253 inhabitants.
The 1897 census — the first all-imperial census of the Russian Empire,
which also covered Podolia Governorate. By the data for Olhopil district —
284,253 inhabitants within Podolia Governorate.
→ Chapter VIII: «Neatly Built of Wood»
First General Census of 1897 — Podolia Governorate
Olhopil district — 284,253 inhabitants.
First General Census of the Population of the Russian Empire 1897.
Podolia Governorate. St. Petersburg, 1904
100 Jewish Townlets of Ukraine. Issue 2. Pp. 226–228.
Primary sources: ShPAU [K.], f. 830; jewua.org
→ Chapter VIII: «Neatly Built of Wood»
1901
Sietsinskyi: ~5934 inhabitants
Sietsinskyi's eparchial handbook: ~5934 inhabitants, the 4th deanery district.
Miastkivka at the peak of its development as a market town.
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