Land of Berestya

The Land of Berestya ):Бересте́йская земля́) is a historical area in the middle reaches of the Western Bug and Narev in Polissya.

Once belonged to the territory of the settlement of the East Slavic tribe of Duleb. From the 10th century the volost was part of the Old Russian state and the Grand Principality of Kiev ; approximately from 1170 - the lot in the Principality of Volhynia.

Beresteyshchina was located on significant trade routes. The main cities are Berestye (modern Brest ), Dorogichin (not to be confused with Drogichin ), Melnik, Bielsk , Kobrin , Kamenets.

History
In 1102, Yaroslav Yaropolkovich tried to establish himself in Berestye, but died in a prison in Kiev with his cousin. According to Nazarenko A., Gorodenskie princes were born from Yaroslav.

After the emergence of the specific, and then independent (1154) Principality of Volhynia Berestya continued to be a volost of Kiev It incidentally was reigned by minor princes, endowed with their older relatives (Svyatopolk Mstislavich, Vladimir Andreevich).

The first mention of Berestya as the possession of the Izyaslavichi of Volhynia is connected with the death of Roman's younger brother in 1170 (in the annalistic dating 6681 from the creation of the world ), according to different versions of Svyatoslav (Voitovich L. by Tatischev VN) or Vladimir (Presnyakov A .E.). After that, Berestya remains the possession of the descendants of Mstislav Izyaslavich.

The Polish princes Casimir II in 1179 and 1182, Konrad Mazowiecki and Leszek Bely in 1210 temporarily seized the impregnated lands and Berestya. Dorogichenskaya volost was captured by the knights of the Dobrzhinsky Order, in 1237 they were defeated and expelled by the Volhynian prince Daniil Romanovich.

During the Mongol invasion in early 1241, the southern part of the lands of Berestya and Dorogichinsk was severely damaged.

After the death of the childless Vladimir Vasilkovich (1288), who bequeathed all Volyn to Mstislav Danilovich of Lutsk, the Galician prince Yuri Lvovich took Berestya for a short while, but was forced to leave it.

In 1316 the Land of Berestya was presumably conquered by Lithuania, but this information is based on post sources of the XVI century, and the chroniclers of the XIV century do not write anything about it. The first mention of the capture of Kestutom Brest land can be attributed to the years 1350 - 1352. It was considered part of the lot of the Grand Duke Keystut and his descendants (except for the Kobrin Volost, which had become part of the descendants of Olgerd ). In 1349, for a time Berestie captured the Polish King Casimir III. In 1382, Prince Janusz Mazowiecki, using the struggle between the Lithuanian princes Jagiello and Keystutom, made a march on Beresteyskaya land, captured Dorogichin and Miller, besieged Berestye, but could not take the city, and then retreated to his domain.

Since 1413 the Land of Berestya became part of the province of Trok, in 1520 it was transformed into the Podlaskie Voivodship. In 1566 from the Podlaskie was allocated Brest Litovsk Voivodeship, which is associated with the preparation of the Union of Lublin and the transition after her conclusion Podlasie in the Crown of the Polish Kingdom. Part of the Turov-Pinsk Polissya also entered the Berestya Voivodship.

The population of Berestya participated in the Cossack uprisings and wars of 1648-1676. In 1657 the nobility of Pinsk declared its entry with the entire county into the hetman state, the Pinsk-Turov regiment was created.

After the third partition of Poland. Berestya became a part of the Russian Empire. In 1920-1939 - it was part of the Polesie Voivodship of Poland. After 1939 it became part of the Belarusian SSR.

Ukrainian authors believe that the autochthonous population of Berestya is part of the Ukrainian ethnic massif and speaks the western Polissya dialect of the Ukrainian language, which some researchers consider a separate micro-language.

Literature

 * Винниченко І. Українці Берестейщини, Підляшшя і Холмщини в першій половині XX ст.: Хроніка подій. К., 1999.
 * Леонюк В. Словник Берестейщини. Львів, 1996.
 * Петренко А. Берестейщина в складі УНР. «Берестейський край», 1996, № 2.
 * Полісся: етнікос, традиції, культура. Луцьк, 1997.
 * Украинська радянська енциклопедія.
 * Hawryluk J. Ziemia Brzeska w dobie państwowoœci ruskiej (X—XIV w.). «Krakowskie zeszyty ukrainoznawcze», 1996-97, v. 5-6.
 * Федорук А. Т. Старинные усадьбы Берестейщины. Минск, Белорусская Энциклопедия имени Петруся Бровки, 2006.

Reference

 * Леонтій ВОЙТОВИЧ КНЯЗІВСЬКІ ДИНАСТІЇ СХІДНОЇ ЄВРОПИ
 * Пресняков А. Е. Княжое право в древней Руси. Лекции по русской истории. Киевская Русь. — М.: Наука. — 635 с., 1993