From the cadastral books to GIS: Toropets, Belaya, Rzheva borders in 15th – 17th centuries

Abstract

The article presents the results of studying the regions located on the western boundary of the Russian state of the XVI-XVII centuries. The object of the study is Toropetsky Uyezd and its eastern volosts - Dubna, Rozhna, Bibirevo and Startsova, which in the XV century formed the Moscow-Lithuanian border. Territorial transformations of these volosts in the XV-XVII centuries are considered. Based on written sources, the GIS localization of the border between Toropetsky, Belsky and Rzhevsky counties, the most important in the study of border situations during the XV-XVII centuries, was carried out. The main sources of the study are scribal descriptions of Toropetsky, Belsky, Rzhevsky counties of the XVI-XVII centuries, including previously unpublished and introduced into scientific circulation. The study was conducted using geoinformation technologies. The use of geoinformation technologies in the work on the continuous localization of toponyms of scribal descriptions of three counties allowed us to get a more detailed idea of the territory of the Toropetsky district before its entry into the Russian State. Startsova Parish stretched south from Toropets to the large Peletsky Moss swamp. Its southeastern part, lying on the left bank of the Western Dvina, was assigned to Belaya even before Toropets and Belaya joined Moscow. Rozhnya and Bibirevo in the 1520s and 1530s also went to Moscow. Finally, Dubna changed its size and status as a result of the border conflicts of the XV century and land policy in Russia of the XVI-XVII centuries. The location of the Zhukopsky pit marking the road crossing the Moscow-Lithuanian border has been established.