Turau
Encyclopedia
Turaŭ or Turaw is a town in the Zhytkavichy Raion
Zhytkavichy Raion
Zhytkavichy Raion is an administrative subdivision, a raion of Homiel Voblast, in Belarus....

 of Homiel Province
Homiel Voblast
Homiel Voblast or Gomel Oblast is a province of Belarus with its administrative center being Homyel.Important cities within the voblasts include: Gomel, Mazyr, Zhlobin, Svetlahorsk, Rechytsia, Kalinkavichy, Rahachow, Dobrush...

 of Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...

 and the former capital of the medieval Principality of Turov and Pinsk
Principality of Turov and Pinsk
The Duchy of Turov and Pinsk was a medieval principality and state on the territory of modern southern Belarus and northern Ukraine. The principality's capital was Turov or Pinsk, other important cities were Mazyr and Slutsk, Lutsk, Brest, and Volodymyr-Volynskyi...

.

History

Turaŭ was an ancient capital of the Dregovichs
Dregovichs
The Dregoviches were one of the tribal unions of Early East Slavs, and inhabited the territories down the stream of the Pripyat River and northern parts of the right bank of the Dnieper river...

 tribe - one of the three Eastern Slavic tribes that are considered ancestors of modern Belarusian nation
Belarusians
Belarusians ; are an East Slavic ethnic group who populate the majority of the Republic of Belarus. Introduced to the world as a new state in the early 1990s, the Republic of Belarus brought with it the notion of a re-emerging Belarusian ethnicity, drawn upon the lines of the Old Belarusian...

 (the others being Krivichs and Drevlians). Turaŭ was first mentioned in the "Tale of Bygone Years" from 980. It is located in the southern part of Belarus, in the historical region of Polesia
Polesia
Polesia is one of the largest European swampy areas, located in the south-western part of the Eastern-European Lowland, mainly within Belarus and Ukraine but also partly within Poland and Russia...

.

According to legend, the city was founded at the crossing of Yazda and Strumen rivers by Duke Tur - hence the name Turaŭ. Other etymology draws the name from Tur, the Slavic name of the Aurochs
Aurochs
The aurochs , the ancestor of domestic cattle, were a type of large wild cattle which inhabited Europe, Asia and North Africa, but is now extinct; it survived in Europe until 1627....

. Both rivers join with the Pripyat
Pripyat River
The Pripyat River or Prypiat River is a river in Eastern Europe, approximately long. It flows east through Ukraine, Belarus, and Ukraine again, draining into the Dnieper....

 river, which in turn flows into Dnieper and then leads to the Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...

. This river route was known to Viking
Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...

s, who used it extensively for communication and during their frequent raids to Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...

.

The Varangian dynasty of Rurik
Rurik
Rurik, or Riurik , was a semilegendary 9th-century Varangian who founded the Rurik dynasty which ruled Kievan Rus and later some of its successor states, most notably the Tsardom of Russia, until 1598....

s became dukes in the neighboring Duchy of Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....

. Soon Turaŭ also came under the dominion of a local branch of dukes of the Rurik Dynasty
Rurik Dynasty
The Rurik dynasty or Rurikids was a dynasty founded by the Varangian prince Rurik, who established himself in Novgorod around the year 862 AD...

 and particularly of Izyaslav I, son of Yaroslav the Wise. In that period the town of Turaŭ was not only an important trade center within the Kievan Rus, due to its proximity to major trade routes running from the Baltic Sea
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...

 to the Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...

, but also one of the most important cities of the Rus among Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....

, Chernihiv
Chernihiv
Chernihiv or Chernigov is a historic city in northern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Chernihiv Oblast , as well as of the surrounding Chernihivskyi Raion within the oblast...

, Novgorod, and Pereyaslav. The Prince of Turov
Prince of Turov
The Prince of Turov was the kniaz, the ruler or sub-ruler, of the Rus' Principality of Turov, a lordship based on the city of Turov, now Turaŭ in Homiel Voblast, Belarus....

, the main contender to the throne of Grand Duchy of Rus before their subjugation to Monomakhs considerably influenced early politics of the neighboring Duchy of Poland in the 11th century having together an intertwined history.

Thanks to the towns' strategic location, many different crafts were developed and practiced in Turaŭ. It was also home to bishop Cyril of Turaw
Cyril of Turaw
Cyril of Turaŭ was a bishop and saint. He was one of the first and finest theologians of Kievan Rus'; he lived in Turaw, now Southern Belarus...

 (Kiryla Turaŭski), an ancient Ruthenian philosopher and religious figure. In 1005 the first Roman Christian
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...

 bishopry on the territory of Belarus was founded in Turaŭ. The town's period of prosperity ended with a number of feudal conflicts in 12th century. Soon afterwards Turaŭ lost much of its importance as well as its autonomy.

In 1320 Turaŭ became a part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state from the 12th /13th century until 1569 and then as a constituent part of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth until 1791 when Constitution of May 3, 1791 abolished it in favor of unitary state. It was founded by the Lithuanians, one of the polytheistic...

 having closely assimilated with the Prince of Minsk. In 1430 it became a private town of the Grand Duke
Grand Duke
The title grand duke is used in Western Europe and particularly in Germanic countries for provincial sovereigns. Grand duke is of a protocolary rank below a king but higher than a sovereign duke. Grand duke is also the usual and established translation of grand prince in languages which do not...

 Svitrigaila
Švitrigaila
Švitrigaila Švitrigaila Švitrigaila (ca 1370 – 10 February 1452; was the Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1430 to 1432. He spent most of his life in largely unsuccessful dynastic struggles against his cousins Vytautas and Sigismund Kęstutaitis.-Struggle against Vytautas:...

. In the end of the 15th century Turaŭ became a property of Grand Court Marshal of Lithuania Michał Gliński. In 1502 it was damaged by a Tatar invasion
Tatars
Tatars are a Turkic speaking ethnic group , numbering roughly 7 million.The majority of Tatars live in the Russian Federation, with a population of around 5.5 million, about 2 million of which in the republic of Tatarstan.Significant minority populations are found in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan,...

. After Gliński's betrayal and escape to Muscovy in 1508, Turaŭ was confiscated by the family of Konstanty Ostrogski
Konstanty Ostrogski
Konstanty Iwanowicz Ostrogski was a Lithuanian duke of slavonic origin and a Grand Hetman of Lithuania since September 11, 1497, until his death. As a speaker of the Ruthenian language he is considered to be one of the precursors of the Belarusian language and a national hero in Belarus.He...

, who started the reconstruction, but the town was yet again destroyed by the Tatars in 1521. The Ostrogski
Ostrogski
Ostrogski was one of the greatest Ruthenian princely families of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.They were most likely of Rurikid stock and descended from Sviatopolk II of Kiev. Some scholars however claim their descent from Galicia-Volhynia line of Rurikid dynasty. Vasilko Romanovich Prince of...

 family owned the town for more than a century, until it was given as a dowry
Dowry
A dowry is the money, goods, or estate that a woman brings forth to the marriage. It contrasts with bride price, which is paid to the bride's parents, and dower, which is property settled on the bride herself by the groom at the time of marriage. The same culture may simultaneously practice both...

 to the Sapieha
Sapieha
The Sapieha is a Polish-Lithuanian princely family descending from the medieval boyars of Smolensk. The family acquired great influence in the sixteenth century.-History:...

 and then Potocki
Potocki
Potocki is the surname of a Polish noble family.-History:The Potocki family is a great artistocratic family originated from Potok in the Kraków Voivodeship; their family name derives from that place name. The family is heavily entwined with the cultural development and history of Poland's Eastern...

 magnate
Magnate
Magnate, from the Late Latin magnas, a great man, itself from Latin magnus 'great', designates a noble or other man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or other qualities...

 families. During The Deluge
The Deluge (Polish history)
The term Deluge denotes a series of mid-17th century campaigns in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In a wider sense it applies to the period between the Khmelnytsky Uprising of 1648 and the Truce of Andrusovo in 1667, thus comprising the Polish–Lithuanian theaters of the Russo-Polish and...

 the town was taken by Muscovy, but was soon retaken by Janusz Radziwiłł. After the period of constant wars with Muscovy, the town was severely damaged. In 1667 Turaŭ had only 111 households - out of 401 standing there in 1648.

The town never fully recovered. After the Second Partition of Poland
Partitions of Poland
The Partitions of Poland or Partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth took place in the second half of the 18th century and ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, resulting in the elimination of sovereign Poland for 123 years...

 in 1793 it was annexed by Russia and remained a small, provincial town for most of the 19th century. From that time onwards it shared the fate of the nearby town of Gomel.

Town flag

Flag was accepted by town's council on September 27, 2001 and was included in Belarus' coats of arms registry on January 23, 2002.

Flag has rectangular form with width to length ratio equal 1 : 2, and consists of tree horizontal bands: blue (6/9 of width), white (1/9 of width) and red (2/9 of width).

Books

  • (in Belorussian, Russian and English) T.A.Khvagina (2005) POLESYE from the Bug to the Ubort, Minsk Vysheysha shkola
    Vysheysha shkola
    Vysheysha shkola is a state-owned publishing house in Minsk, Belarus, specialized in publishing academic books. It has been in the book market for over 50 years....

    , ISBN 985-06-1153-7

External links

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