“At the glorious City of Kyiv... there stood an outpost manned by heroes. The outpost was under the command of Ilya Murometz. His second in command was Dobrynia Nikitich, Jr., and Cossack Captain Alyosha, son of a priest by the family name of Popovich.”
Through these lines of an ancient Russian epic, through the mist of centuries emerge thick oak walls on a steep rampart, surrounded by wooded hills merging in a boundless steppe. Here began a strange land, with countless mysteries still to be explored. This land was known as the Great Steppe — or what our ancestors also knew as the Dyke Pole [Ukr., pronounced Dykeh Pohleh] Wild Steppe. The forbidding figures of the hero-warriors sat astride their big horses, staring at the cloudy horizon. The warriors’ figures clad in armor emanated magical strength and a firm resolve to defend their native land. At that distant time, Posullia, the border area between the river Sula and its tributary, Udai, caused most concern. It is often mentioned in chronicles as a place of pitched battles between Kyiv Rus’ and nomads.
Today, the Sula carries its pure waters between verdant banks to the Dnieper, across the Sumy and Poltava oblasts. A traveler never tires of marveling at the constant succession of beautiful landscapes and invariably comes across a range of hills stretching on the right bank, overlooking the marshy flood lands. Here and there one can see what is left of walls and mounds on the sloppy hills, overgrown with grass or trees. These are the remains of numerous zastava military encampments or outposts built to protect the southern and eastern borders of the ancient Slavic state from nomads, as ordered by Prince Volodymyr, son of Sviatoslav. However, constant feuding among the numerous members of the Rurik dynasty offered the invaders access to Rus’, which they happily used.
Kyiv Rus’ was not the only country suffering from internal strife in medieval Europe. In the epoch of feudal division it was a common peril of all European states, although there was one thing that made Kyiv stand out among them; history doomed Rus’ to coexist with the Wild Steppe and the dramatically different lifestyles and traditions that came with it. This factor had quite an impact on the process of state construction in Kyiv Rus’. Its whole history is a record of continuous struggle between the Rusychy and the nomad Steppe, lasting with mixed success till the tragic year 1240. One of the most exciting pages in the annals belongs to Posullia.
In 988, a chronicle reports, “Volodymyr said, ‘It is not good that there are few towns around Kyiv. And so they began to build towns by the rivers Desna, Ustria, Trubesheva, Sula, and Stuhna.” It would be erroneous to assume that those fortified towns emerged by the said rivers that same year 988. Because of persisting hostilities with the Pechenegs (some nomadic gangs would even operate in the outskirts of Kyiv), only a senseless ruler would detach manpower, scarce as it was, for the construction of fortifications in the far outskirts. The first and foremost task was to block the nomads’ access to the “mother of Rus’ cities,” Kyiv. Yet even this demanded more manpower and resources than were available. Especially manpower. There were no people left to build towns and inhabit them. It was only in 992 that “Volodymyr founded the town of Bel” beside earlier settlements. Between 988 and 996, the town of Vasyliev was founded by the river Stuhna (Vasyl, or Basil, was Prince Volodymyr’s name given him at baptism). Another town, Vyshgorod, was erected on the Dnieper slopes under Princess Olha. Roden, a well-fortified town, is mentioned in chronicles as having been built down the Dnieper, at the Ros estuary, the last bulwark of Prince Yaropolk. In 980, it could not be conquered by Volodymyr with his Novgorod and Varangian host.
It is possible to assume that Roden withstood the Pecheneg onslaught, although it could not have blocked their approach. To the east, was the most dangerous route for the defenders, most frequently used by the Pechenegs and then Polovtsians. Here, along the left bank of the Dnieper, was a broad steppe corridor (reaching 100 km in width), stretching all the way from the Wilde Steppe to Trubezh. It was most favored by the nomads. In the summer of 993, “the Pechenegs came from that side of the Sula; Volodymyr took the field and engaged them at the river crossing at Trubezh, where Pereyaslavl stands now.” This event is described in The Story of Bygone Years and it is not difficult to infer that the Pechenegs destroyed Trubezh, at the time ranking with the largest Rus’ cities. It was considered third after Kyiv and Chernihiv in 907, where “princes sat under the reign of Oleh” — meaning that it was the center of one of the principalities under Kyiv’s jurisdiction. After destruction the place was deserted, so Prince Volodymyr’s next move after defeating the Pechenegs was restoring the ancient city. “Volodymyr founded a town at that river crossing and named it Pereyaslavl.”
The Prince of Kyiv, reinforced by troops from the south of Rus’ and from Novgorod, dealt the Pechenegs an excruciating blow and the annals mention no invasions for the next 18 years — at least, nothing of considerable scope and momentum. During that period of relative peace, fortified towns were built en masse.
Posullia played a key role in Rus’ defenses along the eastern border. Here the fortifications embraced the Sula and Udai. Archaeological excavations in the vicinity of Pereyaslavl unearthed 79 fortified settlements dating before 1240, of which 42 were in Posullia.
All the fortifications were carefully planned, relying on the experience and achievements of previous generations. All the key approaches convenient for the nomads (crossings, fords, etc.) had to be controlled by such border settlements and the fortresses were built in places most difficult to access. This included steep river banks or promontories and even on islands or hills surrounded by marshland (the so-called swamp towns). The density of such defenses was determined by the presence of natural protection along the river (woods, swamps). Thus, only three fortresses were built on a stretch of land, some 60 km in length, in the upper reaches of the Sula, covered by primeval forests: Hlynsk, and the fortified settlement of Svyrylivka.
Archaeologists discovered a considerable number of such fortified settlements in the vicinity of Lokhvytsia. Even if nomads broke through the bulwarks of Posullia, such as Vysoki Lazyrki, Pisochen, Syniak, Ksniatyn, they would find their way blocked by the swamps of the river Sulytsia, with the only crossing being controlled by Lokhvytsia (often mentioned in the annals). Special attention was paid to protecting the border sector from Lubny to the Sula estuary. Among the fortified settlements in the lower reaches of the Sula, chronicles mention the towns of Snyporid, Lukoml, Horoshyn, Zhelny, Velyka Burymka, and the river port of Voyin.
At the strategic approaches, the ancient architects planned fortifications close together, so early warning of nomads approaching from the Wild Steppe could be conveyed quickly and without hindrance. All fortifications were linked by routes, keeping them constantly in touch with each other, enabling them to join or coordinate efforts under attack. The key such defenses were Voyin, Horoshyn, Lukoml, Lubny, Lokhvytsia, Romen, Pryluky, Pyriatyn. They were all linked by similar routes to the Pereyaslavl, the center of the principality.
What were those ancient fortifications like where the life paths of legendary heroes Ilya Murometz, Dobrynia Nikitich, Alyosha Popovich, and those of real Kyiv Rus’ warriors crossed as they mounted their swift horses and took the field to defend the homeland? Those fortified border towns were not towns in the modern sense of the word; they were fortified military settlements — or border fortresses and castles at an early stage — whose principal mission was to timely warn the princes of nomad invasions or to provide food and shelter to the populace fleeing the aggressor. The latter consideration determined the size of the fortification.
In terms of size and fortification characteristics, the Old Rus’ defense settlements can be divided into three categories: (a) ostroh , (b) horodok , and (c) hrad [meaning, respectively, a small, medium, and large fortified settlement]. Every such fortification was surrounded by a rampart based on two or three rows of palisade. The rampart of an ostroh ended in a palisade. With time, suburbs called posad formed near the palisade. These were totally unprotected and suffered the worst from each nomad raid. The horodok nucleus consisted of a separate fortified settlement called detinets . Its walls towered over the horodok. It was actually a fortress with a gate protected by a special tower above and a drawbridge across a moat. A multi-tiered watchtower was built on the highest elevation of the detinets. A posad suburb would lean towards the wall, surrounded by a rampart, sometimes a palisade. It was inhabited by craftsmen and merchants with their workshops and homes. The largest fortified settlement, hrad, was distinguished by a sophisticated system of defenses, including the detinets and posads that were also fortified and adjusted to the terrain.
The first two types of such settlements were predominant in Posullia (except perhaps Voyin, one of the key fortifications in the Dnieper sector of the famous “road from the Varangians to the Greeks”). A dock would be inside the detinets, surrounded by strong timber and earth walls, accommodating merchant and war boats. One such large fortified town was in the vicinity of what is now the village of Svyrydivka. Perhaps it was there that the mysterious town of Rymov was located. Among other large fortified towns were Romen, Kosniatyn, Lubny, Lukoml, Velyka, Velyka Burymka, and Pryluky.
The construction and development of fortified towns in Posullia was cut short by the onslaught of the Golden Horde. They were among the first to receive the Horde’s severe blow and were razed to the ground by the numerically superior aggressor. Despite heavy losses and the Horde’s yoke, a considerable part of the destroyed towns would rise from the ruin. Most towns in Posullia and elsewhere in Kyiv Rus’, mentioned in the chronicles, retained their names in the post-Horde period, but only if the interval in their existence was not too long and if they were rebuilt by the surviving populace. Place names on a modern map of Ukraine (quite a few in Posullia), dating back thousands of years, are evidence of historical continuity.
