LUTSK MICROREGION IN THE XVI–XVII CENTURIES: ON THE ISSUE OF SPATIAL DEFINITION

Abstract

An attempt to localize a microregion with the center in Lutsk town in the middle Upper Styr during the XVI–XVII centuries was made in the article. An important place in the study is the delineation of the microregion boundaries and the determination of the factors that influenced its formation and transformation. Lutsk was an important economic and administrative center in the early modern period. As other significant Ukrainian cities, Lutsk was surrounded by an agricultural district, which served primarily to ensure the full-fledged existence of the administrative center of the Volhynian Voivodeship. The Lutsk agricultural district differed from most of the lands of the Volyn Voivodeship in terms of forms of land ownership. There was also a network of fortified points around Lutsk, such as castles in Torchyn, Khorlupy, Rozhyshche, fortified yards in Krupa and on Horodyshche-I village current territory, which most likely formed the general defensive line on the approaches to Lutsk. Based on the analysis of available sources, the author expressed the opinion that during the XVI–XVII centuries in the middle current of the river Styr and its tributary existed conditionally separated microregion, which was formed around Lutsk. It was estimated that the microregion compositionally included Lutsk with suburbs, several surrounding towns, which were smaller in size and importance, as well as a network of villages. The microregion included Lutsk, Sadiv, Torchyn, Polonkiv, Peremyl, Torgovytsia volosts. The southern and western borders ran along the administrative border with the Belz Voivodeship and Volodymyr County. In the north, the micro-region was limited by the Chetvertinsky`s lands, which began behind Rozhyshche. From the east, the border was the Olyka microregion, owned by the Radziwills and the Ostrozki possessions around Dubno. According to the author, a number of factors played an important role in the formation of the Lutsk microregion. Among them, it is worth highlighting: the natural factor, after the microregion was united by waterways and had the following natural conditions, in particular, vegetation, soils, relief; economic life, which was concentrated around the voivodeship center; an administrative factor that partially separated the Lutsk microregion from its surrounding lands. Small and medium-sized noble landownership, which prevailed in the vicinity of Lutsk, was also a factor of consolidation.