Пачаткі Навагрудка: вытокі і генезіс
ENThe paper is devoted to issues concerning the origins and early development of Nowogródek, which was established as a settlement in the late tenth century due to the Slavic colonization of the Upper Nioman region. In the eleventh century it became a centre of crafts and trade as is confirmed by both archaeological and written sources. Traces of the settlement dating from the tenth and eleventh centur ies were discovered in the area of today’s Lesser Castle, Castle Mound and the hill situated south of them. In the second quarter of the twelfth century, the crafts and trade settlement sercved as the basis for establishing a l arge defence centre occupying the previously uniform hill (an area of ca. 3.5 hectares), which is now the location of the Castle Mound and Lesser Castle. At that time the settlement received its present name of Navahrudak, to distinguish it from the old settlement of Haradok. It was then that Navahrudak became a town of social and economic importance. Its development coincided with the urban process which in the early twelfth century comprised the entire Upper Nioman region (Hrodna, Vaukavysk, Slonim and Turejsk) and which occurred chronologically during the reign of Usievaladka, Prince of Hrodna. After his death (in 1144) the Principality of Hrodna was divided among his sons: Barys, Hlieb and Mścislau, as a result of which Hrodna, Navahrudak and probably Vaukavysk became the capitals of independent principalities. The division of the formerly uniform castle ward in Nowogródek into today ’s Lesser Castle and Castle Mound took place no earlier than in the late thirteenth century.In this way from the late tenth century to the mid-twelfth century the settlement occupying the area of today’s Navahrudak transformed from the settlement established as a result of the colonization of the Upper Nioman region, through that having the status of a crafts and trade centre and the centre that collected taxes for estates, to a town and capital of an independent principality.
