Zaslavl

Zaslavl before 1917

History

c. 990	- Zaslavl was founded as a residence of Prince Izyaslav (his name became the name of the settlement) and his mother former Great Kievan Princess Rogneda (Kievan Great Prince Vladimir divorced and exiled her after he, former pagan, had been baptized into Greek Orthodoxy in Bysantic Empire and married Emperor’s daughter Anna).
End X century	- an Orthodox Nunnery of St. Anastasia with the Church of Transfiguration was founded by Rogneda in Zaslavl.
1067	- Zaslavl occurred in Polotsk Princedom.
1127	- Zaslavl was besieged and destroyed by troops of the Great Kievan Prince.
1345	- Zaslavl occurred in the Great Lithuanian Princedom, its 1st Lithuanian Prince was Yavnut Ghedeminovich (a brother of the Great Prince).
1431 - 1433	- during a feudal war Zaslavl was seriously destroyed by anti-Great Prince allies, then it was burned away by troops of the Great Lithuanian Prince Svidrigaylo.
Late XV century	- a Roman Catholic church in Gothic style was constructed in Zaslavl instead for the old Orthodox Church of Transfiguration.
1552 - 1593	- Calvinists (Simon Budny and his disciples) were active in Zaslavl. They kept a publish house there and published Simon Budny’s Calvin Bible. Jewish population appeared.
1567	- last Yavnut’s direct descendent Feder Ivanovich emigrated to Moscow Russia and his daughter, who had married into Glebovich magnate family, became a possessor.
1570s	- according to the order of Yan Glebovich, the old Zaslavl Roman Catholic church was resanctified into Calvinism.
Early XVII century	- Mikhail Glebovich founded new wooden Roman Catholic church in Zaslavl.
1628	- according to the order of Mikhail Glebovich, the old Zaslavl Roman Catholic church was returned to Roman Catholic believers.
Mid. XVII century	- Zaslavl became a possession of Sapega magnate family. They made Zaslavl the center of County.
1676	- By the renovated in stone old Roman Catholic church (devoted that time to St. Archangel Mikhail, sizes [m]: l = 25, w = 12,5, h = 8) Count Sapega founded a Cloister of St. Dominic in Zaslavl on the place, where the old castle had been once.
1755	- Count Sapega sold Zaslavl to Antony Przhezhdzitsky.
1774 - early XIX century	- wooden Roman Catholic church was renovated in stone by Antony Przhezhdzitsky.
Since 1793	- in Russian Empire.
Since 1801	- a shtetle in Minsk District of Minsk Province.
1815	- Zaslavl was bought by Mikhal Prushinsky.
1833	- the Dominican Cloister was closed, its church was resanctified into Orthodoxy.
1863	- after Prushinsky had taken part in Polish uprising Zaslavl was confiscated by the Imperial Treasury.
1866	- last Zaslavl Roman Catholic church was closed, but opened some time later.
1867	- Zaslavl was sold to Pavel Khomentovsky.
1870s	- the Orthodox church (former Dominican) was rebuilt with one in new style with one tower.

Vital Statistics

Date	Number of Jews	Number of Non-Jews			Commentaries		Specific gravity in total population number
XVI century					Jewish population appeared
1766	158		No info	Male adults only		No info
1890	about 850				Total population		No info
1897	>300			Total population		No info
1905	686				Total population		No info
1917	336	595			Both sexes		36,1 %

Jewish Life

By 1900 in Zaslavl there were:

- a synagogue;

- 2 praying houses;

- Jewish stone tavern.

Economical Review.

Since early time Svisloch and Chernitsa rivers were the main road for Zaslavl habitants. Zaslavl became to develop rapidly after it had occurred under Sapega magnate family hand.

Traditional activities of local Jewish population were trade with timber, grain and vodka.

During Russian principality, vodka trade was under state hard control and became less popular among Jewish businessmen. But Russian authorities did a lot to develop the region because of military and fiscal reasons mostly. First of all, old communications were reconstructed there:

- trade road Minsk - Zaslavl - Radoshkovichi;

- trade road Zaslavl - Koydanov;

- trade road Zaslavl - Rakov - Ivenets.

In 1815 - 1863 Pushinsky family kept a horse farm in Zaslavl.

In XIX, because of development of the AllRussian Market, new types of communications appeared in the region.

Since 1873 Zaslavl became a station of Libava - Romny railroad. Soon a telegraph station appeared there also.

By the end of XIX century the annual turnover of Zaslavl railway station exceeded 4800 tons. Main cargo was wood.

Those events provoked seriously new economical increase of Zaslavl. Here is the table of development of the shtetle in the 2nd half of XIX - early XX century:

Date of record	Number of houses
1859	30
1890	>100
1905	111
1917	242

We have no information about any significant business or trade enterprises in Zaslavl.

General cultural information.

In the late XVII century in the Dominican Cloister there were:

- 4 chaplains;

- 4 servants;

- an old woman.

Before 1833 in Zaslavl Dominican Cloister there were:

- a library (357 ancient books);

- a small hospital.

In beg. XX century in Zaslavl there were:

- the wooden Orthodox Church of Transfiguration (built on the same place, where the church was in Rogneda’s time);

- the stone Orthodox Church of Godmother’s Birth;

- an old stone Roman Catholic church;

- post office and telegraph station;

- a small hospital (10 beds). In 1896 there were 126 patients in the hospital, 116 of them were cured, 6 people died, 4 people stayed for next year, total costs were 1 651 roubles 93 kopecks;

- a public primary school.