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Pereyaslavl, Russia (Zalyeskiy)

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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Pereyaslavl, Russia

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PEREYASLAVL (called Zalyeskiy, or "Beyond the Forest," to distinguish it from the older town in Poltava after which it was named), one of the oldest and most interesting cities in middle Russia, situated in the government of Vladimir, 45 m. N.E. of Moscow on the road to Yaroslavl, and on both banks of the Trubezh near its entrance into Lake Pleshcheevo. Pop. 8662. Pereyaslavl was formerly remarkable for the number and importance of its ecclesiastical foundations. Among those still standing are the 12th-century cathedral, with ancient wall-paintings and the graves of Demetrius, son of Alexander Nevsky, and other princes, and a church founded by Eudoxia (Euphrosyne), wife of Demetrius Donskoi, in the close of the 14th century. It is by its extensive cotton manufactures that Pereyaslavl is now best known. The fisheries in the lake (20 m. sq. in extent and 175 ft. deep) have long been of great value.

Founded in 1152 by Yuryi Dolgoruki, prince of Suzdal, Pereyaslavl soon began to play a considerable part in the history of the country. From 1195 till 1302 it had princes of its own; and the princes of Moscow, to whom it was at the latter date bequeathed, kept it (apart from some temporary alienations in the 14th century) as part of their patrimony throughout the 15th and 16th centuries. Lake Pleshcheevo was the scene of Peter the Great's first attempts (1691) at creating a fleet.