Starodub

Starodub (, ; , ; ) is a town in Bryansk Oblast, Russia, on the Babinets River in the Dnieper basin, southwest of Bryansk. Population: 16,000 (1975).

==History== left|thumb|Siege of Starodub in 1535 by Polish-Lithuanian forces Starodub has been known since the 11th century, when it was a part of the Principality of Chernigov. It was plundered by the Cumans in 1080. It was burned to the ground by the Mongols in the 13th century. thumb|left|Starodub in the late 19th century. It became a part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 14th century (soon part of the Polish–Lithuanian union), and Grand Duke Algirdas rebuilt it as a defensive stronghold against Muscovites and Tatars. In 1408, it was granted to Duke Švitrigaila. In 1503, it passed to the Grand Duchy of Moscow. In 1535, it was besieged and captured by Polish-Lithuanian forces and the defenders were executed however, it soon fell back to Muscovy. In 1616, it was recaptured by the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, within which it became a county seat in the Smolensk Voivodeship. During the Smolensk War, in 1632, it was captured by Russia, however, it was restored to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1634. In 1648, during the Khmelnytskyi Uprising, Zaporozhian Cossacks seized the town, and 188 families of local Ruthenian nobility recognized the Cossack hetman as a new governor, within the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, after which Khmelnytskyi's Cossacks staged an anti-Jewish pogrom. In 1654, it passed to Russia, confirmed in 1686. In 1660, the town was ravaged by Tatars, and in 1663 it was attacked by the Poles. Starodub became the center of Starodub Cossack Regiment and enjoyed a large measure of autonomy between 1666 and 1686. In 1677 the town suffered a fire.