Drutsk on the upper Drut is first named in the chronicles in 1092 (a church is said to have been built in 1001, and Monomakh names it under 1078).
An appanage seat from 1101, wrecked in 1116 and rebuilt, besieged in 1180 or 1181. Near it stands the stone cut in 1171 asking God's help for 'Vasily, in baptism Rogvolod, son of Boris'. The town is said to flourish in the early 13th century.
Who holds it
- Name
- not pinned for 1200
- Title
- prince of Drutsk
- Since
- not pinned
- Family
- see Prince of Drutsk
- Confidence
- low
ru.wikipedia (Друцк)
Lord in 1200
A prince of Rogvolod's line, not named for 1200; see Prince of Drutsk.
How things stand that morning
Held by a Drutsk prince whose name is not recorded.
Council
Not recorded; in 1151 the Drutsk townsmen backed Rogvolod Borisovich (ru.wikipedia).
Communities
Townsmen of the Polotsk land.
Militia
The prince's men and the townsmen.
Walls and castle
Detinets with a princely court, craft quarter and square, and an outer town, of earth and timber (ruins survive).
Trade and crafts
The Drut-Berezina waterway and the portages towards the Dnieper and the Daugava.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: ru.wikipedia gives the town's story to 1181 and nothing specific for 1200.
Primary sources for Polotsk
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- The Chronicle of Novgorod (kept year by year; the Synodal manuscript written in the 13th and 14th centuries). Novgorod's own record, kept at St Sophia. Read online
- The Hypatian Chronicle (the Kievan Chronicle compiled about 1200 at the Vydubichi monastery; the Galician-Volhynian Chronicle in the 13th century). The southern record. Read online
- The Livonian Chronicle of Henry, Henry of Livonia (1225 to 1227). The chief source for the Baltic mission. Read online
- Charter book of Livonia, Estonia and Courland, volume 1, 1093 to 1300 (documents of 1093 to 1300, edited 1853). The documents of the Livonian mission: Innocent III's bull of 5 October 1199 calling for a crusade to protect the Livonian church, the privileges for Bishop Albert, Archbishop Hartwig of Bremen's acts for the see of Üxküll, and the later charters that settle who held what on the Düna.
- The Tale of Igor's Campaign (about 1187 to 1200 (disputed)). A poem on Igor Sviatoslavich's defeat by the Polovtsians in 1185 that addresses the princes of the day by name: Vsevolod of Vladimir, Rurik and David Rostislavich, Yaroslav of Galich, Roman of Volhynia and the Olgovichi of Chernigov, of whom Igor himself was prince from 1198. Read online
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.