Berecz Mátyás - Bujdosné Pap Györgyi - Petercsák Tivadar (szerk.): Végvár és mentalitás a kora újkori Európában - Studia Agriensia 31. (Eger, 2015)

CIESIELSKI, TOMASZ: Fortresses on the south-eastern borders of Poland in the 18th century

fortification work in Kamieniec Podolski or in Okopy Sw. Trójcy, despite promises of commitment to the cause7. The lack of sufficient funds, as well as absence of interest in the case of the appropriate authorities resulted in the abandonment, in the years 1699-1722, of a number of small-scale fortresses erected in the 16th and 17th centuries, which formed three defence lines protecting the territory of the Republic of Poland8. The last ones to be demilitarised were Korsuri and Sniatyri9. According to those responsible for the country’s defence, they had lost their military significance with the conclusion of the wars against the Ottoman Empire, the end of the Tartar raids, and the liquidation of the Cossack threat of destabilisation. As a result, only three state strongholds remained in the south-eastern provinces. The garrisons stationed in them, supported by two concentrations of cavalry - so-called “partie” protected not only the vast territories of Ukraine and Podolia, but also the long border line10.

The border with Russia was protected by a single fortress - the one located in the town of Biala Cerkiew at the north-eastern end of the province of Kiev. The fortress dates back to the mid-16th century, when a castle was built next to a town settlement on the river Roá, designed to stop the Tartar raids. The castle was reconstructed twice - between 1570 and 1594, and in the years 1664—1665, when it was surrounded by outside bastion-type fortifications. Their main feature was a square-shaped embankment with four circular ditches, one on each comer. The fifth bastion protected the gate leading to the river Ros and the mills there. In front of the embankment, there was a palisade, a quadruple one in places. On three sides the embankments were fortified with a moat with two ravelins, and on the south - the river Ros. On the east, the fortifications were strengthened by the settlement outside the castle walls, with its own embankment. The fortress had three gates, two of which linked it with the town. In addition to that, there were underground

7 Ciesielski, I: Armia koronna w czasach Augusta III. Warszawa, 2009. p. 534.

8 Wojtasik, J.: Podhajce 1698. Warszawa, 1990. p. 35.

9 Bibliotéka Zakladu im. Ossolinskich we Wroclawiu (Library of National Ossolinski Institute in Wroclaw), ms no 286. pp. 188-189.

10 Ciesielski, J.: Armia koronna. pp. 512-524.; idem: Podzial wojska na partie a struktúra administracyjna ziem koronnych. In: Achremczyk, S.(ed.): Miçdzy Barokiem a Oáwie- ceniem. Staropolski regionaliztn. Olsztyn, 2008. pp. 108-116.

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