Serpeysk (russian: Серпейск, pl, Sierpiejsk) is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

('' selo'') in

Meshchovsky District Meshchovsky District (russian: Мещо́вский райо́н) is an administrativeCharter of Kaluga Oblast, Article 4 and municipalLaw #354-OZ district (raion), one of the twenty-four in Kaluga Oblast, Russia. It is located in the center ...

Kaluga Oblast Kaluga Oblast (russian: Калу́жская о́бласть, translit=Kaluzhskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Kaluga. The 2021 Russian Census found a population of 1,069,904. G ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, located on the Serpeyka River. The locality has a

canting arms Canting arms are heraldic bearings that represent the bearer's name (or, less often, some attribute or function) in a visual pun or rebus. French heralds used the term (), as they would sound out the name of the armiger. Many armorial allus ...

, depicting two

sickle A sickle, bagging hook, reaping-hook or grasshook is a single-handed agricultural tool designed with variously curved blades and typically used for harvesting, or reaping, grain crops or cutting succulent forage chiefly for feeding livestock, ei ...

s, with russian: link=no, серп, pl, link=no, sierp meaning ''sickle''.

History

It was first noted in 1406 as a military fort of the

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state that existed from the 13th century to 1795, when the territory was partitioned among the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Habsburg Empire of Austria. The state was founded by Li ...

on its border with

Muscovy Muscovy is an alternative name for the Grand Duchy of Moscow (1263–1547) and the Tsardom of Russia (1547–1721). It may also refer to: *Muscovy Company, an English trading company chartered in 1555 * Muscovy duck (''Cairina moschata'') and Domes ...

. Later on, it was annexed to Muscovy by

Ivan III of Russia Ivan III Vasilyevich (russian: Иван III Васильевич; 22 January 1440 – 27 October 1505), also known as Ivan the Great, was a Grand Prince of Moscow and Grand Prince of all Rus'. Ivan served as the co-ruler and regent for his blin ...

, then recaptured by the

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and, after 1791, as the Commonwealth of Poland, was a bi-confederal state, sometimes called a federation, of Crown of the Kingdom of ...

, and eventually incorporated into Muscovite Russia after the signing of

Treaty of Polyanovka The Treaty of Polyanovka ( pl, Polanów, also known as the ''Peace of Polyanovka / Polanów'') was a peace treaty signed on 14 June 1634 between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Tsardom of Russia in the village of Semlevo located near ...

which marked the end of the

Smolensk War The Smolensk War (1632–1634) was a conflict fought between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Russia. Hostilities began in October 1632 when Russian forces tried to capture the city of Smolensk. Small military engagements produced mix ...

in 1634. Once stripped of its garrison, the town dwindled into oblivion. The oldest surviving buildings are two churches, one dating from 1771 and the other constructed in the 1780s. In the late 19th century, it had a population of 1,818.

References

Rural localities in Kaluga Oblast Smolensk Voivodeship Meshchovsky Uyezd {{KalugaOblast-geo-stub