Description:
In Russia defensive works were not less important than in Western Europe. Russian chronicles are full of reports of the building of <i>towns</i>, of their siege and defence. In Ancient Russian the word <i>town</i> meant not a town in the modern sense, but only a fortified settlement as distinct from an unfortified one. Thus the concept <i>town</i> applied to medieval towns proper and to citadels, feudal castles and even fortified villages. Every population centre with a wall round it was called a <i>town</i>. Moreover, until the 17th century this word was frequently applied to mean the fortifications themselves.