A gord is a medieval Slavonic fortified settlement, usually built on strategic sites such as hilltops (a hillfort), riverbanks, lake islets or peninsulas between the 6th and 12th centuries in Central and Eastern Europe. A typical gord consisted of a group of wooden houses surrounded by a wall made of earth and wood, and a palisade running along the top of the bulwark.
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Etymology
The term ultimately descends from the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European root *ǵʰortós 'enclosure'. The Proto-Slavic word *gordъ later differentiated into grad (Cyrillic: град), gorod (Cyrillic: город), gród in Polish, gard in Kashubian, etc. It is the root of various words in modern Slavic languages pertaining to fences and fenced-in areas (Belarusian гарадзіць, Ukrainian городити, Slovak ohradiť, Czech ohradit, Russian оградить, Serbo-Croatian ograditi, and Polish ogradzać, grodzić, to fence off). It also has evolved into words for a garden in certain languages.
Additionally, it has furnished numerous modern Slavic words for a city or town:
Polish gród, plural grody (toponymic; nowadays a town or city is termed miasto, but remnants of a gród are known as grodzisko)
Ancient Pomeranian and modern Kashubian gard
Slovak and Czech hrad ("castle" in the modern language), or hradisko/hradiště/hradec, which are terms for gord
Slovene gradec, grad ("castle" in modern Slovene)
Belarusian горад (horad)
Russian город (gorod)
Ukrainian город (horod, dialectal and toponymic; nowadays misto)
Bulgarian, Serbo-Croatian, and Macedonian grad/град
The names of many Central and Eastern European cities harken back to their pasts as gords. Some of them are in countries which once were but no longer are mainly inhabited by Slavic-speaking peoples.
Examples include:
Horodok
Construction
A typical gord was a group of wooden houses built either in rows or in circles, surrounded by one or more rings of walls made of earth and wood, a palisade, and/or moats. Some gords were ring-shaped, with a round, oval, or occasionally polygonal fence or wall surrounding a hollow. Others, built on a natural hill or a man-made mound, were cone-shaped. Those with a natural defense on one side, such as a river or lake, were usually horseshoe-shaped. Most gords were built in densely populated areas on sites that offered particular natural advantages.
As Slavic tribes united to form states, gords were also built for defensive purposes in less-populated border areas. Gords in which rulers resided or that lay on trade routes quickly expanded. Near the gord, or below it in elevation, there formed small communities of servants, merchants, artisans, and others who served the higher-ranked inhabitants of the gord. Each such community was known as a suburbium (literally "undercity") (Polish: podgrodzie). Its residents could shelter within the walls of the gord in the event of danger. Eventually the suburbium acquired its own fence or wall. In the High Middle Ages, the gord usually evolved into a castle, citadel or kremlin, and the suburbium into a town.
Some gords did not stand the test of time and were abandoned or destroyed, gradually turning into more or less discernible mounds or rings of earth (Russian gorodishche, Polish gród or grodzisko, Ukrainian horodyshche, Slovak hradisko, Czech hradiště, German Hradisch, Hungarian hradis and Serbian gradiška/градишка). Notable archeological sites include Groß Raden in Germany and Biskupin in Poland.
Important gords in Central and Eastern Europe
Austria
Thunau am Kamp
Belarus
Grodno
Czech Republic
Bílina
Budeč
Chotěbuz
Kouřim
Levý Hradec
Libice nad Cidlinou
Libušín
Mikulčice-Valy
Prague Castle
Rubín
Stará Boleslav
Staré Zámky
Tetín
Uherské Hradiště
Vyšehrad (Prague)
Germany
the fort at Cape Arkona – the Jaromarsburg
Garz Castle
the fort of Charenza near Venz in the municipality of Trent
the Herthaburg near the Stubbenkammer in the Jasmund National Park
Mecklenburg Castle in the village of Dorf Mecklenburg near Wismar (origin of the state name)
the fort of Groß Raden near Sternberg
the fort of Behren-Lübchin, partly reconstructed in the Groß Raden Archaeological Open Air Museum
Gädebehn Castle (Gemeinde Knorrendorf) in the county of Mecklenburgische Seenplatte
Ganschendorf Castle (Gemeinde Sarow) in the county of Mecklenburgische Seenplatte
the fort of Grapenwerder (Gemeinde Penzlin) in the county of Mecklenburgische Seenplatte
Quadenschönfeld Castle in the county of Mecklenburgische Seenplatte
Neu Nieköhr Castle (Gemeinde Behren-Lübchin) in the county of Rostock
the fort of Neu-Kentzlin (Gemeinde Kentzlin) between Demmin und Stavenhagen
Mölln Castle (Gemeinde Mölln (Mecklenburg)) in the county of Mecklenburgische Seenplatte
Möllenhagen Castle (Gemeinde Möllenhagen) in the county of Mecklenburgische Seenplatte
Poland
Bnin
Cherven grods
Gdańsk
Giecz
Gniezno
Grudziądz
Grzybowo
Kałdus
Kołobrzeg
Kraków
Ostrów Lednicki
Owidz
Poznań
Przemyśl
Radom
Rozprze
Starogard Gdański
Stradów
Szprotawa
Szczecin
Włocławek
Wolin
Wrocław
Russia
Novgorod
Slovakia
Ducové
Ukraine
Belz
Bilhorod-Kyivskyi
Bohuslavl
Buzhsk
Chernihiv
Dorohobuzh
Halych
Hlukhiv
Horodets Osterskyi
Iskorosten
Kaniv
Korsun
Kyiv
Liubech
Liuboml
Ltava
Luben
Mezhybozhe
Novhorod-Siverskyi
Ostroh
Pereiaslav
Peresopnytsia
Plisnensk
Pryluk
Putyvl
Romen
Terebovl
Torchesk
Trepol
Unenizh
Vasyliv
Volodymyr
Vruchiy
Vyshhorod
