13th century.
Gomel under Great Duchy of Lithuania and Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
In 1335 Gomel region was joined to the Great Duchy of Lithuania by Algirdas. In 1335�1406 it was under the ownership of prince Patrikiy Narymuntovich and his sons, in 1406�1419 the city was ruled by Great Duke's deputies, in 1419�1435 it belonged to prince Svitrigaila, in 1446�1452 to prince Vasiliy Yaroslavich, in 1452�1483 to Mozhaysk prince Ivan Andreyevich, in 1483�1505 to his son Semyon, who transferred Gomel to the Grand Duchy of Moscow. During the Second Muscovite-Lithuanian War of 1500�1503 Lithuania tried to return Gomel and other lands, transferred to Moscow, but suffered defeat and lost one third of its territory. In 1535 Lithuanian forces under Yu. Radzivill, Ya. Tarnovskiy and A. Nemira re-captured Gomel after the surrender of Moscow's deputy, D. Shchepin-Obolenskiy. In the same year Great Duke of Lithuania Sigismund K?stutaitis founded the Gomel Starostwo. In reference to the peace agreement of 1537 Gomel together with its volost remained a Lithuanian possession. In 1535�1565 Gomel is the centre of starostwo, from 1565 Gomel is in the Rechitsa Powiat of the Minsk Voivodeship. In 1560 the city's first coat of arms was introduced. In 1569 Gomel became part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. From this moment the city has become the arena of numerous attacks and battles between Ukrainian Cossaks, Russia and Polish-Lithuania Commonwealth. In 1572 Gomel Starostwo was given to B. Sapega. At the beginning of 1570s Gomel was captured by the forces of Ivan the Terrible, but in 1576 it was re-captured by Yu. Radzivill. In 1581 Gomel was again attacked by Russian troops, and in 1595�1596 it was in the hands of Severyn Nalyvaiko's Cossaks. After the beginning of struggle against the Orthodox Christianity in Lithuania the Orthodox Nikolayevskiy Cathedral was closed by the order of Greek Catholic Eparch Josaphat Kuntsevych in 1621. In 1633 the city was besieged by
