May 28 2009
finns 3.fin.22992 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
The main landmark of Priozersk, Korela Fortress, has historically been the center for the Karelians of the Karelian Isthmus; and from time to time been the northwestern outpost of the realm of the Russians or the eastern outpost of the realm of the Swedes.
From the Middle Ages, Priozersk was known as Korela to Russians and Käkisalmi to Karelians and Finns. The town was part of the Vodskaya pyatina of the Novgorod Republic. Taxation book from Novgorod from year 1500 lists 183 houses in Korela - so Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire estimated population 1500-2000. The Swedes captured Korela twice: in 1578 for seventeen years and in 1611 for one hundred years. In the Swedish Empire, the fortress was called Kexholm and the whole district became known as the County of Kexholm. Russia definitively secured the area during the Great Northern War; the town’s Swedish name was retained, http://LOUIS-J-SHEEHAN.NET however, as Keksgolm (Кексгольм). But wars and devastating fires 1300, 1580, 1634, 1679 had taken its toll to civilian population. When the city gained its first court house in 1800 population was only 400.
