BYELEV  , a

town of Russia, in the government of Tula, and 67 m . S.W. from the city of that name on the left bank of the Oka, in 530 48' N. lat., and 36° 9' E. long . Pop . (1860) 8063; (1897) 9567 . It is first mentioned in 1147 . It belonged to Lithuania in the end of the 14th century; and in 1468 it was raised to the rank of a principality, dependent on that country . In the end of the 15th century this principality began to attach itself to the grand-duchy of Moscow; and by Ivan III. it was ultimately united to Russia . It suffered greatly from the Tatars in 1507, 1512, 1530, 1536 and 1544 . In 1826 the empress Elizabeth died here on her way from Taganrog to St Petersburg . A public library was founded in 1858 in memory of the poet Zhukovsky, who was born (1782) in a neighbouring village . The industries comprise tallow-boiling, oil-manufacture, tanning, sugar-refining and distilling . There is a trade in grain, hemp oil, cattle and tallow .

A

fair is held from the 28th of August to the loth of September every year .