The text describes the town of Stary Konstantynów and briefly sketches the history of the place and the people who governed it (including the Zaslavskis). The castle itself is presented in the second part of the text (Source: "Ziemia. Tygodnik Krajoznawczy Ilustrowany', Warsaw 1911, no. 15, pp. 9-10, after: the Wielkopolska Biblioteka Cyfrowa).

A modernised reading of the text

Castle in Stare Konstantynów

In the Volyn Governorate, at a distance of 15½ miles from Zhytomyr, at the mouth of the Ikopoci River into the Slucha River, a tributary of the Pripyat River, lies the town of Stary Konstantinov. This town with a population of several thousand people, with a predominantly Jewish element, with dying industry and underdeveloped trade has a rather interesting past. Its beginnings date back to the 16th century, when Konstanty Konstantinovich, a knight from Ostrog, purchased the Kołyszczyńce estate and, with a permit from Sigismund Augustus in 1561, founded a town under the Magdeburg law, calling it Konstantinov.

At the beginning of the next century, Konstantinov passes into the possession of Prince Janusz, Konstantinov's son, who created the Ostrog Ordinance and included Konstantinov along with 80 other towns; at that time, the town takes the name of Old Konstantinov to distinguish it from New Konstantinov in Podolia. Having no male descendant, Prince Janusz was forced to bequeath the ordinance to the descendants of his sister, the wife of the Kyiv voivode, Zaslavsky.

In 1620 the entail passed to a minor, Franciszek Zasławski, after whom his brother Władysław Dominik, an unfortunate regent, nicknamed "pierzyn" by the Cossacks, became entail-holder (the defeat at Piławiec proved his complete ineptitude and lack of knowledge of the art of war). After the death of his son, the last male representative of the Zasławski family, the Ostrog Ordinance remained without an heir until 1675, when John III, in a separate decree, granted it to Władysław-Dominik Zasławski's widow and daughter for life. In the 18th century, Aleksander Dominik Lubomirski, the latter's husband, took possession of the entail.

When he, too, died childless at a young age, after much fiddling, the entail was handed over to his sister, Sanguszkowa, whose son made sure that the estate was recognised as an inheritance. This reckless man, winning over his friends, gave away, among others, the key of Starokonstantyn. However, around 1754, the daughter of one of the benefactors, Stanisław Lubomirski's wife, was able to unite in her possession the entire estate, including the town, of which the Lubomirskis remained masters until 1800.

The key eventually passed from the Lubomirskis to their daughter, Hetmaness Rzewuska, and was finally dissolved in 1860, although already before 1830 the debts exceeded the value of the fortune (a government commission, appointed to settle the business, added to the debts). After 1860, Old Constantine was acquired by Princess Abamelek, and since 1895 Mrs Dubasova has been the town's heiress. The town, founded in the second half of the 16th century, developed quickly and successfully; at the end of that century it had about three hundred and several dozen houses, and already in the next century its fortress status was highly praised.

In 1636, the local castle was surrounded by an earth rampart with a massive two-storey masonry gate; the castle buildings consisted of a large wooden building (an upstairs hall with 15 windows) and a masonry arsenal, well-stocked at the time. The town already had a town hall with a clock tower and 845 houses and was surrounded by an earth rampart, interrupted by three entrance gates. However, further successful development of Old Constantinov was hindered by Tartar and Cossack attacks, fires and famine.

Before the Khmelnytsky rebellion, i.e. during the period of the city's prosperity, it was raided three times by the Tatars; each such raid turned Old Constantinov to rubble - sometimes, after a fire or a raid, barely 100 houses were left in the city, which consisted mostly of wooden buildings, but the inhabitants almost always managed to rebuild the ruins. It was only after 1648 that Old Constantinov began to decline for good: the Cossack revolts dealt the strongest blow. After a battle fought near the town by Jeremy Wisniowiecki in 1648, Krzywonos and his Cossacks broke into the town and caused a cruel slaughter, inhumanly tormenting the defenceless inhabitants.

Further Tartar and Cossack attacks did not allow the town to recover. Around 1700 frequent raids by enemies brought Old Constantine "ad extremum", so that it resembled "desolatam Arabiam". Several decades later inventories record that the castle and the arsenal were destroyed, the town hall of "beautiful architecture" destroyed, and there were barely 200 houses to be found.

Towards the end of the 18th century, when times became calmer, the number of houses tripled. Throughout the whole existence of Old Constantinov, they enumerate 8 Orthodox churches in it; of these only three remain (one in the castle). Besides, there were two Catholic churches with Dominican and Capuchin monasteries. The Dominicans settled in Old Constantinov at the beginning of the 17th century; after the monastery was closed, their church was converted into an Orthodox church. The Capuchins have had their church here since 1754 (now a parish church after the dissolution of the monastery in 1886).