Cossaks of Bulgakov and Yermolin, in 1648 was captured by the Golovatskiy's Cossak detachment, in 1649 by Martyn Nebaba's detachment. After that Gomel got through several besieges in 1651 but in 1564 was captured by Ivan Zolotarenko's detachment. He and his sons had been holding the city till 1667 and then they began to serve under Alexis of Russia, however, after the Truce of Andrusovo Gomel at last returned to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, where it firth belonged to M. K. Radzivill and then till the annexation by the Russian Empire � to the Chartoryiskiy family. During the Great Northern War Russian forces under Aleksandr Danilovich Menshikov stood in Gomel. In 1670 Gomel got the Magdeburg rights. Towards the middle of the 17th century the city came to crisis. It suffered a lot of damage, population severely decreased, a lot of crafts disappeared. Taxes were very high � in 1770 Gomel's inhabitants paid 20 752 z?otys to the Polish exchequer and 3532 z?otys to the army winter supply.
Jewish Population
Gomel has a large Jewish population. Jews have lived in Gomel ever since 1537, when the area was annexed by Lithuania. During the Khmelnytsky Uprising in 1648, the Cossacks invaded Gomel, and killed 2,000 Jews. The Cossacks then forcibly made the Jewish survivors convert to Christianity. The Cossack forces kept a firm grip on the city, until the Treaty of Pereyaslav was signed. The Poles took over Gomel soon afterward, and allowed the converted Jews to revert back to Judaism. Section still under construction
