Peter the Great's associate Villim Hennin and his estate of Asila in the Hiitola pogost of the Kexholm county (uezd)

Villim Ivanovich Hennin was a prominent organizer of the mining and metallurgical industry in Russia under Peter the Great. In 1711, Peter I granted Hennin the village of Asila for seizing the fortress Kexholm. The history of the estate has not been previously presented in the national historiography. The purpose and objectives of the study are to ascertain the period of ownership of the estate by Hennin and his descendants, clarify the composition of the villages belonging to the estate, and determine its economic value. Data from archival sources and rare Finnish publications are introduced into scientific circulation. For the first time, the estate is described as an economic complex comprising the villages of Asila, Kilpola, Vejala, Hiitola and Raivattala of the Hiitola Pogost in the Kexholm Uezd. The study applied methods of localization and cartographic documentation of the studied places. It gives a brief historical overview of the surroundings of the village of Asila from the XII to the early XVIII centuries. The main value of Asila since ancient times was salmon and other valuable species fishing. Grain milling, sawmilling and husbandry served as the economic basis of the estate. The article traces the line of inheritance, the evolutionary path of the estate and its economic structure until the XIX century.