Bilsky, Fedir

Bilsky, Fedir [Більський, Федір; Bil's'kyj] or Belsky, Fedir, b ?, d ca 1506. A prince of the Algirdas lineage in the Smolensk region of Belarus. Together with the Ukrainian princes Mykhailo Olelkovych and Ivan Holshansky, Bilsky plotted to assassinate Grand Duke Casimir IV Jagiellończyk of Lithuania and to incorporate their lands (Ukrainian-Belarusian ethnic territory) into Muscovy. The plot was uncovered; Bilsky fled to Moscow, while Olelkovych and Holshansky were beheaded.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 1 (1984).]