 The town was established in 1078 as an outpost of the Principality of Polatsk on the road from Polatsk to Kiev and Chernihov.According to the Drutsk Gospel, the town was built around one of the oldest Christian churches in White Ruthenia erected in 1001.In the 12th century and 13th century it was a centre of the early medieval Principality of Druck, ruled by the dukes of the Polatsk branch of the Rurikid dynasty.