The Grand Duchy of Moscow conquered Bryansk following the Battle of Vedrosha in 1503. The town was turned into a fortress which played a major role during the Time of Troubles (1598-1613). During the Time of Troubles the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth occupied the town in 1610, and it remained in Polish hands as part of Smolensk Voivodeship until the Truce of Deulino in 1634. In 1709 Tsar Peter the Great incorporated Bryansk into the Kiev Governorate, but Empress Catherine the Great deemed it wise to transfer the town to the newly-formed Oryol Governorate in 1779. She also promulgated the town's coat of arms (August 1781).