Mongol invasion of Rus'
As is the case with many other towns in the former Upper Oka Principalities, Belyov was first mentioned in a chronicle in 1147. After the disintegration of the Principality of Chernigov in the wake of the Mongol invasion of Rus', Belyov became a seat of a local princely dynasty in 1468. The princes of Belyov fluctuated between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Grand Duchy of Moscow, until they moved to the latter state.