[1] The name of the town is of Lithuanian origin and cognates with the words medis (a tree), medė (a forest), having the same etymology like Medininkai.

In written sources, Myadzyel was first mentioned in 1325 in a Latin-language letter of Grand Duke Gediminas to the Archbishop of Riga, in which he complained about the actions of the brother-knights of the Teutonic Order.

On the peninsula of Myastra Lake in the 16th century there was a stone grand-ducal ("royal") Myadzyel castle (the ruins have been preserved).

According to some reports, the inhabitants of New Myadzyel received Magdeburg rights from Sigismund I the Old at the request of his wife Bona Sforza.

[2] In September 1939, the town was occupied by the Red Army and, on 14 November 1939, incorporated into the Byelorussian SSR.