Principality of Galicia–Volhynia (1199–1253) Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia (1253–1349) | |||||||||||||
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| 1199–1349 | |||||||||||||
 Map of the Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia in the 13th/14th century. | |||||||||||||
| Status | Principality (until 1253) Kingdom (after 1253) Vassal state of theGolden Horde (from 1246 to 1253) | ||||||||||||
| Capital | 49°54′19″N24°58′0″E / 49.90528°N 24.96667°E /49.90528; 24.96667 | ||||||||||||
| Common languages | Old East Slavic | ||||||||||||
| Religion | Eastern Orthodoxy[1] | ||||||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | ||||||||||||
| Prince, later King | |||||||||||||
• 1199–1205 | Roman the Great (first) | ||||||||||||
• 1341–1349 | Liubartas (last) | ||||||||||||
• since 1349 | Casimir III the Great as added title to theKing of Poland | ||||||||||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages | ||||||||||||
• Principality | 1199 | ||||||||||||
• Kingdom | 1253 | ||||||||||||
• Loss of Galicia to Poland | 1349 | ||||||||||||
• Volhynia falls to Lithuania | 1349 | ||||||||||||
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ThePrincipality or, from 1253,Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia,[a] also known as theKingdom of Ruthenia[2] orKingdom of Rus',[b][4] was a medieval state inEastern Europe which existed from 1199 to 1349. Its territory was predominantly located in modern-dayUkraine, with parts inBelarus,Poland,Romania,Moldova, andLithuania. Along withNovgorod andVladimir-Suzdal, it was one of the three most important powers to emerge from the collapse ofKievan Rus'.
Roman the Great united the principalities ofGalicia andVolhynia at the turn of the 13th century. Following the destruction wreaked by theMongol invasion of Kievan Rus' (1239–1241), PrinceDaniel of Galicia and the other princes of Rus' pledged allegiance toBatu Khan of theGolden Horde in 1246. The Polish conquest of the kingdom in 1349 led to it being fully absorbed by Catholic Poland.[5] Upon annexing it in 1349, Polish kingCasimir III the Great adopted the title of King of Poland and Ruthenia, and the territory was transformed into theRuthenian Voivodeship (Latin:Palatinatus Russiae) in 1434.
ThePrincipality of Volhynia may have emerged as early as the late 10th century, with Vsevolod, a son ofVladimir I of Kiev, mentioned as a prince of the city ofVolodymyr.[6]Igor Yaroslavich reportedly briefly reigned as the prince of Volodymyr in the 1050s.[7]Iaroslav Sviatopolkovich (r. 1100–1118) was the only prince inKievan Rus' to opposeVladimir II Monomakh's reign on the grounds ofagnatic seniority, but after Vladimir ousted him in 1118,[c] hisMonomakhovichi descendants established a local dynastic branch.[8]Roman Mstislavich, the great-great-grandson of Monomakh,[9] inherited the throne of Volhynia in 1170.[10]
ThePrincipality of Galicia was formed in the years 1124–1144 byVladimirko Volodarovich's unification of the principalities ofZvenyhorod,Peremyshl, andTerebovlia.[11] Since the 1080s or 1090s, all three had been ruled by sons of princeRostislav of Tmutarakan,[11] who may or may not also have been a prince in Volhynia and Galiciac. 1054/1060 to 1067.[12]
Galicia–Volhynia was created following the death in 1198[13] or 1199[10] (and without a recognized heir in the paternal line) of the last Prince of Galicia,Vladimir II Yaroslavich.[10] Roman acquired the Principality of Galicia and united his lands into one state. He did so upon the invitation of the Galician boyars,[10] who expected that Roman would be an "absentee" Volhynian prince ruling from afar so that they could increase their own power.[14] On the contrary, Roman curbed their power, expelled any boyar who opposed him, and increased the influence of the urban and rural populace.[14]
In Roman's time Galicia–Volhynia's principal cities wereHalych and Volodymyr.[citation needed] Roman was allied with Poland, signed a peace treaty withHungary and developed diplomatic relations with theByzantine Empire.[14] The grand prince of Kiev,Rurik Rostislavich (Rurik II), forged a coalition of Rus' princes and attacked Galicia-Volhynia, but Roman defeated them and capturedKiev in 1200.[14] However, because the old capital of Kievan Rus' was no longer a strong power centre by that time, Roman kept the prosperous Halych as his capital and appointed subordinates to administer Kiev in his name.[14] He then mounted two successful campaigns against the Cumans, in 1201–2 and 1203–4.[15] In 1203 Roman also extended his rule to thePrincipality of Pereyaslavl.[16] During his absence, Rurik II retook and heavily sacked Kiev in 1203 with the help of Polovtsians and Chernihivians.[14] In 1204 Roman recaptured Kiev once more,[15] marking the height of his reign: he briefly became the most powerful of the Rus' princes.[15] He married the niece of the Byzantine emperorAlexios III, for whom Galicia was the main military ally against theCumans. The relation with Byzantium helped to stabilize Galicia's relations with theRus' population of the Lower Dniester and the Lower Danube.[17]
In 1205, Roman's alliance with the Poles broke down,[14] leading to a conflict withLeszek the White andKonrad of Masovia.[citation needed] Roman was subsequently killed by Polish forces in theBattle of Zawichost (1205),[14][15] triggering awar of succession, while his dominion entered a period of rebellion and chaos that lasted almost 40 years.[14][16] In this time, the Galician boyars made efforts to prevent the establishment of a hereditary princely dynasty, especially by Roman's son Daniel, and instead put all sorts of puppets on the throne which they could easily control.[14] Thus weakened by war between Galician boyars and some appanage princes, Galicia–Volhynia also became an arena of rivalry between Poland and Hungary, which intervened in the region several times.[16] Roman's successors would mostly use Halych (Galicia) as the designation of their combined kingdom.[citation needed] KingAndrew II of Hungary styled himselfrex Galiciæ et Lodomeriæ,Latin for "king of Galicia and Vladimir [in-Volhynia]", a title that was later adopted by theHouse of Habsburg.[citation needed]
After Roman's death, the Galician boyars first drove Roman's widowAnna-Euphrosyne and two sonsDaniel andVasylko from the region.[14] From 1206 to 1212, the Principality of Galicia was controlled by the three sons of theNovgorod-Seversk princeIgor Svyatoslavich:Vladimir III Igorevich,Svyatoslav III Igorevich, andRoman II Igorevich.[16] They were defeated by Galician boyars, and the boyarVolodyslav Kormylchych [uk] assumed the throne of Galicia in 1213[16] or 1214,[18] the only non-Rurikid ever to rule any of the Rus' principalities.[18] After he was removed, a compromise agreement was concluded in 1214 between Hungary and Poland, who partitioned the Galician lands.[16] The throne of Galicia–Volhynia was given to Andrew's son,Coloman of Lodomeria, who had married Leszek the White's daughter, Salomea.[citation needed]
In 1221,Mstislav Mstislavich, son ofMstislav Rostislavich (descendant of the princes of Novgorod), liberated Galicia–Volhynia from the Hungarians and Poles.[16] During Mstislav's 1221–1228 reign, the Galician and Volhynian armies participated in theBattle of the Kalka River (1223) against the Mongols, but in 1228 the boyars expelled him and transferred the Principality of Galicia to the king of Hungary.[16] It wasDaniel of Galicia, son of Roman, who formed a real union of Volhynia and Galicia.[citation needed] Daniel first established himself in Volhynia.[16] After failing to retake his father's other throne in 1230–1232 and 1233–1235, Daniel succeeded upon his third attempt and conquered Galicia in 1238, reunited Galician and Volhynia, and ruled for a quarter century.[18] In March 1238, he defeated theTeutonic Knights of theOrder of Dobrzyń in theBattle of Drohiczyn.[16][d] Daniel captured Kiev in 1239,[19]just before theMongols besieged, conquered and sacked the city in late 1240.[18] On 17 August 1245, Daniel and his brotherVasylko defeated the Polish and Hungarian forces (weakened by thefirst Mongol invasion of Poland and thefirst Mongol invasion of Hungary in early 1241[18]) in theBattle of Yaroslavl, taking full control of Galicia–Volhynia.[16] The brothers also crushed their allyRostislav Mikhailovich, son of the prince ofChernigov.[citation needed]
Daniel strengthened his relations withBatu Khan by traveling to his capitalSarai and acknowledging, at least nominally, the supremacy of the MongolGolden Horde. After meeting with Batu Khan in 1246,Daniel reorganized his army along Mongol lines and equipped it with Mongolian weapons, although Daniel himself maintained the traditional attire of a Rus' prince. According toVernadsky (1970), Daniel's alliance with the Mongols was merely tactical; he pursued a long-term strategy of resistance to the Mongols.[20] On the other hand, Magocsi (2010) argued that Daniel submitted to the Mongols, citing theGalician–Volhynian Chronicle, which decried Daniel 'is now on his knees and is called a slave' and called this event 'the greatest disgrace'.[18] Magocsi stated that, 'although he never acknowledged it', Daniel was a Mongol vassal, who collected the Mongol tribute, and generally helped 'establishing Mongol administrative control over eastern Europe in cooperation with those Rus' princes who could be made to see the advantages of the newPax Mongolica.'[21] According to Magocsi, Daniel's submission to the Mongols ensured the strength and prosperity of Galicia–Volhynia.[22] He did renew his alliances with Hungary, Poland and Lithuania, making plans to forge an anti-Mongol coalition with them to wage a crusade against the Khan; although these were never carried out, it would eventually lead to Daniel's royal coronation bypapal legate in 1253.[22] This brought Galicia–Volhynia into the orbit of the western European feudal order, and the Roman Catholic Church.[22]
In 1245,Pope Innocent IV allowed Daniel to be crowned king. Daniel wanted more than recognition, commenting bitterly that he expected an army when he received the crown.[23] Although Daniel promised to promote recognition of the Pope to his people, his realm continued to be ecclesiastically independent from Rome. Thus, Daniel was the only member of theRurik dynasty to have been crowned king.[citation needed] Daniel was crowned by thepapal legate Opizo de Mezzano inDorohochyn 1253 as the firstKing of Ruthenia (Rex Russiae; 1253–1264). In 1256, Daniel succeeded in driving the Mongols out of Volhynia, and a year later he defeated their attempts to capture the cities ofLutsk andVolodymyr.[24] Upon the approach of a large army under the Mongolian generalBoroldai in 1260; however, Daniel was forced to accept their authority and to raze the fortifications he had built against them.[25]
Under Daniel's reign, the Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia was one of the most powerful states in east central Europe,[25] and it has been described as a 'golden age' for Galicia–Volhynia.[16] Literature flourished, producing theGalician–Volhynian Chronicle. Demographic growth was enhanced by immigration from the west and the south, including Germans andArmenians. Commerce developed due to trade routes linking theBlack Sea with Poland,Germany, and theBaltic basin. Major cities, which served as important economic and cultural centers, includedLviv (where the royal seat would later be moved by Daniel's son), Volodymyr, Halych,Kholm (Daniel's capital[16]),Peremyshl,Dorohychyn, andTerebovlya. Galicia–Volhynia was important enough that in 1252, Daniel was able to marry his sonRoman toGertrude of Babenberg, heiress of theDuchy of Austria, in the vain hope of securing the latter for his family. Another son,Shvarn, married a daughter ofMindaugas,Lithuania's firstking, and briefly ruled that land from 1267 to 1269. At the peak of its expansion, the Galician–Volhynian state contained not only south-western Rus lands, includingRed Ruthenia andBlack Ruthenia, but also briefly controlled theBrodnici on theBlack Sea.[citation needed]
After Daniel's death in 1264, he was succeeded by his sonLeo, who moved the capital from Chełm toLviv in 1272 and for a time maintained the strength of the Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia. Unlike his father, who pursued a Western political course, Leo worked closely with the Mongols, in particular cultivating a close alliance with the Tatar KhanNogai. Together with his Mongol allies, he invaded Poland. However, although his troops plundered territory as far west asRacibórz, sending many captives and much booty back to Galicia, Leo did not ultimately gain much territory from Poland. Leo also attempted, unsuccessfully, to establish his family's rule overLithuania. Soon after his brother Shvarn ascended to the Lithuanian throne in 1267, he had the former Lithuanian rulerVaišvilkas killed. Following Shvarn's loss of the throne in 1269, Leo entered into conflict with Lithuania. From 1274 to 1276 he fought a war with the new Lithuanian rulerTraidenis but was defeated, and Lithuania annexed the territory ofBlack Ruthenia with its cityNavahrudak. In 1279, Leo allied himself with kingWenceslaus II of Bohemia and invaded Poland, although his attempt to captureKraków in 1280 ended in failure. Around the same time, he engaged in conflict withHungary and may have temporarily occupied some border areas, though claims of annexing parts ofTranscarpathia, includingMunkács, are not supported by firm historical evidence.[citation needed]
During theSecond Mongol invasion of Hungary (1285–1286) andThird Mongol invasion of Poland (1286–1287), Volhynian and Galician troops joined the Mongol and Tatar armies led byNogai Khan andTalabuga on their campaigns, which ended in defeat.[26] In addition, Tatar troops passing through Galicia–Volynia and wintering there devastated the countryside by destroying crops and looting the region.[26] Even the alliedcapital city of Lviv was sacked by Talabuga and Nogai in January 1288. Talabuga died in 1291, but Nogai would continue to exert his Mongol influence over the southwestern Rus' principalities until his own death in 1299.[26]
In 1292, Leo successfully took advantage ofPoland's internal fragmentation and extended his influence into theLublin region.[citation needed]
After Leo's death in 1301, a period of decline ensued. Leo was succeeded by his sonYuri I, who ruled for only seven years. Although his reign was largely peaceful and the Galicia–Volhynia flourished economically, Yuri I lost Lublin to the Poles in 1302. From 1308 to 1323, Galicia–Volhynia was jointly ruled by Yuri I's sonsAndrew andLeo II, who proclaimed themselves to be the kings of Galicia–Volhynia. The brothers forged alliances with KingWładysław I of Poland and theTeutonic Order against the Lithuanians and theMongols, but the Kingdom was still tributary to the Mongols and joined the Mongol military expeditions ofUzbeg Khan and his successor,Janibeg Khan.[5] The brothers died together in 1323, in battle, fighting against the Mongols, and left no heirs.[citation needed]
After the extinction of the Rurikid dynasty in Galicia–Volhynia in 1323, Volhynia passed into the control of the Lithuanian princeLiubartas, while theboyars took control over Galicia. They invited the Polish princeYuri II Boleslav, a grandson of Yuri I, to assume the Galician throne. Boleslaw converted to Orthodoxy and assumed the name Yuri II.[citation needed] His encouragement of foreign colonization led to conflicts with the boyars, who then poisoned him in 1340 and offered the throne to Liubartas, within the same yearCasimir III of Poland attackedLviv.[27]
In winter 1341 Tatars, Ruthenians led by Detko, and Lithuanians led by Liubartas were able to defeat the Poles, although they were not so successful in summer 1341. Finally, Detko was forced to accept Polish overlordship, as astarost of Galicia. After Detko's death, Casimir III mounted a successful invasion, capturing and annexing Galicia in 1349.[citation needed]
The Romanovichi (branch of the Rurikid) dynasty ofDaniel of Galicia attempted to gain support fromPope Benedict XII and broader European powers for an alliance against the Mongols, but ultimately proved unable to compete with the rising powers of the centralisedGrand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland. Only in 1349, after the occupation of Galicia–Volhynia by an allied Polish-Hungarian force, was Galicia–Volhynia finally conquered and incorporated into Poland. This ended the vassalage of Galicia–Volhynia to the Golden Horde.[28]
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From 1340 to 1392, the civil war in the region transitioned into a power struggle between Lithuania, Poland, and Hungary. The first stage of conflict led to the signing of a treaty in 1344 that secured thePrincipality of Peremyshl for theCrown of Poland, while the rest of the territory belonged to a member of theGediminid dynasty ofLiubartas. Eventually by the mid-14th century, theKingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania divided up the region between them: King Casimir III took Galicia and Western Volhynia, while the sister state of Eastern Volhynia together with Kiev came under Lithuanian control, 1352–66.[citation needed]
Following the death of Casimir the Great in 1370, Galicia–Volhynia was ruled byVladislaus II of Opole in 1372–1379 and 1385–1387, as Lord of Ruthenia (Terre Russie Domin), being a descendant ofprinces of Belz and a subject of KingLouis I of Hungary. Vladislaus strongly contributed to the establishment ofRoman Catholic Archdiocese of Lviv as part of PolishCatholicisation.
The economy of Galicia–Volhynia was predominantly asubsistence economy. It was based onagriculture, which was based on self-sufficient lands: thedvoryshche [uk] (Ukrainian:дворище). These were rural agricultural communities, owned and run by a group of related families (remnants of the earlierclan system), comparable to thezadrugas amongst theSouth Slavs. These economic units had their own arable land, hayfields, meadows, forests, foraging grounds and fish lakes. The main agricultural crops wereoats andrye, less sowheat andbarley. In addition,animal husbandry was developed, primarilyhorse breeding, as well assheep breeding andpig breeding. Important components of the economy wereforaging: animalhunting,honey hunting, andfishing.[citation needed]
Among the crafts of Galicia–Volhynia wereblacksmithing,pottery,leatherworking,weaponsmithing,jewellery making, andcasting. Since the Principality of Galicia–Volhynia was located in theCentral European mixed forests – a forest and forest-steppe zone densely covered with forests – the construction and processing of wood became particularly developed. One of the leading industries of the principality wassalt production. The Principality of Galicia–Volhynia, along withCrimea, was the only region that supplied salt to Kievan Rus' and Western European countries.[citation needed]
Both Volhynia and Galicia had experienced a remarkable economic development in the 12th century due to their commercial advantages.[32] In part, this was because land trade routes in Asia Minor were severely disrupted due to theByzantine–Seljuk wars (1046–1243),[33] diverting numerous merchants coming from the east heading for Constantinople via Alexandria in Egypt, while others circumvented Anatolia via the port ofSudak (Sougdaia) in Crimea.[34] The flourishing of the latter commercial hub soon attracted Kievan Rus' traders, who rerouted some of the would-be Byzantine goods (occasionally through itinerant Jewish merchants) to Poland, Hungary, Bohemia and Germany, via the towns of Volhynia and Galicia.[35]
Their new status as transit hubs for commerce between the northern Black Sea ports and central Europe brought Galicia and Volodimer-in-Volhynia tremendous wealth and increasing political power in the late 12th century.[36] Trade and salt mining in particular empowered theboyar class of Galicia, who were able to challenge and undermine the authority of the Rostislavichi princes.[11] Galicia and Volhynia merged around 1198 or 1199 into the principality of Galicia–Volhynia.[32] This happened when the local Galician branch of the Rostislavichi clan died out, and Roman Mstislavich of Volhynia also took possession of Galicia, establishing a dynastic union.[10]
By the 12th century, construction of new buildings was taking place at a faster rate in the emerging urban centres of Galicia–Volynia (as well as inSmolensk andSuzdalia) than in the older centres of princely power of Kiev, Chernigov, and Pereyaslavl.[37] Galicia–Volynia and theNovgorod Republic were also prominent examples of regions that began to establish their ownRus' chronicle traditions, still starting with thePrimary Chronicle (PVL), but increasingly focusing on their own lands rather than the wider Kievan Rus' realm.[38] TheKievan Chronicle was supplemented by theGalician–Volhynian Chronicle (GVC), and as such copied, redistributed, and preserved in codices such as theHypatian Codex and theKhlebnikov Codex.[39]
In 1240, during theMongol invasion of Kievan Rus', the cities of Halych and Volodymyr were devastated by the Mongols.[40] However, compared to other Rus' principalities, Galicia and Volhynia made a relatively quick economic recovery.[41] In the early 1240s,Daniel of Galicia recovered Halych fromMikhail of Chernigov, and in the winter of 1245–1246 travelled to Sarai to submit himself toBatu Khan as a vassal in order to retain his patrimonial rights to Galicia–Volhynia.[42] Henceforth, the Romanovichi of Ruthenia would have to pay tribute to theGolden Horde.[43] The Mongol-Tatar military presence did give the region some defensive protection against Lithuanian, Polish and Hungarian incursions from the west.[44] Moreover, Daniel managed to found new towns; to relocate his capital to the thriving city of Kholm (modernChełm), which became a vital cultural centre; construct new fortifications (torn down by Mongol orders in 1259 after theKuremsa war); and to encourage commerce between east and west.[41] The renewed Mongol-Tatar incursions of the mid-1280s disrupted the Ruthenian economy.[45]
TheGalician-Volhynian Chronicle reflected the political programme of the Romanovich dynasty ruling Galicia–Volhynia. Galicia–Volhynia competed with other successor states of Kievan Rus' (notablyVladimir-Suzdal) to claim the Kievan inheritance. According to theGalician–Volhynian Chronicle, King Daniel was the last ruler of Kiev preceding the Mongolian invasion and thus Galicia–Volhynia's rulers were the only legitimate successors to the Kievan throne.[50] Until the end of Galician-Volhynian state, its rulers advanced claims upon "all the land of Rus'." The seal of King Yuri I contained the Latin inscriptiondomini georgi regis rusie.[50]
In contrast to their consistent secular or political claims to the Kievan inheritance, Galicia's rulers were not concerned by religious succession. This differentiated them from their rivals inVladimir-Suzdal, who sought to, and attained, control over the Kievan Church. Rather than contest Vladimir-Suzdal's dominance of the Kievan Church, the Ruthenian rulers merely asked for and obtained a separate Church from Byzantium.[50]
Galicia–Volhynia also differed from the northern and eastern principalities of the former Kievan Rus' in terms of its relationship with its western neighbors. King Danylo was alternatively an ally or a rival with neighboring Slavic Poland and partially Slavic Hungary. According to historianGeorge Vernadsky (1970), the kingdoms of Ruthenia, Poland and Hungary belonged to the same psychological and cultural world. The Roman Catholic Church was seen as a neighbor and there was much intermarriage between the princely houses of Galicia and those of neighboring Catholic countries. In contrast, the Westerners faced by Alexander, prince of Novgorod, were theTeutonic Knights, and the northeastern Rus experience of the West was that of hostile crusaders rather than peers.[24]
In Ukrainian historiography, the Kingdom of Galicia-Volhynia played an important role, uniting the western and southern branches of East Slavs and consolidating their identity, and becoming a new center of political and economic life after the decline of Kiev.[51][52][better source needed]
The administrative divisions of Galicia–Volhynia were retained inPolish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as:Volhynian Voivodeship,Ruthenian Voivodeship (Red Russia),Chelm Land,Belz Voivodeship andPokuttia.
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Geographically, western Galicia–Volhynia extended between the riversSan andWieprz in what is now south-easternPoland, while its eastern territories covered thePripet Marshes (now inBelarus) and the upper reaches of theSouthern Bug river in modern-dayUkraine. During its history, Galicia-Volhynia was bordered by theGrand Duchy of Lithuania, thePrincipality of Turov-Pinsk, thePrincipality of Kiev, theGolden Horde, theKingdom of Hungary, theKingdom of Poland,Moldavia and theMonastic State of the Teutonic Knights.[citation needed]
The principality was divided into severalappanage duchies and lands:
 Halych-Volyn in mid-13th century Annexations by Halych-Volyn (years) Borders of lands and regional principalities Main trade routes Borders of Ruthenian principalities "Capital cities" (1230–1240) (1230s) (1252–1276) (1289–1302) (1251–1252) (1254) |
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Notes: The senior branch of Rurikid dynasty, in the 14th century Galician rulers came in close relations with Mazovian Piasts (Duke of Mazovia) and rising Gediminids which established theGrand Duchy of Lithuania.
Danylo unified Volhynia. He failed in several attempts to gain control of the princely Halych, but finally succeeded in 1238, with the support of the burghers. The next year he took Kyiv, which had entered his sphere of influence earlier, and placed Voivode Dmytro in charge of the principality.
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