Realizing that the Horde is for a long time, Leo, already from 1262, began to defend a new policy of subordination and cooperation with the steppe inhabitants. This made it possible not only to secure the eastern borders, but also to receive very specific military support from the khan, who rarely offended his loyal vassals in this regard. It was because of this that he forgot the title of King of Russia, which became one of the reasons for the actions of Burundi: despite its repetition in the correspondence, Leo did not get crowned, continued to call himself prince at the official level and in every possible way pretended to respect tough, but fair power khan. Soon, this policy paid off entirely due to the change in the balance of power in the Horde itself.
During the strife in the Mongol Empire, Nogai, one of the Jochids and vassals of Khan Berke, showed himself brightly. He fought a lot, won and lost, and in about 1270, together with his tumens, he migrated to the Black Sea region and between the Dniester and Danube rivers, placing his headquarters in Isakce. It has not yet been established exactly what policy he pursued with regard to the Golden Horde. Some historians claim that this year he abandoned it and decided to create his own state. Others put Nogai's ambitions much higher, pointing out that he only isolated himself, but in fact later acted as the "gray cardinal" of the Horde, subordinating the khans to his will, and wanted to gradually become the ruler of Ulus Jochi himself, but only after all competitors were destroyed, preferably by each other's hands.
Be that as it may, Nogai's choice of his "volost" was not accidental and very successful. At that time, busy trade routes passed through the mouth of the Danube, going both along the river and by land. One of these routes was the northern one, which went from the territory of the Galicia-Volyn principality. It was profitable for Nogay to control and develop this trade, for which he even attacked the Genoese trading posts in the Crimea and practically interrupted the trade with the Horde, redirecting flows straight to Egypt, due to which the number of Saracen merchants in Eastern Europe sharply increased, who even founded their own quarter in Lviv. In addition, Nogai by military force established his dominance over Byzantium and Bulgaria, married the illegitimate daughter of Emperor Michael Palaeologus and actively collaborated with the settled peoples under his control, especially the "indigenous" territories of his possessions, where the roaming, berladniki and other "freemen" lived, once dependent on Bulgarians and Russians. In the future, these lands will become the principality of Moldavia.
Of course, all this pushed Lev Danilovich to cooperate with Nogai, especially in the light of his pro-Horde policy. Moreover, from a certain moment almost all of Russia fell into his vassals, so that some kind of interaction was inevitable for them. It could go according to completely different scenarios, since the relations between the Tatars and the Russians have always been difficult. But in the case of Leo and Nogai, everything turned out in the best way.
Beklyarbek was very attentive to the one who controlled the trade routes from the north, and Lev praised the skillful and effective management policy of his new southern neighbor. Gradually, if not friendship, then close interaction and support in important endeavors of each other arose between them. Nogai more than once helped the troops of the Galicia-Volyn state and recognized its unification under the leadership of Lev Danilovich after the death of Schwarn and Vasilko, which contradicted the interests of the Horde. In response, Leo also sent his troops to help Nogai, developed trade with him, supported him in the Horde strife and actively made joint raids on hostile neighbors. Close friendly relations and alliance between them remained until the death of both rulers, and the reason for this was not only the personal sympathies of the two rulers, but also mutual benefit. As a result, the Romanovichs and the Tatar beklyarbek Nogai, several decades after the invasion of Batu, formed a very effective and mutually beneficial symbiosis, which will be difficult to find analogues in Russia in terms of effectiveness.
The peak of development of the Galicia-Volyn state
Lev Danilovich's skillful rule, a successful foreign policy, coupled with close relations with Nogai, who at that time was the main figure in Eastern Europe, allowed the Galicia-Volyn state to experience its new heyday, the greatest and, alas, the last. First of all, this was expressed in the territorial expansion of the influence of the Romanovichs over the lands of Russia, about which there is, albeit not one hundred percent, but quite significant information. Over time, for example, under the patronage of Nogai, the Lion annexed Kiev to his possessions. By that time, both the city and the principality had completely lost their role, were highly dependent on the steppe inhabitants who roamed nearby, and could bring little benefit to their ruler, but for the Romanovichs, the possession of the city was a matter of prestige.
Nogai also returned to the Romanovichs control over the lower reaches of the Dniester, retaining only the most important cities, although it is not possible to establish the exact border between the possessions of the prince and the beklarbek. He did not have any special benefits from direct domination over the local sedentary population, and Leo was a reliable ally, so there is nothing surprising in such an act. The local population, having found itself under the double protection of the beklarbek and the prince, truly experienced a period of prosperity: archeology confirms the absence of any devastation of this land at the indicated time, and, on the contrary, indicates the unusually active construction of cities and villages and the rapid growth of the local population. It is on this basis that the Moldavian principality will emerge already in the next century, which will be able to remain a serious power in the region for some time.
In the Galicia-Volyn principality itself, literally everything was rapidly developing at this time. A stream of settlers arrived from the west, settling in cities or establishing new rural communities. Together with them, "German" law first came to Russia - it was under Lev Danilovich that completely European mechanisms of urban and peasant self-government began to take shape, which began to spread to the indigenous population. The introduction of Western agrarian culture and the increase in the number of peasants led to the growth of agriculture, and the growth of cities and urban population further stimulated the development of handicraft production - in this regard, the Galicia-Volyn state has already gone far ahead of other Rus. Coupled with the continuing development of trade, which was facilitated by double guarantees of security from both the prince and the beklarbek, this gave great profits for the treasury, increased the well-being of the population, and made it possible to speak of a period of prosperity even at a time when the Galicia-Volyn state was divided between the Romanovichs …
Small hikes of Lev Danilovich
As soon as Lev Danilovich was able to unite the Galicia-Volyn state under his own command, a new period of almost continuous wars began, in which he had to take personal part. True, unlike in the old days, it was no longer a question of restoring the father's inheritance, and therefore, in addition to defense, it became possible to develop an offensive into neighboring states, which, however, did not end with radical changes in borders. In addition to major conflicts, such as the war with the Hungarians, there were also small foreign campaigns, primarily associated with the support of the Polish allies and the fight against the Lithuanians, who intensified the onslaught from the north.
The first such minor conflict was the Polish campaign in 1271 in alliance with Boleslav the Shy against the Wroclaw prince Henry IV Probus. It was part of a much larger game, as it was played with the permission of the Horde and in alliance with the Hungarians, and its goal was to weaken the ally of Přemysl Otakar II, who at that time was the main enemy of the Magyars. In this campaign, against their own will, the brothers of Lev - Mstislav Danilovich and Vladimir Vasilkovich participated. Both princes were couch potatoes, preferring to peacefully rule their lands, but Leo, having much greater strength and authority than they, forced the brothers to submit to their will and fight together against the Poles and Czechs. The next year, a new campaign followed, this time against the Yatvingians, who began to attack the Galician-Volyn suburbs.
In 1275, the Lithuanians of the Grand Duke Troyden raided Dorogochin, ravaging this city and killing all its inhabitants. In response, Leo gathered a large army of allies, including the Nogai Tatars, and went to war against Lithuania. Thanks to the support of Beklarbek, a number of minor Russian princes, who were dependent on the Horde, also joined him. The start of the campaign was quite successful, they managed to occupy the city of Slonim, but soon after that a group of allies, led by the Leo brothers, began to sabotage the war in every possible way, fearing an excessive strengthening of the ruler of the Galicia-Volyn state. In response to this, Leo, without their participation, took Novogrudok, which was the most important city on the border of Russia and Lithuania, after which the brothers finally left it.
The prince had to seek support from someone from outside, as a result of which Vasilko Romanovich, the son of the Bryansk prince, who was completely subordinate to the will of the Galician prince and Nogai, was imprisoned to rule in Slonim. In 1277, Leo sent his troops under the command of his son Yuri, along with the Tatars, on a new campaign against Lithuania, but due to the prince's inept command and continued sabotage by the brothers, the entire campaign was reduced to an unsuccessful siege of Gorodno. After that, for some time the situation on the border with Lithuania calmed down, and in the subsequent conflict over Krakow, Daniel was even able to attract Lithuanian soldiers to his side. Nevertheless, relations with the northern neighbor remained difficult, since Lev Danilovich maintained good mutually beneficial relations with the Teutonic Order, while Lithuania fought continuously with the Teutons.
The war in Poland, which began in 1279 for Krakow after the death of Boleslaw the Shy one, was gaining momentum. Throwing away all the conventions and having, though small, but still legal rights to Krakow, Leo himself declared his own claims to the city, and began to prepare for a big war. In case of victory, he would actually take into his own hands the entire southeastern territory of Poland and put a number of Polish princes in a dependent position, which in the future could lead to the creation of a powerful Slavic state that could freely compete with any of its neighbors. True, by this he suddenly united all his opponents, first of all Laszlo Kuhn and Leszek Cherny, who had already firmly sat down to rule in Krakow. However, the biggest problem as a result was that they were joined by Mstislav Danilovich and Vladimir Vasilkovich, who deprived their brother of support and actually spied on him in favor of Leshek.
The first campaign, made in 1279, ended in a major defeat for the Russian-Tatar army led by Lev Danilovich. Apparently, this outcome was facilitated by his brothers, who acted passively and leaked information to the Poles. Seriously beaten, the army of Lev Danilovich was forced to retreat as far as Lvov. Leszek Cherny with his troops, advancing on the heels of Lev Danilovich's army, invaded the Galicia-Volyn principality and laid siege to Berestye. Despite the difficult situation, the city was defended, and the Polish prince returned home with nothing. After that, taking advantage of the diversion of the main forces of Leo to Hungary, Leszek put the Polish allies of the Galicians out of the game, and in 1285 he again invaded the Romanovich state - however, without much success. In response, Leo, who had returned from Hungary, began to prepare a large campaign with Nogai's participation in Poland with the aim of solving the Krakow problem once and for all.
Lion, Nogai and Telebuga
Telebuga was a khan who rose to prominence through intrigue and had a very cool relationship with Nogai from the start. Nevertheless, at first there was still a semblance of reverence between them, until in 1287 there was another campaign of the Russian-Tatar army in Hungary, which the khan decided to lead personally. Already after the invasion of Pannonia, Nogai unexpectedly deployed his troops and took them back to his possessions, after which Leo left the khan, however, most likely with his permission. Having completed the raid on Hungary, Telebuga deployed his horde, but the crossing through the Carpathians, instead of the usual occupation, turned into a real punishment, stretching out for a month. The mass death of people and horses from hunger led to the fact that the khan brought his army back to the steppe in a very shabby state, which could not but cause his anger.
Undeterred, Telebuga decided to repeat the campaign in the same year - albeit in the direction of Poland. The horde passed through the Galicia-Volyn principality slowly, each of the Romanovichs was forced to report separately to him. Along the way, the usually restrained Horde began to slip into plunder, including plundering the vicinity of Vladimir-Volynsky. It was clear that Telebuga was angry with the Romanovichs in general, and Lev Danilovich in particular. Khan transferred all of Southwestern Russia to dependence on himself personally and was thinking of appointing Mstislav Danilovich as the eldest among the Romanovichs, who showed much more accommodatingness than Lev.
However, the campaign against Poland failed as a result: the horde and Russian troops acted successfully, reached Sandomierz and were going to march on Krakow, abandoned by Leszek the Black … its surroundings. Telebuga, enraged by such arbitrariness, deployed the army back to the Steppe. His road lay through the principalities of the Romanovichs, which until recently were Nogai's allies …
Moving to the southeast, Telebuga suddenly stopped his horde near Lvov, where Lev Danilovich was, and actually took him into a blockade, not allowing anyone to leave the city or enter it. The blockade lasted for two weeks, and as a result, many of the townspeople died of hunger, and the outskirts of the city were plundered by the Horde. Nevertheless, he did not dare to storm Telebuga, although Mstislav Danilovich was already at his rate, ready to take over the principality of his brother after the fall of Lvov. Due to the support of the khan, his position was now stronger than that of his brother, moreover, in 1288 he inherited Volyn from childless Vladimir Vasilkovich, which further strengthened Mstislav. Realizing that the Romanovichs were weakened and the fire of contradictions between them was blown up properly, Telebuga went into the steppe along with the entire horde. Galicia-Volyn state actually disintegrated.
The situation was far from being the most pleasant. Lev's positions were greatly weakened, as were his military capabilities. The chronicle estimates the losses from two passes of Telebuga through the Galician principality at 20, 5 thousand people, which was a fairly large number. I had to spend a lot of time to restore what was lost. Fortunately, Nogai quickly restored his position in the Horde after the assassination of Telebuga and was in no hurry to sever ties with Lev Danilovich, which could be useful in the event of a military aggravation. The Nogai factor also prevented Mstislav Danilovich from further conflict with his brother and contributed to the preservation of Leo's power over the Galician principality.
Poland again
In 1288 Leszek Cherny, Prince of Krakow, died and the struggle for the capital of Poland resumed. Lev Danilovich could no longer personally claim the principality, since after the decisions of Khan Telebuga he did not have enough strength for this, but he also could not allow the appearance of a hostile prince in Krakow. It was decided to support the Piast contender for Krakow, which became Boleslaw II Plock, on whose side a number of other Polish princes also acted, including the still little known at that time Vladislav Lokotka.
Another contender, Henry IV Probus, Prince of Wroclaw, managed to occupy Krakow and leave a garrison there, but after that he behaved extremely frivolously, disbanding the militia and remaining with only one squad. Going back to Silesia, he met with an army of allied princes and suffered a severe defeat. Following this, the princes laid siege to Krakow, which continued to be loyal to Henry. It was at this moment that Lev Danilovich's Russian troops joined the Poles. In 1289, the Galician prince had already ravaged Silesia, where he met with the king of Bohemia, Wenceslas II, and concluded an alliance with him, renewing ties back to the time of Přemysl Otakar II. In addition, around this time, Leo finally gained a foothold in Lublin, annexing it to his state.
Shortly thereafter, a large congress of Polish princes followed in Opava. Boleslav II renounced his claims to Krakow in favor of his ally, Władysław Lokotk. He was the younger brother of Leshek Cherny, Lev Danilovich's sworn enemy. This fact did not prevent the Galician prince from concluding an alliance with Vladislav, arranging the marriage of the sister of the Polish prince with Yuri Lvovich. Leo had high hopes for this marriage, hoping that in the future this would lead to the formation of a strong Russian-Polish alliance.
Heinrich Probus did not surrender and in the same year 1289 was able to gather a new army and defeat Lokotk's supporters under the walls of Krakow. Vladislav fled from the city, almost being captured, and Lev was forced to withdraw his troops home. However, he was a stubborn person and never gave up after successive failures. Already in the winter he returned to Poland at the head of the Russian-Tatar army, again enlisting the support of Nogai. The campaign was so large-scale and successful that the allied army reached the walls of Ratibor, located in Upper Silesia. The Hungarian king Laszlo Kun, who was about to invade Russia at this time, suddenly changed his mind, fearing retaliatory actions from the steppe and Rus. He was killed shortly thereafter.
In 1290, Heinrich Probus also died, and so unexpectedly that any possible contenders for Krakow were not ready for this. And there were only two of them: Przemyslaw II Wielkopolski and Boleslav I Opolski. Both princes were not friends of Leo, and therefore he remained loyal to his two old allies: Lokotk, who, however, could not yet hope to regain Krakow, and Wenceslas II of Bohemia. The latter in 1291 received Krakow from Przemyslaw, who fled to Greater Poland with royal regalia, where he was soon crowned as king of Poland.
Lev welcomed such an outcome of events, since it secured his western borders, but he did not break ties with Lokotk either, although he was already going to fight the Czechs for Krakow. Apparently, the final choice in favor of Wenceslas or Lokotok Leo did not make until the end of his life. There is information both about his close relations with the Czech king and about Tatar units in the troops of Lokotok, and he could only get such through the mediation of one of the Horde vassals, including his relative who ruled in Lvov. The active participation of Prince Lev Danilovich himself in Polish affairs ended there.
Recent cases
After the assassination of Laszlo IV Kun in 1290, a period of kinglessness began in Hungary. Meanwhile, the Pope was pretty tired of the news from this state, and in order to restore the former state of affairs, he called András III of Venice the legitimate king, having won his support from a number of magnates and foreigners. The king came to rule with an army at his head in order to restore order in the country. At the same time, the army of Lev Danilovich advanced from Transcarpathia to meet him, who acted as his ally. Andrash, in response, recognized Transcarpathia for the Romanovichs and restored the former Russian-Hungarian alliance.
Luck seemed to be returning. In 1292, Mstislav Danilovich died, and Leo again united under his rule the entire Galicia-Volyn state, and Nogai, thanks to the strengthening of his influence in the Horde after the assassination of Telebuga in 1291, obtained permission from Khan Tokhta. It was at this time that Nogai's power reached its peak, as did his relationship with Lev Danilovich. The unchanging loyalty of the prince beklarbek, even during the visit to Galicia of Telebuga, became a clear illustration of how much the prince appreciated this connection, and Nogai reciprocated. It was at this time, most likely, that control over Kiev was transferred to Leo. There are also references to the fact that Lev at that time ruled the Pereyaslavl land on the Left Bank, although, even if this was true, control over these possessions remained weak.
However, Tohta did not want to be Nogai's puppet and soon began to resist him. In 1298, this led to a real full-scale war. At the beginning of this conflict, the victory went to Nogai, but then luck changed him. Tokhta, having mobilized all forces, including the North Russian principalities under his control, attacked the recalcitrant Beklarbek in 1300. The first to come under attack were the Pereyaslav and Kiev lands controlled by Lev Danilovich, who continued to adhere to his alliance with Nogai. At the same moment, he lost his eastern possessions, which passed into the hands of the small Olgovichs. This was followed by a general engagement of the entire war, in which Nogai, who had collected a much smaller army, was defeated, seriously wounded and soon died. His sons with the remnants of the horde fled towards Galich or Bulgaria, where their brother ruled.
Realizing that soon retribution for the alliance with the loser might come, Lev Danilovich soon after the death of Nogai went to a monastery, transferring power to his son, Yuri. Thus, he allegedly took all the blame for what he had done on himself, trying to divert the anger of the Horde from his principality - just like his father did. Yuri had to wait for the visit of the khan and hope for his mercy. Shortly thereafter, in about 1301-1302, Leo died, already at a very old age. All his life he fought: first together with his relatives against foreigners, then together with foreigners against relatives. They had to simultaneously show loyalty to their allies and political flexibility in order to survive. Thanks to the right bets on the right horses, Lev Danilovich was able to achieve the peak of the political and territorial development of the Galicia-Volyn state and established himself as one of the most powerful rulers of Eastern Europe. However, after the takeoff, a fall follows - and not after every fall it is possible to recover. Especially if the heir was not lucky, as happened with Lev Danilovich.
