In the case of Leo, it is appropriate to recall the situation with the figure of Roman Mstislavich, whom a number of chronicles, for political reasons, presented as a mediocre prince, or even complete mediocrity, but when cross-comparing sources and analyzing historical events, it turned out that everything was exactly the opposite. The Chronicle also characterizes Leo as a rather mediocre ruler, a despot incapable of constructive activity, or even a "dishonorable prince" who despised his family ties and acted purely in his personal interests. The prince was really hot-tempered and behaved independently, which is why he quarreled with almost all of his relatives. But it is precisely for this reason that he earned negative assessments in the annals, including those written under the auspices of those very relatives who did not favor the independent Leo.
With a more skeptical approach to sources, the inclusion of foreign chronicles in the work and a deep analysis of all material, the heir of Daniel Galitsky appears before us in a completely different light, and it is this point of view that now prevails among modern historians. So, for example, long after the death of Leo, the forgery of letters on his behalf continued, since it was he who had the greatest weight in the eyes of his descendants as a just ruler, which added weight to the forgeries. The good memory of the prince has also been preserved in the people's memory. Foreign chronicles also characterize Lev Danilovich as a fairly successful and influential ruler, albeit not as skillful a politician as his father, but probably an even more talented commander and organizer.
The future prince of the Galicia-Volyn state was born in about 1225. Since childhood, he was constantly with his father as one of the eldest sons, and after the death of his brother Heraclius - and as his father's heir. He was smart, brave and skilled in military affairs. It is he who is credited with improving the throwing machines adopted from the Mongols. On the other hand, Leo was not without flaws. The most important of these was excessive fervor, which resulted in outbursts of poorly controlled anger. He was also very headstrong and independent and, under certain conditions, could go against the will of his relatives and even his father, which later led to conflicts within the Romanovich dynasty. Nevertheless, Daniel highly valued his heir - and that is why he mercilessly used his talents for his own purposes. For the first time he began to act independently after the invasion of Batu, when Daniel put his son to rule in Przemysl.
And this city together with the land, it should be noted, were far from simple. Many trade routes converged here and there were deposits of important resources, primarily salt and swamp ore. The latter also led to a highly developed local metallurgy. As a result, the Przemysl boyars turned out to be richer than the Volyn ones in the 12th century and in their behavior rather resembled the Galician tycoons who sought to become an independent political force and concentrate in their hands all places of "feeding" on the territory of the principality. Lev Danilovich, of course, rushed with full dedication to fight the boyars and concentrate in his hands the entirety of local power and sources of resources and wealth. This is what led to the fact that later the elite of the principality, including the clergy, constantly supported Rostislav Mikhailovich in his claims to Galich, and hence Przemysl.
The methods of fighting the boyars turned out to be rather non-standard. In addition to the usual repression and confiscation of property, a rather interesting method of occupying land by the prince was also used by creating communities controlled only by him. For this, both migrants and refugees and prisoners of war of any ethnicity were used: Hungarians, Poles, Lithuanians, Polovtsians, Germans and Czechs. This method, despite its originality, turned out to be quite effective, and by the 1250s the Przemysl boyars were significantly weakened and at an accelerated pace they were leaving the territory of the Romanovich state or were adjoining the "new" boyars, much more loyal to the central government.
The first baptism of fire as a commander Leo happened to be accepted in 1244, when his squad blocked the path of the Hungarians led by Rostislav Mikhailovich. He lost that battle, and largely due to the passivity of the squad of the allied Belz prince, Vsevolod Alexandrovich, who probably later joined Rostislav and for this was deprived of his lands, although, alas, there is no specific information about his fate. Despite this, the next year, in the battle of Yaroslav, Leo's initiative and bold actions largely ensured the victory over the challenger's troops. In the future, Daniel made full use of his son's military leadership talents, and when he had to leave Russia due to the approach of Burundi, the king of Russia knew that he was leaving his state in good hands.
Fathers and Sons
The return of the king of Russia home in 1262 proved to be a very difficult test for his eldest son. All this time, Leo was in his possession, saw the army of Burundi and kept his finger on the pulse of the Horde policy, knowing that strife had begun to flare up there. Daniel also knew this, who, having regained power, immediately started talking about a big war with the steppe inhabitants for Russia. He was not embarrassed by the fact that Burundai destroyed all the unions of the Romanovichs, with the exception of Poland. He perceived the turmoil in the Mongol Empire as the dying cramps of all the power of the steppe people, which pushed him to an early action against them and gain complete independence. Daniel's authority was so strong that all his sons, brothers, and nephews obeyed him. Everyone except Leo. Leo was well aware of the real state of affairs and believed that the campaign against the Horde would now lead the state of the Romanovichs to dismemberment and death at the hands of another Burundi, who would not be content with the obedience of the princes and the destruction of the city walls.
This caused a conflict between the Romanovichs and eventually led to a split between them. No, the family still held together, tried to solve important issues together, but from now on, contradictions and conflicts began to grow between them. The most acute was the confrontation between Leo and his father, and as a result, Daniil Galitsky actually removed him from the inheritance of the state, making him the heir of his brother, Vasilko, and after him - Schwarn, who became his beloved son, and began to conflict with his older brother. Thus, Daniel, striving all his life for one-man rule, actually betrayed himself, leaving behind the old laws of inheritance, which he did not remember all his life. In addition, a redistribution of appanage principalities between relatives was carried out, as a result of which Lev lost Galich, retaining only Przemysl and Belz, although Burunday personally left him to rule the entire Galician principality, and Vasilka - the entire Volynia. Schwarn, who was not the heir either by primogeniture or by ladder, received two of the most valuable inheritances in the entire state - Galich and Kholm, which put him forward as the first and main heir of his father. Daniel was determined to fight the steppes, but soon fell seriously ill, and died in 1264. He never came to terms with his son.
After the death of Daniel in the Galicia-Volyn state, de jure divided into two parts, a strange situation with power was established. According to the will of the deceased king of Russia, Vasilko remained at the head of the state of the Romanovichs, but in fact he did not try to play the role of a leader, limiting himself to control over his Volyn principality. It is possible that Vasilko behaved this way out of a desire not to attract the attention of the khan, who could punish the prince for violating his will to divide Galicia and Volhynia. In the Galician principality, two brothers ruled jointly, Leo and Schwarn, who somehow reconciled and became co-rulers, however, real power belonged to Leo, since Schwarn at the same time was busy with Lithuanian affairs with his relative Voishelk, who voluntarily transferred power over the principality to his son-in-law and retired to a monastery in Volyn. With all this, both Vasilko and Schwarn recognized the primacy of Leo, who thus turned out to be the sovereign of the Galicia-Volyn principality, although de jure he had a co-ruler, and besides, he did not control Volyn.
Such a division of power could not but weaken the potential of the Romanovich state, since after the death of Daniel it actually disintegrated. Vasilko reigned in Volhynia, Schwarn controlled Kholm and Galich, and Leo was left with his inheritance in Belz and Przemysl. The relatives remained bound by agreements on mutual assistance, but very quickly they began to weave intrigues against each other, since they objectively interfered with the self-assertion of any of the Romanovichs as the king of Russia. Fortunately, this situation did not last long: both Schwarn and Vasilko died in 1269. Only Mstislav Danilovich and Vladimir Vasilkovich remained the closest relatives, and both recognized the supreme power of Leo, even if they did not have much sympathy for him. This was especially true of Vladimir, at whose court the Galicia-Volyn Chronicle was written, which gave Leo a characterization of a vile, dishonorable prince. Meanwhile, the prince of the Galicia-Volyn state, Lev Danilovich, tried with all his might to keep the achievements of his father.
Prince of Przemyshl and Belz
In the early period of his reign, the prince of Przemysl and Belz had a hard time. On the one hand, it was necessary to help his relatives, but on the other, they did not favor him, sooner or later they could and should have betrayed him, and therefore the help had to be either dosed or not sent at all. Despite the reconciliation with Schwarn, relations still remained difficult, especially in light of Lithuania's receiving themes. The time until 1269 was spent, in fact, on strengthening personal possessions and forging alliances. The development of their own possessions, which began in the 1240s, continued at an even greater pace during this period. Following the example of his father, who founded Kholm, Lev Danilovich back in 1245 laid the foundation for a new city on the border of his two estates: Belz and Przemysl principality. This city quickly reduced the located near Zvenigorod to a minimum value, and also began to actively absorb the importance and influence of Galich and Przemyl, which during this period began to experience a rapid decline. As some might have already guessed, this city became Lviv, where in the early 1270s Lev Danilovich moved his capital.
In the search for allies, the wife of the prince, Constance of Hungary, turned out to be extremely valuable. She was the daughter of the Hungarian king and therefore could ask him for the support of her husband. For this, Leo even visited Hungary itself several times, where he was treated kindly by his father-in-law, White IV, and received promises of support in the event of a war with his relatives. The value of Constance was not limited to this alone: she was very friendly with her sisters Kunigunda and Yolanda, who were married respectively to the Krakow prince Boleslav V the Shy and Boleslav the Pious from Kalisz. They corresponded regularly, came to visit each other, and given the fact that the Krakow prince listened to his wife in everything, and the Kalisz prince was also looking for friends and allies, this meant the formation of a "union of three princesses." In the future, the relationship between Leo and the Boleslavs will turn out to be very strong, and they will regularly help each other get out of troubles, showing a rare loyalty to the alliance for that time.
The Grand Duke of Lithuania Mindaugas died in the same year as Daniil Romanovich. In view of the close family ties of the only king of Lithuania, the Romanovichs, primarily Shvarn, the Galicia-Volyn princes could not help but take part in the upcoming struggle for power. However, they were not the only ones who were interested in Lithuania: as soon as they managed to bury Mindaugas, his nephew Troinat took power into his own hands. He had weak support among the nobility, and besides, the Teutonic Order and Přemysl Otakar II, king of Bohemia, suddenly declared claims to the Lithuanian lands, which at that time, from the point of view of the Catholic world, were backward barbarian possessions. Their ambitions were supported by the Pope, who quickly got the Order to renounce claims in favor of the Czech. Finally, claims to the great reign were put forward by Troinat's brother, the Polotsk prince Tovtivil. The porridge was still being brewed….
In the struggle between Troinat and Tovtivil, the first defeated, killing his brother and taking control of Polotsk. At the same time, the new Grand Duke, being an ardent supporter of paganism, quickly made enemies from among the nobility, especially its Christian part, which became quite numerous under Mindauga. As a result, he was killed in the same year 1264, and Voyshelk, the only surviving son of Mindaugas, was invited instead. Tom had already fought for this title, in which he was supported by two of the Romanovichi: Shvarn and Vasilko. At the same time, Voishelk was a deeply spiritual person, more than once he renounced worldly life, and made no exception in this case. Having put Shvarna to rule on his own behalf, whom he also appointed as his heir, Voyshelk again left for a monastery located in Volyn, firmly resolving to devote the rest of his life to God. The Lithuanian nobility recognized such a decision, since Schwarn had long been considered "their own" and had managed to acquire a reputation as a good ruler and warrior.
This alignment was entirely in the interests of the Romanovichs, in this way they could inherit Lithuania and create a united state, which could already claim both an independent struggle with the Horde and active opposition to any enemy, including the crusaders. It was a great prospect. However, Lev Danilovich, the eldest son of Daniil Galitsky, did not like all this at all. He got along so badly with Vasilko and Shvarn, and when the latter also became the de facto Grand Duke of Lithuania, his position became critical. At any time, the brother could despise family ties and try to take away the possessions of Leo in his favor, while pursuing purely state goals. I had to look for allies, prepare the army for campaigns and, in general, do everything that Daniel did during the constant conflicts for the revival of the state of Roman Mstislavich.
The murder of Voishelk
With the early period of the reign of Lev Danilovich, a very dark and controversial story about the murder of the prince-monk Voyshelk, which took place in 1267, turned out to be connected. This act is a historical fact, but its details, Leo's motivation and the essence of what is happening still remain unknown. The version put forward by the Galicia-Volyn Chronicle may turn out to be true, or it may also be extremely biased, which is why it is not worth treating it as the truth. One thing is certain: this event put an end to the possible improvement of Lev Danilovich's relations with his relatives. In their eyes, he now became a cursed murderer, an apostate, and therefore did not deserve any respect. In the future, Leo will earn his dominant position over them exclusively by military strength and political influence.
The essence of the official story is as follows. During a feast in Vladimir-Volynsky, where Vasilko was the owner, Lev and Voyshelk met. After the feast, when everyone had already gone to sleep, Lev and Voishelk stayed to drink another glass, and in the process a quarrel ensued between them. The hot-tempered Leo was angry that Voishelk gave Lithuania not to him, but to Shvarna, and killed him. As an alternative: Voyshelk had already left the place of the feast and went to his monastery, but Leo caught up with him, and even then a quarrel ensued between them, which ended in the death of the Lithuanian.
There are plenty of holes in this story. First of all, in the motivation of Leo. For the Lithuanians, he was nothing, and it was at least strange to demand from Voishelk that the Grand Duchy be transferred into his hands, for Schwarn was Mindaugas' son-in-law and, because of this, already received some claims to Lithuania. In addition, it was impossible not to take into account his support of the Lithuanian nobility, which meant not so little. When analyzing this entire situation, historians generally faced the fact that regarding this incident the Galicia-Volyn Chronicle (the main source of information about the events that took place then in South-Western Russia) was subjected to the most careful editing. Unlike all other places, words and sentences are clearly verified, as if written by a witness of those events who perfectly remembered everything that happened. Alas, this contradicts the very course of events, since Leo and Voishelk, according to the chronicle itself, were left alone after the feast.
Many events related to the feast itself raise a lot of questions. For example, everything supposedly happened not at the court of Vasilko, but at the house of a rich city dweller, which already looks not like a feast, but like a secret meeting of two princes. It is possible that it was so, and in fact Leo tried to convince Voishelk to at least not hand over Lithuania to Schwarn. However, these are only guesses. According to the text of the chronicle, one gets the impression that Vasilko tried to disown what was happening as much as possible, making excuses to his descendants, and maybe even to Schwarn for organizing a meeting that could play against him.
Do not forget that both Vasilko and Voyshelk were afraid of Leo. The first was simply afraid of his nephew because of the conflict of characters: the indecisive and soft Volyn prince, able to play secondary roles, could not help but conflict with the determined nephew, who had to obey, but instead sought to subordinate himself. Voyshelk's reasons for fear were much more serious: after all, until recently he became one of the organizers of the abduction and murder of Roman, the brother of Lev, with whom they were connected, probably, the best relations among all the sons of Daniel Galitsky.
Be that as it may, but Leo and Voyshelk definitely met in Vladimir-Volynsky with the mediation of Vasilko. It can be argued that the negotiations were successful and that during them the princes were engaged in libation (it is possible that in excessive quantities), since then they were still alone for the last glass. What happens to older men when exposed to wine vapors? That's right, they don't follow their language. An ordinary quarrel could happen between the princes for any reason. And then the usual physiology began to play: a devout, observing all fasts and possessing a flimsy body, the Lithuanian prince faced a man who from childhood was accustomed to the art of war and for a long time literally did not leave the battles. Even a simple blow with a fist in this case could be fatal, not to mention all sorts of accidents. In this case, an important political event in the history of relations between the Romanovichs and Lithuania could be provoked by the usual excess of alcohol in the blood of the participants.
To find out exactly what happened then is no longer destined in our time. However, even a very biased chronicler calls this murder accidental and indicates that Leo did not plan it. Nevertheless, in the short term, this act even played into the hands of prince Przemysl: without Vojshelk, Schwarn was no longer so legitimate ruler of Lithuania, and, although he still ruled until 1269, the matter was significantly complicated due to the opposition of the nobility, led by Troyden., whose ally Leo quickly became. The possibility of a union between Lithuania and Galicia-Volhynia was no longer presented. However, it is worth remembering that Shvarn Danilovich did not have direct heirs, and therefore the unification under his leadership of the Galicia-Volyn principality and Lithuania in any case could not be long-term: the Lithuanian nobility would not recognize Schwarn's brother or nephew as a prince, and among his brothers and there were no nephews who could hold Lithuania in their hands, except perhaps Leo. At the same time, without defeating Leo, Schwarn would not have been able to unite both states. Therefore, any constructions leading to the fact that it would be better to win Schwarn as a result will be very shaky, because without direct heirs, such an outcome could not only lead to the collapse of the barely formed single state, but also to the rapid decline of the Galicia-Volyn principality itself, which in reality had yet to play an important role in the history of the region until the end of the century.
Hungarian question
In Hungary, even during the heyday, there was a very strong nobility, which sometimes dictated conditions to the king or even got up to such somersaults, from which the neighbors' blood froze in their veins. A striking example is the fate of Queen Gertrude of Meran, the wife of András II, whom she killed during the king’s absence and, in fact, was not punished: only a few ringleaders were executed and made scapegoats. The son and heir of András, the future king of Bela IV, probably witnessed the murder of his mother and therefore, until the end of his life, he retained a tender, quivering hatred of the established order in Hungary. Alas, he did not succeed in fighting the system: in the end, he, too, had to make concessions to the all-powerful nobility for the sake of pursuing his own policy.
Another example is the fate of the sons of Rostislav Mikhailovich, the beloved son-in-law of King Bela IV, who for some time was a contender for the Galician throne. He had two of them: the elder Bela and the younger Mikhail. The latter was killed under mysterious circumstances in 1270. For some time, Bela enjoyed great popularity among part of the nobility and was considered as a contender for the throne instead of Laszlo IV Kun, the son of a Polovtsian woman, who became king in 1272. Realizing the threat posed by Bela, the Keseg family, a former supporter of Laszlo, chopped him to pieces during the coronation feast, sneered at the remains for a long time, and then scattered them in different parts of the castle. After that, Bela's sister, nun Margit, had to collect parts of her brother for burial for a long time …
Sooner or later, Hungary was bound to explode. An excellent reason for this was the beginning of the reign of the young Laszlo Kun, the son of a Polovtsian woman, which many members of the nobility perceived as the most complete bad manners. Fuel was added to the fire by the fact that a considerable number of Polovtsians, under the leadership of Khan Kotyan, who was the grandfather of the new king, once emigrated from the steppe to Hungary, fleeing the Mongols. Instead of a warm welcome as in Russia, they were met with fierce resistance from the Hungarian feudal lords. As a result, since 1272, the country went downhill: large-scale conflicts began between individual tycoons and their parties, a new contender for the throne, Andras the Venetian, appeared (by the way, the protege of Bela Rostislavich's killers, Kesegov, who abruptly changed sides). All that chaos, constant intrigues, betrayals, murders and massacres of the Polovtsians by the Magyars and Magyars by the Polovtsians are worthy of a separate material. The state, despite all efforts to stick together, actually disintegrated, and some kind of order was restored only during the reign of Charles I Robert of Anjou (1307-1342). Laszlo IV will fight for the unity of his country until 1290, when, ironically, he will be killed by the Polovtsians, hacked to death in his own tent.
War Again
The Hungarian question in general began to worry Lev Danilovich immediately, from 1272, sometimes from unexpected sides. He was not close to Bela Rostislavich, but the brutal murder of such a famous Hungarian aristocrat could not but cause some reaction. It was not only the Romanovichs who were in shock; Poles and Czechs, the Pope, the Horde Beklarbek Nogai quickly became interested in what is happening in Hungary, and everyone showed unanimity that such a situation was unacceptable and it would be necessary to somehow solve it through joint efforts. On the nose of Hungary, which until recently actually claimed hegemony in the region, suddenly there was a war against all its neighbors.
The emerging coalition hastened to defeat Baron Gutkeled, who manipulated the young king Laszlo Kun in the early years of his reign. First of all, he … married Maria, the daughter of Gertrude von Babenberg and Roman Danilovich, who, among other things, was the Duchess of Styria. Thus, he wanted to attract the attention of Lev Danilovich and win him over to his side, but the idea failed: the support of the Russians was still received by the opponents of Gutkeled. Moreover, because of this marriage, the baron quarreled with the dowager queen, mother of Laszlo Kun, which exacerbated the chaos in Hungarian politics. As a result, the only ally of the Hungarian king since 1273 was the king of Germany, Frederick I von Habsburg, who was going to return Austria to the bosom of the Holy Roman Empire, which pushed him to war with Premysl Otakar II. Leo, with the Poles, found himself in alliance with the latter and in the future was supposed to take part in a big war in Central Europe.
The war began unexpectedly, in 1276. The Czech king was taken by surprise, he did not even have time to gather his army, as a result of which, without much resistance, he was forced to admit defeat and sign an appropriate treaty. However, this treaty turned out to be a useless piece of parchment: hiding behind it and in every possible way postponing the fulfillment of his obligations, the Czech king was preparing for war. As part of this preparation, he finally decided to conclude an alliance with the Poles and Romanovichs. In 1278, Přemysl went to war against Rudolf I, refusing to comply with the terms of peace. In the ranks of his army, most likely, there were detachments of the army of Lev Danilovich, and maybe the prince himself. However, on the Moravian field, this army suffered a heavy defeat, and Přemysl Otakar II died in battle.
The conflict between the Romanovichs and Hungary did not stop after that and only began to gain momentum. It did not stop after the annexation of Transcarpathia in about 1279-1281, which, apparently, passed quite easily and bloodlessly, with the full support of the local population. Using the forces of his own army and the Tatar cavalry, which the Tatar beklarbek Nogai regularly sent him, Lev made two more large campaigns to Hungary in 1283 and 1285. With great difficulty, Laszlo Kun was able to defend Pest, which was under siege for some time. This was enough for Leo to secure his own borders and guarantee the safety of Transcarpathia, which turned into a sword hanging over Hungary. After all, with him the Carpathians, which previously served as a reliable defense against large invasions, were now completely controlled by the Galicia-Volyn state.
