The story about South-West Russia smoothly switched to the Galician principality for a reason. It was with him that the most interesting events of the region in the XI-XII centuries were associated, which is explained by the reigning there of a specific branch of the Rurikovich, who tried to pursue an independent policy. The Volyn principality remained a part of Russia, was in direct dependence on Kiev and was inextricably linked with all its main processes, including strife and further fragmentation of estates. If Volhynia was once united and, besides Vladimir, it was possible to single out only Cherven and Przemysl, then after the loss of Subcarpathia, separate appanages began to appear in the composition of lands like Lutsk, Belz, Brest, Dorogobuzh or Peresopnitsa.
At the head of the principality were mainly the main tycoons of Russian politics of that time or their closest relatives, therefore Volyn often served as the basis for their great undertakings - from campaigns against the Polovtsy to the struggle for Kiev. As a result, unlike the Rostislavich principality, Volyn is difficult to perceive separately from the historical process on the territory of the rest of Russia. However, despite all that has been said, not to consider in more detail the history of the principality would still be a crime against the author's tediousness, and therefore in the future a certain amount of material will be devoted to this.
Volyn princes
After the expulsion of Prince Davyd Igorevich from Vladimir-Volyn in 1100, Yaroslav Svyatopolchich, the son of the Kiev prince Svyatopolk Izyaslavich (the same one who participated in the blinding of Vasilko Rostislavich, Prince Terebovlya), settled there. At the same time, he ruled as not a full-fledged ruler, but only as the governor of his father. Svyatopolk wanted to control the resources of the rich Volhynia as best as possible, plus, probably, he feared a scenario similar to the Galician principality, when the rich land, tired of strife, decided to isolate itself from Kiev. This situation lasted for 18 long years, during which the principality managed to gain strength and develop, becoming even richer than before.
In 1113 Svyatopolk died, but his son continued to rule Volyn. At the same time, clouds began to gather on the horizon. Power in Kiev was taken by Vladimir Monomakh, and Yaroslav began to strongly fear for his reign. He managed to quarrel with the Rostislavichi, who ruled in the neighboring Subcarpathia. In 1117, it came to an open conflict, and the next year Monomakh, together with Volodar and Vasilko Rostislavichi, expelled Svyatopolchich from Volyn. He also tried to fight for the principality, enlisting the support of the Poles and Hungarians, but died during the siege of Volodymyr-Volynsky in 1123, according to chronicles, at the hands of Polish soldiers.
Yaroslav Svyatopolchich was replaced by the Monomakhovichs: first Roman, who was closely connected with the Rostislavichs by ties of dynastic marriage, and in 1119, when he died, Andrei Vladimirovich, nicknamed the Good, sat in Vladimir-Volynsky to rule. Despite the fact that he had a chance to fight with his predecessor for the principality, his 16-year rule as a whole turned out to be quite quiet and calm, devoid of major conflicts that would affect the territory of Volyn. In 1135 he got his hands on the Pereyaslavl principality, passing Volhynia to the next prince.
The next turned out to be Izyaslav Mstislavich, one of the brightest and most prominent representatives of the Rurik people of the time of strife. Before that, he had already managed to sit as a prince in several estates, and remain completely landless, forced to fight along with his relatives to obtain new possessions. Prince Yaropolk of Kiev, after a conflict in which he did not succeed, was forced to make concessions, and after another shuffling of princes and tables, the Volyn principality was allocated for Izyaslav. In 1139, Vsevolod Olgovich became prince in Kiev, who for some time clashed with Izyaslav, but to no avail. In 1141 Izyaslav went to the same place as his predecessor - to Pereyaslavl.
Izyaslav Mstislavich was replaced by the son of Vsevolod, Svyatoslav, who ruled in Volyn until his father's death in 1146. This was followed by a three-year reign of Vladimir Andreevich (son of Andrey the Good), but already in 1149 Izyaslav Mstislavich (the same one) removed him from the princely post, planting in Vladimir-Volynsk his brother, Svyatopolk, who ruled the principality from 1149 to 1154, for with the exception of two years, when the principality was directly ruled by Izyaslav, expelled from Kiev, and Svyatopolk at that time ruled Lutsk. At the same time, the war with the Galician principality was gaining momentum, where just at this time Vladimir Volodarevich sought to expand his possessions at the expense of Volyn, continuing his long-standing conflict with Izyaslav Mstislavich, which was described earlier.
After the death of Svyatopolk, his brother, Vladimir Mstislavich, became a prince in Vladimir-Volynsky. He did not rule for long, only 3 years, and the reason for his fall was a rather unexpected act: together with Vladimir Galitsky, he besieged Lutsk, where his nephew, Mstislav Izyaslavich, ruled. The Galicians tried to arrange the conquest of all Volhynia and help them in this, being a Volyn prince, it was at least strange … Near Lutsk, two Vladimirs had to face a very capable and skillful ruler in the person of Mstislav Izyaslavich, who was also a good commander. He, realizing that the forces were unequal, left Lutsk, but only in order to return with the Polish army, with the help of which he not only recaptured his city, but also drove his uncle out of Vladimir-Volynsky, sat down there to reign on his own.
The reign of Mstislav Izyaslavich turned out to be closely connected with the next strife, which at that time in Russia almost did not stop. Already in 1158, Volyn, Galich, Smolensk and Chernigov got involved in the war against Kiev, where Izyaslav Davydovich, a representative of the Olgovich branch, was sitting. In 1159, he was thrown from the princely post, on which Mstislav himself sat. Instead, Prince Lutsk and his brother, Yaroslav Izyaslavich, became the governor of Volyn. However, our hero ruled Kiev for a very short time, after which he was forced to return to Volyn, returning his brother to Lutsk. In 1167 he again became the prince of Kiev, and this time for a longer period. As in the last time, Yaroslav Izyaslavich remained to rule Volyn, but only as a governor, and not as an independent prince (this lot Mstislav wanted to keep for his son). In 1170, the Grand Duke of Kiev died, and it was the turn of a new change of power in Vladimir-Volynsky.
In short, Volhynia suffered in full measure from the frequent change of princes, strife and political instability. The amount is literally dazzling, and without a hundred grams it is quite difficult to figure out who is who, or even just remember the sequence of reigns. The princes changed often, the longest in the XII century were ruled by Yaroslav Svyatopolchich (18 years old) and Mstislav Izyaslavich (13 years old), which could not but have negative consequences for the region. However, the wind of change was already felt, and another Rurikovich from the Monomakhovich family appeared on the horizon, which would drastically change the history of all South-Western Russia …
Now I have to take a short pause again in the story of the events of that time. The reason lies in the need to describe the processes that at that time were going on in the territory of South-Western Russia in terms of social development and political relations between various groups of the population, without which subsequent events may seem unsaid or misinterpreted. Less text will be devoted to Galich, as it was already mentioned earlier; the main part of the article will be devoted to Volyn and its capital, the city of Vladimir.
Subcarpathia and Galich
The development of Subcarpathia, which since 1141 was part of the Galician principality, and before that formed several appanages, was influenced by several factors that were absent in other regions of Russia, or were not so pronounced. Important trade routes ran here, which converged in the city of Galich, which, coupled with convenient geographic and climatic conditions, the availability of land and water resources, made it possible to create a strong economy. The territory of the principality was very densely populated and well developed. At the same time, in the south, this land was adjacent to the steppe and Berlad, a medieval “wild field” where everyone who could not find a place for themselves in the established social structure of Russia settled, forming a fairly numerous local freemen. These territories in the XI-XII centuries were quickly developed and populated, approaching in development to the "old" estates of Przemysl and Zvenigorod.
Galich itself was a young city, and this affected its features. The old traditions here were not as strong as in other cities, and due to the rapid growth of the settlement, the alien element was also strong. The Galician boyars formed in relatively free conditions, for a long time did not have tangible power of the prince over themselves and therefore felt especially free, already in the middle of the 12th century they formed into a powerful aristocracy with an oligarchic bias. Huge profits were obtained from various kinds of trades, crafts and agriculture, and trade was also important. It was this, and not the geographical proximity, that brought the Galician boyars closer in spirit to the Hungarian nobility - extremely headstrong, independent, who regularly arranged big problems for their kings, because of which the chronicles of the Hungarian court would make any "Game of Thrones" cry and puff with envy. The Galician boyars clearly intended to catch up and overtake their Magyar colleagues in this. The communities of the cities of Subcarpathia were still strong and played a noticeable role, but they were already beginning to stratify into poor and rich townspeople and often acted only as a blind instrument in the hands of the ambitious boyars defending their goals.
And the Galician land was rich, again rich and rich again, as already mentioned several times. In the event of any weakening of power in the principality itself or in South-Western Russia, two strong neighbors inevitably began to claim the principality: Poland and Hungary. The Poles have been claiming the Cherven towns for a long time, and the Hungarians have just joined the local political squabbles, suddenly realizing what kind of Klondike they have at their side. Considering that the degradation of power in the region was growing rapidly, the beginning of a fierce struggle for Galich was just around the corner, in comparison with which the events of 1187-1189 would seem like a mere trifle …
Volyn and Vladimir
Volhynia developed in a completely different way at that time. If the Galician land was to a large extent saturated with the spirit of freemen (universal in Berladi, boyars in Galich itself), then the territory to the north of it continued to remain under the control of some kind of central government, although in Russia it also degraded more and more every year. This led to a much greater degree of centralization and loyalty of the communities to the figure of the prince. Volyn, in contrast to Galich, was affected by the specific fragmentation characteristic of all of Russia at that time: small principalities appeared in Dorogobuzh, Peresopnitsa, Lutsk, but local communities continued to be the main one, i.e. Vladimir-Volynsky. In parallel with this, large-scale changes took place in the Vladimir community itself, which were the result of the past history and formed the basis for the future history. These changes affected the mentality of the community.
It is important to understand: after eight centuries, various kinds of theories can be drawn up about this, which will be based on the facts known to us. There are several such theories, some of them are outdated, as more and more information about the events of the past is revealed over time. Many theories have eminent historians in the ranks of their supporters; serious research is devoted to them. Nevertheless, these are still theories, and not accurate information about what exactly was right in the XII century, I swear by my mother! And yet, some theories better explain the essence of the events taking place at that time, so some logical and plausible picture can be drawn.
In parallel, in the field of political thinking of the community, two processes were going on, which could be called mutually exclusive if they did not concern different spheres of the life of the principality. On the one hand, against the background of the growing confrontation with neighboring principalities, as well as the growing threat from Poland and Hungary, the centralization of power began to acquire increasing importance. Veche still resolved issues at the general gathering, the boyars still acted as the voice of the community, although they had their own interests, but a clear awareness of the need for a strong ruler who could concentrate in his hands all the resources of the Volyn land and use them to protect her, and hence the community, interests. Moreover, the awareness of the commonality of all the communities of the principality gradually led to the formation, so to speak, of a single community, where individual members were the communities of the villages and suburbs of Vladimir, and the Vladimir community was only the first among equals. The enlargement and consolidation took place gradually, and it is difficult to say when this process ended, but one thing is clear: it began to give its results already in the 2nd half of the 12th century.
On the other hand, the community could not but be disappointed by the continuing connection with the center of Russia, i.e. Kiev, since in the struggle for it, the Volyn princes spent a lot of resources that could be spent on strengthening the principality itself. This, in turn, strengthened the desire for decentralization, isolation, or even separation of the principality from Kiev, for the simplest reason: united Russia was bogged down in strife, which had no end and edge. Even the very unity of Russia was called into question. Many principalities behaved independently, did not recognize the supreme power of Kiev, or, by capturing it, tried to lead the rapidly crumbling and disintegrating Russia. In such conditions, the preservation of attachment to the degrading center threatened with sad consequences for Volyn itself.
Thus, in separation from the conditionally unified state, which was already bursting at the seams and was actually on the verge of collapse, many saw salvation. Having separated and strengthened, having waited until the others weakened in squabbles, it was possible to return to the “big game” for Kiev with renewed vigor and unite all of Russia around him. In this case, the Vladimir community would inevitably become one of the main ones, and the local boyars became the main one among the boyars of the other principality. And even in case of failure, Volhynia still remained with her own people, staying away from the constant change of princes and strife.
After all this, the evolution of the mentality of the Vladimir community towards the establishment of a strong monarchical power in Volyn looks quite natural. Only a strong prince could ensure the survival and prosperity of the state. At the same time, it was impossible to count on stable rule in the conditions of continuing strife and the all-Russian ladder, because of which the ruling princes were constantly changing and therefore few of them had an interest in the development of the territory, which he could leave tomorrow. Because of this, the only way out was the path of the Galician principality, where a strong princely power within the framework of just one dynasty of Rostislavichi, a branch of the Rurikovichi, allowed a relatively small territory for many years to defend its interests and repel the encroachments of stronger neighbors on their lands.
Thus, by the end of the 12th century, a social demand for the creation of their own statehood with their own ruling dynasty and princes who would be interested in the development of their hereditary possessions could well have formed in Volyn. For the sake of such a ruler, who would become not just a fleeting ruler, but a real "own" prince, the community was ready to make great sacrifices and show such loyalty, which could previously seem fantastic. The future Galicia-Volyn state began to emerge in the minds of people, and it only remained to wait for the prince, who would agree to go against a kind of Rurikovich, in order to turn vast territories of South-Western Russia into his fiefdom. The likelihood was very low, since such outstanding people, capable of going against the system, are rarely born. But the Volhynians were incredibly lucky. In 1170, after the death of Mstislav Izyaslavich, his son, Roman Mstislavich, became prince in Vladimir-Volynsky.
