1.70 - Daniil of Galicia I - The Galician Succession

[00:00:26] Hello and welcome to the Russian Empire History Podcast, the history of all the peoples of the Russian Empire. I'm your host JP Bristow, and this is Season 1, The Forest, The Steppe and the Birth of the Russian Empire, and Episode 70, Daniil of Galicia Part 1, The Galician Succession.

[00:00:51] Before we begin, thank you to new boyars, Robbie and Connor, and as always to anyone subscribing through Spotify and Apple Podcasts. We've just completed the Caucasus Before the Mongols mini-series, and the next series of member episodes will be covering the Mongol conquests of Central Asia and the Caucasus.

[00:01:15] I think it's going to be interesting looking at how the historiography and assessments of the Mongols varies in different regions. Some of them were also ruled by the Ulus of Giochi, and some by other Uluses. So, we return to Rus.

[00:01:40] Our last episodes on this subject looked mainly at the role of Suzdalia in the later Rus period, as Kyiv began to lose its position as the preeminent city where every Knyas wanted to rule, in favour of the most powerful trying to wield their influence from their home power base.

[00:02:04] If you recall, I dropped the story of the Galician Succession and promised to return to it later. So, in this episode and the next, we are going to do just that – switch our attention to the West.

[00:02:19] Here, there were attempts to unite the territories of Volhynia, centred on its capital, Vladimir, and Galicia, or Halichinia in modern Ukrainian, centred on Halich, to form another powerful region looking to influence Kyiv and rival Suzdalia.

[00:02:44] These episodes are going to cover the story from the end of the 12th century to a few years after the Mongol conquest. Think back around 80 years. Rostislav Mstislavich, Knyas of Kyiv, dies. Jaroslav Osmomisl of Halich and Mstislav Izyaslavich of Vladimir in Volhynia had been his supporters.

[00:03:12] Now, Jaroslav supports Mstislav's candidacy for the throne of Kyiv. Their rivals, the Rostislavich of Smolensk, looked to Andrei Bogolyubsky of Suzdalia and the Olgovich of Chernihiv for support. Mstislav counted on the support of Novgorod.

[00:03:37] The people of Novgorod had thrown out one of the Rostislavich, Sviatoslav, and accepted Mstislav's son, Roman, as their Knyas. You'll recall that Mstislav managed to claim Kyiv, but only lasted for a couple of years until Bogolyubsky put together his coalition and sacked the city.

[00:04:04] Before doing this, Bogolyubsky had first gotten Roman out of Novgorod. He had cut off food supplies to the city, then impeded Novgorodian tax collectors, then attacked the city. Roman beat off the attack, but eventually the food problems became too acute and the people expelled him.

[00:04:32] Mstislav Izyslav Iziaslavich died soon after returning to Vladimir in Volinia, and so when Roman arrived from Novgorod, he succeeded his father as the Knyas of Vladimir and began to rule. Roman was as ambitious as any Rus Knyas.

[00:04:55] He attempted to build alliances with the Smolensk Rostislavich through a marriage to Predslava, daughter of Rurik Rostislavich. This was during the period that Rurik and Sivlad Orgovich of Tjernikiv had an agreement on governing Kyiv. They had only one child, Fyodor.

[00:05:21] Maybe because Roman broke his alliance with Rurik whenever he felt like it, or maybe they just didn't get along. At some point he repudiated the marriage and sent her home. We don't know when, as the chronicles don't tell us, but from 1200 onwards the two families were increasingly in opposition, so it was probably over by then.

[00:05:50] Roman's second wife showed him courting support outside of Rus. It's not entirely clear who his wife was due to the usual issues with women in the chronicles. She has been identified as Maria of Byzantium, but also as Yelena Yefrusani Angelina, or maybe it was Anna Helena Angelina?

[00:06:18] She could have been a daughter of Isaac II Angelos and his Byzantine wife, but she's also referred to as a relation of Andrew II of Hungary. She could be both as there were ties between Hungary and Byzantium, and Andrew's sister Margaret was also married to Isaac II.

[00:06:42] She's usually called Anna on the basis that her grandson established a church of St. Joachim and Anna, which is assumed to be in her honour. The marriage to Anna produced Yelena, who was married to Michal of Chernikov, and two sons, Daniel and Basil.

[00:07:19] Roman, who was yet another Rus Knaz who earned the subriquet of the Great, they do seem to have handed that title out pretty easily compared to some other nations, took a significant step towards increasing his influence by conquering Galicia.

[00:07:37] When Yaroslav Osmamysil died in 1187, he left Galicia to a son he had had by a mistress, Alieq, while leaving Pirumyshil to Vladimir, his son by his wife. The boyars of Galicia had less affection for Alieq and his mother than Yaroslav had had, so they gave him the boot and brought in Vladimir.

[00:08:08] Alieq ran off to Rurek Rostislavić. Vladimir gets rather a bad rap in all the chronicles, depicted everywhere as a drunkard who would assault any woman who caught his eye, including a priest's wife. What's more, he apparently did not like to consult any advisors.

[00:08:32] So, even though he had the support of the powerful Siewalud Big Nest, Suzdalia was far away and the nobles came out against him. Roman Mstislavić saw his opportunity and further incited the boyars to revolt. Following the marriage of his daughter to Vladimir's son, Roman had been getting more involved in Galician business.

[00:09:00] So, in 1188, he gave Vladimir in Bolinia to his brother, Siewalud, and marched into Galicia. Vladimir fled to Hungary. Vladimir asked Bela III to help him recover his throne and Bela agreed. An army was assembled and marched on Galicia.

[00:09:28] Roman grabbed the treasury and some of his Galician supporters and ran back to Vladimir in Bolinia, where, as it turned out, his brother saw no reason to let him back into the city. Roman also looked abroad for assistance, in this case to Poland, but received none. Roman.

[00:09:52] Then he went to Rurek Rostislavić, who somehow, the chroniclers do not tell us how, managed to persuade Siewalud to let Roman back into Vladimir in Bolinia. Meanwhile, Bela had no real intention of helping Vladimir recover Galicia. Instead, he installed his son, Andrew, and then took Vladimir back to Hungary as a prisoner.

[00:10:21] So, Roman's first attempt to conquer Galicia, the Hungarians were only able to hang onto it for a couple of years. Bela seemed to have thought that he could become a player in the rivalry among the Knazes.

[00:10:48] He sent an envoy to Sviatoslav Siewaludovic and asked for a son to rule in Galicia alongside Andrew. Sviatoslav sent his son Gleb, but he did not clear the move with Rurek first. This caused a conflict that was eventually resolved by the Metropolitan declaring that the Knazes should unite to expel the foreigners from Galicia.

[00:11:15] A military campaign got nowhere, but the following year, 1190, Vladimir escaped from Hungary and sought shelter and assistance with Frederick Barbarossa of the Holy Roman Empire. Frederick was sympathetic, provided Vladimir could win the support of Siewalud Bignest.

[00:11:44] Bignest was in favour, and Frederick offered Vladimir support from his ally, Kashmir of Poland, in exchange for an annual payment once he was back on the throne. Vladimir was duly restored, and Bignest sent a message to all the Knazes and the Poles that no one was to touch him. So, several years of conflict, and we've ended up back where we started.

[00:12:16] Right now, you're probably expecting me to start telling you about Roman's new campaign to conquer Galicia. But despite all the significance of this event for the future of Galicia, the chroniclers neglected to cover it. To quote Ukrainian historian and statesman Mikhail Khrushchevsky,

[00:12:37] The details of this event are a complete mystery to us because there is a seven-year break in Ukrainian chronicle writing from 1198 to the death of Roman Mstislavich in 1205. End quote. At some point, maybe 1199, Vladimir died, and presumably Roman became ruler of both the Linea and Galicia.

[00:13:04] In around 1200, Roman, with the power of his united Knazes and the support of the Olgovici of Chernihiv, took on Brurik Brostislavich, beat him, and was accepted as Knazes by the people of Kiev.

[00:13:26] However, following the rulers of Suzdalya, Roman installed his cousin Ingvar of Lutsk to rule Kiev as a subordinate and returned to Galicia.

[00:13:42] Roman becomes the second Knazes after Andrei Bogolyubsky that the chroniclers refer to as Samadirzhets or Autocrat, an acknowledgement of his dominance position among the Knazes.

[00:14:00] However, in contrast to Andrei, who is often presented as laying the foundations for a Russian tradition of autocracy, no such claims are made about Roman.

[00:14:13] According to Tatyshev, Roman even came up with a plan to have control of Kiev rotate among the leading families, whom he supposedly identified as the Knazes of Suzdalya, Chernihiv, Ryzan, Polotsk, Galicia, and Smolensk.

[00:14:36] The relevant Knaz would move to Kiev and leave his heir in charge of his home Knazesstvo. There's not really any evidence for this, unless it's in the allegedly lost chronicles that Tatyshev supposedly had access to. Roman's control of Kiev was short-lived, and he was left with little to show for it.

[00:15:03] In 1203, Rurik returned and recovered the city, allowing his Balufti allies to sack it. Roman returned to Galicia. With Kiev lost, Roman turned to the west. Historian John Fennell speculates that with Big Nest's influence over Smolensk and Chernihiv secure, Roman may have given up on Rus.

[00:15:32] Instead, he decided to invade Poland, with a plan to knock out Leszek and then continue into Saxony. The invasion came to a rapid stop when Leszek and his brother, Conrad of Mazovia, defeated the Galicians at Zavihust on the Vistula and killed Roman.

[00:16:06] Roman's death undid all of his work to unite Galicia and Volinia and create a rival to the power of Suzdalia. His heirs were small children, his neighbours were greedy expansionists, and the succession struggle will last for 40 years. Roman's eldest, the daughter from his first marriage, plays no more role.

[00:16:30] When he took Halic, it appears that she separated from Vladimir's son and returned to her father, and she does not appear in the Chronicle again. His second daughter, Yelena, was married to Mikhail Sivolodovic of the Orgovici. This is the Mikhail we encountered a couple of episodes back, who was Knyas of Kiev when the Mongols arrived and fled the city.

[00:16:59] Later he was forced to travel to the Khan. He refused to take part in the sacrifices the Mongols required from him and was killed. His death was considered martyrdom and he was made into a saint in the 15th century. Obviously, this marriage was not arranged by Daniel for his benefit. He and his brother were still small children.

[00:17:27] It may have come about after Roman's death as an attempt to boost the Orgovici's own claim to Halic and Volinia. Mikhail was the leading Knyas in central Rus. The Dnieper Valley, during Daniel and Vesikov's attempts to establish themselves and frequently opposed them until the Mongols brought him down.

[00:17:55] Roman's wife, Anna, acting as regent for the boys, gave up attempting to hold on to Galicia and decided to concentrate on Volinia. It would take nearly 15 years for her to establish her authority in Vladimir and at least some of the Knyasistva. Galicia lay open to all claimants, Rus, Hungarians or Poles.

[00:18:23] Invaders were accompanied by papal emissaries trying to convert the Orthodox population. The conflict in Galicia exacerbated the wider rivalries across southern Rus, dominated by the Rostislavici and Orgovici. Following the death of Roman, Siewelog Czerny emerged as the new leading Knyas of the Orgovici.

[00:18:53] For the next seven years, the Rostislavici and Orgovici were almost constantly at war, with Kiev changing hands many times, as we've already heard. From the stability of the northeast, Big Nest seemed content to let them get on with it, as long as no one grew strong enough to challenge him.

[00:19:17] The only time they managed to get over their enmity was when they formed an alliance to try to seize Galicia. Their first attempt, soon after they heard of Roman's death, was a failure that barely got started. The Chronicle says they returned home in great shame. The following year, 1206, they made a bigger attempt. Almost all the interested parties were involved.

[00:19:44] Rurik and Siewelog brought their armies with Orlovtsy allies. The Galician boyars summoned the Hungarians, supposedly acting in the interests of Anna and the boys. Rurik and Siewelog called on the Poles, and the Hungarians appealed to Big Nest, who sent his son Jaroslav.

[00:20:06] With so many players involved, it's probably not that surprising that it's more or less impossible to untangle the Chronicle's description of advances, retreats and battles that decided nothing. It seems like the Rostislavici had a bad time, and the Poles were defeated by the Hungarians. Rurik appears to have defeated a force controlled by the boyars of Vladimir and Halic,

[00:20:33] but was unable to do anything about the Hungarian garrison in Halic itself, and he went home empty-handed. However, the sons of Igor Světoslavic, a minor Orgovic kniaz, managed to play on anti-Hungarian feeling among some of the boyars to install themselves in the western cities.

[00:21:00] Vladimir in Halic, Roman in Zvenigarod, and Světoslav in Vladimir. While they may have enjoyed some local support, their position was always precarious. A resurgence of conflict between the Olgovici and the Rostislavici meant that they were unable to count on any support from further east.

[00:21:26] And the Hungarians, Poles, Anna and pro-Hungarian boyars kept up their efforts to force them out. Conspiracies and outbreaks of rebellion were almost continuous. Eventually, in 1211, the brothers attempted to crush a major boyar plot by executing 500 of the conspirators, but were seized and hanged themselves.

[00:21:59] Following their death, Anna continued her attempts to recover power as regent for her son, while the nephews and cousins of Roman also threw their hats into the ring. None of them seemed to be capable of taking more than a small part of the kniaz's path. The Rostislavici achieved a clear victory over the Olgovici and became rivals to Suzdalia as the dominant force in Rus.

[00:22:28] This meant nothing for Galicia. The Hungarians and the Poles went as far as concluding a treaty in Spice in 1214, where they divided the territory up among themselves. But that did not mean that they were able to enforce it in practice. Hungary managed to take only some of eastern Galicia, including Halic.

[00:22:54] The Poles grabbed some of the border towns of Volinia, but Anna kept Vladimir. The king of Hungary installed his son, Koloman, on the throne of Halic. Attempts were made to replace Orthodox Church leaders with Catholics, and there were alleged persecutions of Orthodox believers.

[00:23:28] Somewhere around this time, Mr. Slav Mr. Slavic travelled to Kiev to ask that he be given Halic, continuing on to assess the situation in the kniaz'stva and try to make contacts with the boyars. No action was taken, for the time being, Mr. Slav was still busy in Novgorod, and the Hungarians were still in Galicia in force.

[00:23:53] In 1215, they seized Perimishal and Lyubachev in western Galicia, towns that had been given to the Poles by the Treaty of Spice. Like everything else we are looking at in this episode, the Chronicle's treatment of Mr. Slav's eventual campaign into Galicia is confusing,

[00:24:20] incomplete, and defeats all attempts to extract a clear timeline. Around the beginning of 1217, Lieszek asked Mr. Slav for assistance against the Hungarians. Mr. Slav went to Kiev to propose a combined Rostislavici mission. The result was Mr. Slav leading an invasion of Galicia in 1218

[00:24:48] with the support of Rurik's son Vladimir and his troops from Polotsk. He swiftly defeated the Hungarians, arrested Koloman and his family, who were sent home to Hungary, and declared himself kniaz of Galicia. The following year, he married his daughter to Danil,

[00:25:12] now 18 years old and recognised as kniaz of Vladimir in Volinia in his own right. It looked like a reunion of Galicia and Volinia was becoming possible. But no. A slightly absurd situation arose in which Mr. Slav refused to help Danil expel the Poles from Volinia,

[00:25:37] but Lieszek believed that Mr. Slav had advised Danil to do so. So the Poles once again allied with the Hungarians and drove Mr. Slav out. Koloman returned to Rur Galicia again. Mr. Slav had clearly messed up by thinking that the Polish-Hungarian rivalry meant that they would not work together, and he'd underestimated the pro-Hungarian faction in Galicia.

[00:26:07] But he was not about to give up. In 1220, he returned with a new army, this time led by the kniaz of Kiev, some of the other kniazes, and with the Polovci in support. They laid siege to Halic, but were unsuccessful and forced to withdraw. In 1221, they made a new attempt,

[00:26:36] the army was commanded jointly by Mr. Slav Romanovich of Kiev and Mr. Slav Mstislavich. Most of the Rostislavici kniazes supplied troops, along with Genichiv, Torov, Lutsk, and even a Suzdalian contingent, led by Yaroslav Sebalodovic. The first major battle took place on the river Seret, east of Halic, where the Hungarian advance force was defeated.

[00:27:05] Then the army advanced towards Halic. Outside Halic, it faced a combined army of the pro-Hungarian Galicians, the Hungarians, and Poles led by Leszek. The Rus crushed them, the Hungarians and Poles routed, and Koloman and his family were once more taken prisoner. After a two-week siege, Mr. Slav took Halic and reclaimed his throne,

[00:27:34] which he would hold for the next six years. The early part of his reign is another period in which the chroniclers give us little information. It appears that he intervened occasionally in the affairs of Daniel and Vasilka. Although Daniel ruled in Vladimir,

[00:28:03] he was still facing challenges from his cousins. At an unspecified time, Mr. Slav and his Polovtsy allies saved Daniel from an attack by his cousin, Alexander Sevalodovic of Belts, who was supported by the Poles. A couple of years later, Daniel retaliated and seized Belts himself. Mr. Slav advised him against keeping it.

[00:28:33] Historians have provided different interpretations of this. It could have been Mr. Slav advising a moderate course to secure peace in the wider Isislavic family. Or it could have been Mr. Slav ensuring that Daniel remained weaker and subordinate. We might tend to the more generous interpretation,

[00:29:00] given that the pair are recorded as having a deep and genuine friendship. Daniel had been left fatherless as a toddler, and Mr. Slav, his father-in-law, became a father figure to him. Mr. Slav called Daniel son, and Daniel later showed his loyalty through good treatment of Mr. Slav's sons after their father's death. Either of them may have been willing to compromise on their personal ambition

[00:29:29] at the request of the other. In 1223, the events we've already covered took place. Khan Kotian, Mr. Slav's father-in-law, arrived in Halach with gifts, looking to persuade the Rus to support the Polovtsy

[00:29:57] against the new enemy that had appeared in the steppes. As we've already heard, Mr. Slav played the leading role in putting together the Rus army, and Daniel went with him. We also heard that one reason for the Rus loss could have been the failure to agree an overall leader. This could have been because, although Mr. Slav had called the war council,

[00:30:24] and although he was personally a successful knyaz, who had ruled in Novgorod and now held Halach, he was a long way down the genealogical table of ranks. The fact that he could call a council of war and the other knyazes would come is a good indicator of the prestige that he had earned for himself, but it may not have been enough to get them to agree to him leading.

[00:30:54] Conversely, it may have been enough to make him unwilling to accept anybody else leading. Officially, Mr. Slav Romanovich, the prince of Kyiv, was the leader, but Mr. Slav Mr. Slavich seems not to have acknowledged his authority. To be fair, we should note that some historians have claimed that the lack of coordination was due to a disagreement over tactics rather than pride or personal antagonism.

[00:31:26] Daniel was actually senior to Mr. Slav by descent, the senior knyaz of the Izyslavici, but he was counted as one of the junior princes in the coalition due to his age. Daniel followed Mr. Slav's orders during the campaign. The chronicles have Mr. Slav ordering him to scout ahead, and it is Daniel who discovers the main Mongol army.

[00:31:54] However, he only tells Mr. Slav Mr. Slavich, not the other leaders, Mr. Slav of Kyiv and Mr. Slav of Dzenichov. Kalka became a stain on Mr. Slav's reputation because he fled and survived, while the other Mr. Slavs fought and died. But it did not make much difference to the balance of forces in southern Rus'.

[00:32:22] Vladimir Rurikovic replaced his cousin, Mr. Slav Romanovich, as knyaz of Kyiv, a Rostislavich for a Rostislavich. Mikhail Syevolodovich replaced his uncle, Mr. Slavich Sviatoslavich, as the knyaz of Dzenichov. Although both the new knyazes had a claim to Kyiv, the succession was not contested and was the first peaceful changeover in a long time.

[00:33:02] Following the unsuccessful campaign against the Mongols, Mr. Slav's position in Galicia weakened and his relationship with Daniel deteriorated. Mr. Slav believed, falsely, that Daniel had encouraged the Poles to invade Galicia. Alexander Syevolodovich of Belts, who still wanted Vladimir, provoked Mr. Slav into going to war with Daniel and Vasilka.

[00:33:33] The Romanovici received help from the Poles and they successfully counter-attacked. Nearly taking Belts and pursuing Mr. Slav into Galicia, where they pillaged the countryside. Alexander continued to tell Mr. Slav that he had firm intelligence that Daniel intended to kill him. So Mr. Slav sought aid from Vladimir Urykovich in Kyiv

[00:34:01] and Khan Khartyan, preparing another attack on Daniel. Alexander made excuses not to join the campaign, but sent one of his men, Jan, with some troops. With Alexander out of the picture, Mr. Slav was able to discover that he had been misled, and the story of Daniel sending the Poles to Galicia was a lie. He met with Daniel in Perumil and they were reconciled.

[00:34:35] At the same time, Mr. Slav was having to deal with his boyars again. They just could not let go of the Hungarian connection. Under pressure, Mr. Slav concluded an agreement with Andrew that his third son, also Andrew, would succeed him as ruler of Halic. Andrew was betrothed to Mr. Slav's youngest daughter, Maria, and to seal the deal, Mr. Slav gave Andrew

[00:35:04] Perumil. In exchange, King Andrew vowed that neither he nor Koloman would interfere in Galicia as long as Mr. Slav lived. But one of the pro-Hungarian boyars, a man by the name of Semyonko Czerny, lied to Prince Andrew that Mr. Slav was planning to betray him. The prince fled to his father

[00:35:33] and in 1226, King Andrew gathered a large army, including troops provided by various pro-Hungarian boyars, and invaded Galicia. The Hungarian army defeated Mr. Slav's Tisjatsky, Yuri, in Perumishil and occupied the city. In Zvenigrod, the pro-Hungarian boyar, Sudislav Bernatovich, welcomed the invaders and King Andrew set up his headquarters

[00:36:03] in the city. He sent his army out to confront Mr. Slav, but the two armies were unable to come together because the Dniester was in flood and neither could cross. So, the Hungarians turned their attention to Volinia instead. After being joined by new Polish allies, Andrew set out to overthrow Danil. He took Tirubovu and then moved

[00:36:33] into Volinia. He took Tikhamil without difficulty and then met the Volinian army led by Danil and Vasikov at Krimjenets. The Romanovici brothers won the battle and the word was swiftly carried to Mr. Slav, who sent a proposal to join forces. Danil agreed and Mr. Slav took the Hungarians by surprise as they were retreating out of Volinia.

[00:37:03] The Hungarians were routed and Andrew ran for his life. The move was a return to form for Mr. Slav, which reminded people why he had earned the name Udatny or Udaloy, the bold, and restored some of the prestige that he had lost after Kalka. The victory has been called decisive for Galicia. Supposedly, the Galician troops

[00:37:33] believed that this was their last chance to retain independence and avoid foreign domination. Inspired by Mr. Slav, they fought twice as hard. In fact, Mr. Slav will be forced to give up Galicia to the Hungarians in a few months' time, but the argument goes, the losses caused to the Hungarians in this defeat were so large that they were unable to force the Galicians to submit to their rule and failed

[00:38:03] to dominate them. Sometime during 1227, Sudislav Bernatowicz and a group of pro-Hungarian boyars convinced Mr. Slav that the time had come to marry his daughter to Prince Andrew and give Halic over to the Hungarians.

[00:38:33] The boyars told him that he could not rule without their support and they no longer supported him. We should note that although he might not have been able to rule without their support, they also appear to have been unable to depose him, so Mr. Slav must have had his supporters too. The boyars moved because it had become apparent that Mr. Slav was now

[00:39:02] leaning towards giving Halic to Daniel, who was a legitimate claimant since his father Roman had been the Knyas of Halic. The chronicle has the boyars making the rather strange argument that Mr. Slav should not give Halic to Daniel because the townspeople wanted Daniel to be their Knyas, therefore if Mr. Slav changed his mind, he would supposedly

[00:39:32] be unable to recover the city, unlike the case if he gave it to Andrew. So Mr. Slav gave the city to Andrew and withdrew to Torchetsk in the Kivan lands where he had ruled in his youth. The whole story with the boyars may be at least partly a distraction as it soon became apparent that he was seriously ill. Some

[00:40:02] historians have also speculated that he could have lost a significant part of his družina at Kalka and therefore lacked the personal power base that he had had earlier. Whether it was illness or weakness he was unable to resist his boyars and the Hungarians. Daniel

[00:40:32] certainly saw Halic as his declaim after Mistislav but Prince Andrew would be a strong rival. He and his brother moved to strengthen their position. Vasilka married Dubrava daughter of Yuri Tsivolovich of Suzdalia. We do not know who initiated this pairing but it reunited the Isislavici and the Yurovici branches of the Monomakhs.

[00:41:02] If you recall Roman and Bignest had been allies against Rurik. Now their sons became allies and Rurik's son was Knyaz in Kyiv. The brothers then looked to consolidate their control of Bolinia. Daniel travelled to a shrine at Zhichidin. The local invited him to visit the

[00:41:31] nearby town of Lutsk. Daniel accepted the invitation and when he arrived the boyars asked him to take over. Daniel returned home and gathered his men. They rode out to Lutsk. Along the way they met and captured Jaroslav and his wife. When they arrived the citizens of Lutsk welcomed them in. Daniel gave Lutsk and Perusopnice to Vasilko.

[00:42:04] Daniel corresponded with Mstislav. Mstislav admitted that he had been wrong to give halage to foreigners instead of Daniel and offered to provide Daniel with the Polovci to drive the Hungarians out. Next Daniel and Vasilko laid siege to Czertorysk a town in Volinia held by the Rostislavici. They took the city and captured the Knazes. Daniel

[00:42:34] released Yaroslav in Varovic and gave him a nearby domain. Soon after Mstislav died. His death upset the balance of forces in southern Rus. Daniel lost his closest ally who even if he was not the force he had previously been was still someone with great personal prestige and Vladimir Rurikovitch of Kiev also lost

[00:43:04] an important ally. More immediately Mstislav had been the person who united Daniel and Vladimir. Now he was gone Daniel became the upstart kniaz who had just taken Czertorysk from the Rostislavici.

[00:43:35] Rostislav Svetopulch who had claimed the overlordship of Czertorysk complained to Vladimir Rurikovitch. Vladimir summoned other Rostislavici kniazes the Olgovici and Kotyan who had previously fought for the Rostislavici when Mstislav Mstislavich had been with them. Together they attacked Kamenets which was at the border between Valinia and the Kiev lands.

[00:44:07] According to the Chronicle Vladimir also had a personal grudge against Daniel because Daniel's father Roman had forced Vladimir's father Rurik to enter a monastery. The Chronicle also comments rather cryptically that Vladimir had a great fear in his heart. This great fear is usually interpreted as caused by Daniel's expansionism and

[00:44:37] therefore a fear that if Daniel could unite Volinia and Halic again it would make him a serious power. Unfortunately things did not go well for the coalition. Kotyan turned up as requested but his loyalty had been to Mistislav not the Rostislavici and Mistislav had been on Daniel's side. Therefore when it came to the attack the policy

[00:45:06] deserted and then pillaged their way home caused a falling out between the Hungarians and Vladimir who had found a common interest in attacking Daniel. Kamenet stood firm and when Daniel and Vasilko arrived with Polish support the Knazes were forced to beg for peace. The peace agreement boosted Daniel's authority in his own lands and it's likely

[00:45:36] that he asserted his claim to Halic to the Knazes. The next few years were spent in nearly continuous conflict. Daniel fought the Hungarians the Galician Voyars Vladimir Urykovich and Mikhail Sivolović. They all constantly changed alliances and several attempts were made to assassinate Daniel.

[00:46:07] This is another part of the chronicle where it's difficult to establish an battle. The main contest was between Daniel and the Hungarians with the other Knazes getting involved at various times. Daniel attacked Halic for the first time in 1229 capturing the city and sending Andrew and Sudislav fleeing for Hungary. In Hungary they amassed an army

[00:46:36] and returned with Andrew's brother Bila. But Daniel called on the Poles and Kotian. Seeing the Hungarians outnumbered Bila decided to withdraw. Daniel was in possession of Halic for the first time. In 1230

[00:47:06] the pro-Hungarian boyars tried to kill Daniel and Vasilko by burning down the building they were staying in planning to then turn the city over to the Hungarians. The plan did not succeed and the boyars fled believing that Daniel had figured out their plot. Then Alexander of Bielts laid plans to kill Daniel on a visit to Volinia. One of Daniel's men

[00:47:36] caught wind of the plot and Daniel sent word to Vasilko to attack Bielts immediately. Alexander fled to Peremishil and Vasilko seized Bielts. Daniel tried to pursue Alexander to Bielts but Alexander ran all the way to Hungary. There he persuaded the Hungarians to invade once again catching Daniel still away from Halic. The boyars once again took the Hungarian

[00:48:05] side. Andrew decided to continue his campaign into Volinia. He reached Vladimir where the commander Miroslav's nerve failed and he surrendered the city without waiting to consult Daniel. Bielts and Cherven were returned to Alexander. Prince Andrew was reinstalled in Halic. Daniel had lost Halic and Vladimir in Volinia and had to withdraw his holdings further east.

[00:48:38] In 1231 Vladimir Rurikovic summoned the Knazes to a congress in Kiev. The Chronicle lists the important attendees Mikhail of Chernihiv and his son Rostislav Mistislav of Smolensk and Rostislav Borisovic of Polotsk and various Olgovici. No one was present from Suzdalya or Rezan and Daniel and Veselko were also not invited. The

[00:49:08] Chronicle doesn't specify why the congress was called. We would expect the reason to be some kind of crisis as with previous congresses. Some have suggested that it was intended to resolve the dispute over Novgorod but this is improbable given that no one was invited from Suzdalya. It's more likely that the congress was called to plan the Rostislav and decide a common strategy while he was

[00:49:49] nation. The power of the Rostislav was becoming rather brittle. Although as we discussed previously it's not clear what the actual effect of the losses at Kalka was and the claims of an entire army of Rus being wiped out are highly improbable. It appears that the Rostislav is available fighting force had shrunk. They'd also been fighting almost continuously since the end of the 12th century

[00:50:18] against Lithuanian incursions mainly into Polotsk but across the northwest. These had also been slowly sapping their strength. In 1216 the death of the Knaz of Polotsk had caused a succession crisis. Weakness in Polotsk left the whole of the northwest vulnerable and Smolensk had been forced to intervene and claim overlordship.

[00:50:48] The Lithuanians had then extended their attacks to Smolensk and Novgorod territory. The Rus had defended successfully including with support from Suzdalia but every war meant losses. Then in 1230 Smolensk was struck by famine which would continue for two years and kill tens of thousands. The Knaz of Smolensk had died and his son Krosz Tislav

[00:51:18] had usurped the throne from cousins who were ahead of him in the lateral succession table causing more problems. All these issues meant that Vladimir was increasingly vulnerable to the appearance of a new and powerful rival such as a united Galicia and Volinia. However it seems that rather than continuing the war Vladimir decided to reconcile with Daniel

[00:51:48] and make him an ally. Unfortunately this provoked the Olgovici and Mikhail went to war with Vladimir. Vladimir appealed to Daniel for support which Daniel provided. a settlement was negotiated and Vladimir gave Daniel Torchewsk. Daniel gave the city to the sons of Mstislav in thanks for their father's good deeds.

[00:52:18] Once again the Rostislavici were allied with the Isislavici against the Olgovici. While still in Kyiv word came to Daniel that Alexander of Bielts supported by some minor Knazes and the Hungarians had invaded his territory in Biela Birgia. Daniel rode swiftly to join his troops and defeated the invaders

[00:52:47] forcing the Hungarians back to Halage. In the spring of 1232 Alexander sent messengers asking for peace which Daniel agreed to. Daniel Vasilko and Alexander launched a new campaign against the Hungarians sacking a town held by their boyar supporters and recovering Vladimir in Bolinia. The following year Daniel

[00:53:17] called on the Polovci to join him and asked Vladimir for support from Kyiv. The Hungarians were defeated at Tichumil and Pyrimil and Daniel laid siege to Halage for nine weeks. The desperate boyars got word to Alexander that if he deserted Daniel they would give him Halage. Alexander took the bait and deserted but Prince Andrew died soon

[00:53:47] after. The townspeople of Halage opened the gates and Daniel returned to his throne. By the spring Alexander was rightly worried that he was next on Daniel's list. He tried to flee belts for sanctuary in Kyiv but Daniel caught him on the road. While in captivity he died. Prince Andrew was dead. Sudislav and his faction had fled to Hungary. Now Alexander was dead.

[00:54:17] Daniel's rule in both Halage and Bolinia finally appeared to be secure. Join me next episode as we see how Daniel rises to the challenge of the Mongol invasion. Thank you for listening and until next time goodbye.