In the Middle Ages, Western Russia included territories bordering Hungary, Poland and Lithuania. With the beginning of political fragmentation in this region, several principalities appeared, arguing among themselves for leadership.
Part of Kievan Rus
Before the emergence of a single Old Russian state, tribal unions of the Eastern Slavs lived on the territory of Western Russia: the Dregovichi, the Drevlyans, the Volhynians, the Ulichi and the White Croats. In the IX-X centuries. they were annexed to Kyiv. This process was completed during the reign of Vladimir Svyatoslavich (980-1015).
Western Russia in the north coexisted with the B altic tribes: Lithuania, Prussians and Zhmud. These inhabitants of the B altic coast traded honey and amber with the Slavs. For some time they did not pose a danger to Russia. The western neighbor, the Kingdom of Poland, was much stronger. This Slavic people was baptized according to the Roman custom. The differences between Catholics and Orthodox were one of the reasons for the tension between Russia and Poland. In 981, Vladimir the Red Sun declared war on Prince Meshko I and conquered the so-called Cherven land, the main city of which was Przemysl.
South WesternRussia ended with steppes inhabited by Turkic-speaking nomads. At first it was the Pechenegs. In the 10th century, the Polovtsy came to their place. It was the same between them that both those and other steppe people organized regular campaigns against Russia, accompanied by robberies and violence against the civilian population.
Period of political fragmentation
After the death of Yaroslav the Wise in 1054, the united Old Russian state broke up into several principalities. This process was gradual. Under certain princes of Kyiv, such as Vladimir Monomakh, the country became whole again. However, civil strife and ladder law finally divided Russia. In the 11th century, Volyn became the main principality in Western Russia, with its capital in the city of Vladimir-Volynsky.
The Rostislavic Dynasty
A dynasty descended from Rostislav Vladimirovich, the grandson of Yaroslav the Wise in the senior line, was established here. Theoretically, representatives of this offspring even had legal rights to Kyiv, but other Rurikovichs were entrenched in the “mother of Russian cities”. At first, the children of Rostislav lived at the court of Yaropolk Izyaslavich, the governor of Kyiv. In 1084, Rurik, Volodar and Vasilko expelled this prince from Vladimir and temporarily captured the entire region.
The Rostislavichs finally took possession of Volhynia after the Lyubech congress in 1097 and the internecine war that followed. At the same time, other small towns in this region (besides Vladimir and Przemysl) - Terebovl and Dorogobuzh - received their political recognition. Rostislav's grandson Vladimir Volodarevich in 1140united them and created a new principality with its capital in Galicia. Its inhabitants became rich in the s alt trade with their neighbors. Western Russia was very different from the dense northeast, where the Slavs lived in the forests next to the Finnish tribes.
Yaroslav Osmomysl
Under Vladimir's son Yaroslav Osmomysl (ruled 1153-1187), the Galician principality experienced a golden age. Throughout his reign, he tried to resist the hegemony of Kyiv and its alliance with Vladimir-Volynsky. This fight ended in success. In 1168, a coalition of princes under the leadership of Andrei Bogolyubsky captured Kyiv and betrayed it to robbery, after which the city never recovered. Its political importance has fallen, and Galich, on the contrary, has become the western center of Russia.
Yaroslav led an active foreign policy, entering into alliances and fighting against Hungary and Poland. However, with the death of Osmomysl, strife began in the Galician land. His son and successor Vladimir Yaroslavich recognized the supremacy of the Rostov prince Vsevolod the Big Nest. He fought against the boyar opposition and was eventually expelled from his own city. Volyn Prince Roman Mstislavovich was called in his place, which made it possible to unite the two appanages into a strong centralized principality.
Unification of Galicia and Volhynia
Roman Mstislavovich - unlike the former Galich princes - was a direct descendant of Vladimir Monomakh. On his mother's side, he was a relative of the Polish ruling dynasty. Therefore, it is not surprising that in childhood he was brought up inKrakow.
After the death of Vladimir Yaroslavich, Roman appeared in Galich together with the Polish army, which was given to him by the king - his ally. It happened in 1199. It is this date that is considered the day of the creation of a single Galicia-Volyn principality. The history of Western Russia of this period is an interesting interweaving of medieval Slavic politics.
Roman Mstislavovich captured Kyiv twice, but did not become its prince, but put faithful people on the local throne, who found themselves in semi-vassal dependence on him. The great merit of the Galician ruler was the organization of a series of campaigns against the Polovtsians, from which both Western and Eastern Russia suffered. Fighting with the nomads, Roman resorted to the help of all his relatives from the Rurik dynasty. There is an unconfirmed theory that in 1204, after the fall of Constantinople, the exiled Emperor Alexei III Angel fled to him.
Daniel's fight for his father's inheritance
Roman Mstislavovich died in 1205 after a hunting accident. His son Daniel was just a newborn baby. Galician boyars took advantage of this, depriving him of the throne. All his life, Daniel fought with the rebellious aristocracy, Russian princes and western neighbors for the right to return his father's inheritance. It was a vibrant era filled with all sorts of events. It was during the reign of Daniil Romanovich that Western Russia reached its economic and political prosperity.
The support of the prince's power was the service class, as well as city dwellers,supportive of the peacemaker. During the years of peace and prosperity, Daniel contributed to the growth of new fortresses and trading centers, attracting enterprising merchants and skilled artisans there. Under him, Lviv and Hill were founded.
Golden Age of Western Russia
Having reached adolescence, in 1215 the boy became the prince of Volhynia. This inheritance became his main fiefdom. In 1238, he finally returned the Galician principality, and a few months later captured Kyiv. The rise of a new power was prevented by the Mongol invasion. Back in 1223, young Daniel, as part of the princely Slavic coalition, participated in the battle of Kalka. Then the Mongols staged a trial raid on the Polovtsian steppe. Having defeated the allied army, they withdrew, but returned at the end of the 30s. First, North-Eastern Russia was devastated. Then came Daniel's turn. True, due to the fact that the Mongols had already noticeably worn out their army, he managed to avoid such colossal destruction as in the Oka and Klyazma basins.
Daniel tried to fight the Mongol threat through alliances with Catholic countries. Under him, Galician Rus and Western Europe actively cooperated and traded with each other. Counting on help, Daniel even agreed to accept the royal title from the Pope and in 1254 became the king of Russia.
His power was on an equal footing with powerful Poland and Hungary. At a time when Northwestern Russia was suffering from the crusaders, and the northeast from the Mongols, Daniel managed to keep peace in his possessions. He died in 1264,leaving his descendants a great legacy.
Decay and loss of independence
Daniel's children and grandchildren were unable to maintain political independence from the West. The lands of Galich and Volyn were divided between Poland and Lithuania, which annexed the former Russian principalities through dynastic marriages and under the pretext of protection from the Mongols. In 1303, the region created its own metropolis, which was directly subordinate to the Patriarch of Constantinople.
The struggle of Russia with its western neighbors ended when Poland and Lithuania divided the Galician-Volyn inheritance among themselves. This happened in 1392. Soon these two states signed a union and formed a single Commonwe alth. The term "Western Russia" gradually became archaic.
