Western Russia

chapter 17 Western Russia

Historical Introduction

The ancient territory of the Eastern Slavs, essentially the river basins (West ern Dvina, Lovat’, Volkhov, and the Dnepr system) which connected, through por- tages, the Baltic and the Black Seas, had been enlarged by the early Kievan grand princes in several directions and had come to encompass the regions of Galicia and Volynia in the West and the tribal land of the Viatichi in the East. Additionally, the Kievan rulers were intermittently in control of the plains be- tween the Prut and the Dnepr. Subsequently, the Kievan practice of assigning apanage principalities to leading male members of the Rurikid family resulted in considerable fragmentation of the Kievan realm. A strong Kievan grand prince, such as Vladimir Monomakh, would still manage to maintain a signifi- cant measure of control, but after the complete victory of the Mongol invad- ers in the period 1237–1242, it had become “every man for himself” among the Rurikid princes and it would be a century before the princes of Moscow would start their long campaign of eliminating their rivals. The greatest political-territorial transformations occurred in the West and were connected with the rise of Lithuania. The original tribal territory of the Lithuanians, roughly coinciding with present-day Lithuania, had begun to be enlarged under their prince Mindaugas († 1263)1 by the conquest of a few small Russian principalities, known as Black Russia (Chernaia Rus’), and bordering Lithuania in the south. In the same period the important old Russian prin- cipality of Polotsk, on the eastern border of Lithuania, had become increas- ingly dependent on Lithuania until it was fully incorporated in 1307 (it was briefly recaptured by Russia from 1563–1579, but re-incorporated only in 1772 at the first partition of Poland). The next step was the acquisition of the Russian principalities of Turov and Pinsk (south of Black Russia) during the reign of Gediminas (Russ. Gedimin), the founder of the Lithuanian dynasty (1316–1341). At that time the southern neighbour of Lithuania was the kingdom of Galicia-Volynia. The old Russian principalities of Galicia and Volynia had

1 Mindaugas was baptized in 1251 and crowned king of Lithuania in 1253, but Lithuania and its rulers remained pagan for more than century until the conversion of grand prince Jagaila in 1386. Starting with the latter, the grand princes of Lithuania were usually kings of Poland too (this became a strict rule in 1501 only) and did not claim a separate royal title for Lithuania.

528 chapter 17 been united by prince Roman, a son of the Kievan grand prince Mstislav ii, in 1199. He was killed in battle in 1205 and after many years and much turmoil ultimately succeeded by his son Daniil in 1239. The latter emerged as one of the most powerful and successful Russian princes during the troublesome years of the Mongol invasions; he was also intermittently in control of the Kiev region. His international ambitions were highlighted when he accepted kingship from pope Innocent iv; he was crowned king of Galicia-Volynia in 1253. His son Lev and then his grandson Iurii succeeded him,2 but the latter’s sons Andrei and Lev fell in battle in 1324, and with them the only royal branch of the Rurikids became extinct. Neighbouring rulers fought long over the spoils, and in the end one of the sons of Gediminas, Liubart, acquired Volynia and the Kiev region for Lithuania, while the Polish king Kazimir iii annexed Galicia (1349). After the death of Gediminas of Lithuania in 1341 he was succeeded as grand prince, following the usual violent upheavals in the ruling family, by his son Algirdas (Olgerd, 1345–1377) who continued with even more fervour3 the ex- pansionist policies of his ancestors. During his reign the principalities of Kiev, Chernigov, Pereiaslavl’, Novgorod-Seversk and part of Smolensk were added to the Lithuanian lands. In 1386 the son of Algirdas, grand prince Jagaila (Polish: Jagiełło), married the heiress of the Polish Piast dynasty, Queen Jadwiga, and was baptized. From then on Poland and Lithuania formed a personal union, two separate states with separate legal systems under a single ruler (also known as the Union of Kreva). In 1569 (the Union of Lublin), three years before the Jagiellonian dynasty died out with the death of Zygmunt ii August, the personal union was converted into a full union, where the two countries constituted a single state. This did not mean a merger of the legal systems; they stayed separate to a great extent. Foreign policy and the monetary system were the main common subjects.4 Part of the background of Jagaila’s Polish marriage was the feud with his cousin Vytautas (Russ. Vitovt), son of Algirdas’ brother Kestutis, who in fact held the position of ruler of Lithuania. Under Vytautas († 1430) the further

2 I am not sure whether Lev ever used the royal title. In the few charters cited below he pre- sented himself as “prince Lev, son of king Daniel”. His son Iurii did use the title; cf. N. de Baumgarten, Généalogies et mariages occidentaux des Rurikides russes. Orientalia Christiana, Vol. ix.1, Roma, 1927, 50. 3 Karamzin, grudgingly admiring Olgerd and comparing him favourably with weak Russian contemporaries, often calls him khitryi (cunning), but also khishchnyi (rapacious) Olgerd, and iazychnik Olgerd (Olgerd the pagan). 4 Cf. I.N. Kuznetsov, V.A. Shelkoplias, Istoriia gosudarstva i prava Belarusi, Minsk, 2004, 27.