| Ukraine After 1240 |
Back to Timeline Ukraine after 1240 King Danylo Halytsky (of Halych) 1253 - Coronation of Prince Danylo by a Papal Delegate |
||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Ukraine after 1240
The end of the 11th century and the beginning of the 12th century marks a period of decline in Kyivan Rus'. As it declined, Kyivan Rus' splintered into many principalities and several large regional centers: Novgorod, Vladimir-Suzdal, Halych, Polotsk, Smolensk, Chernigov and Pereyaslav. The rulers of these principalities would often compete with each other for the control of Kyiv. Between 1146 and 1246, twenty-four different princes ruled in Kyiv on forty-seven separate occasions. The inhabitants of those regional centers then evolved into three nationalities: Ukrainians in the southeast and southwest, Belarusians in the northwest, and Russians in the north and northeast. In 1240 the Golden Horde took Kyiv. Prince Danylo Romanovych strove in vain to form a coalition of European nations to combat the Golden Horde. 
In mid 14th century, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania over took Ukrainian lands rapidly and took control of Kyiv. Their success can be partially explained by the fact that Ukrainians did not exactly view Lithuanians as enemies and they preferred surrendering to the Lithuanian princes rather than to the rulers of the Golden Horde. 
King Danylo Halytsky (of Halych) Monument to King Danylo in Lviv. In 1205, after the death of his father, Roman Mstyslavich, the ruler of Halych-Volynia, the boyars of Galicia forced the four-year-old Danylo into exile with his mother Anna of Byzantium and brother Vasylko.In 1221 Danylo re-established his rule over Volhynia, where the boyars and populace had remained loyal to his dynasty. By 1238, he had defeated the Teutonic Knights, and regained most of Galicia, including the capital at Halych. The following year, Danylo acquired Kyiv. Faced with the Mongol menace, he sent his commander Dmytro to defend the city. However, after a long siege its walls were breached and despite fierce fighting within the city, Kyiv fell on December 6, 1240 and was largely destroyed. A year later, the Mongols passed through Galicia and Volhynia while campaigning against the Poles and Hungarians, destroying Halych. On 17 August 1245, Danylo defeated a combined force of the Prince of Chernihiv, disaffected boyars, and Hungarian and Polish elements at Yaroslav and finally took the remainder of Galicia. Danylo's domestic policies focused on stability and economic growth. During his rule, German, Polish, and Ukrainian merchants and artisans were invited into Galicia, and numbers of Armenians and Jews established themselves in the towns and cities. Danylo founded the towns of Lviv and Kholm, and fortified many others. He appointed officials to protect the peasantry from aristocratic exploitation and formed peasant-based heavy infantry units. In 1246, he was summoned to the capital of the Golden Horde at Sarai on the Volga River and was forced to accept Mongol overlordship. While formally accepting the Mongols as overlords, Danylo built a foreign policy around opposition to the Golden Horde. He established cordial relations with the rulers of Poland and Hungary, and requested aid from Pope Innocent IV in the form of a crusade. In return for papal assistance, Danylo offered to place his lands under the ecclesiastical authority of Rome, a pledge never realized. The pope encouraged Danylo's resistance to the Mongols and his Western orientation, and in 1253, had a papal representative crown Danylo at Dorohochyn on the Bug River. The following year, Danylo repelled Mongol assaults on Ponyzia and Volhynia and dispatched an expedition with the aim of taking Kyiv. Despite initial successes, in 1259, a Mongol force under Burundai entered Galicia and Volhynia and offered an ultimatum: Danylo was to destroy his fortifications or Burundai would assault the towns. Danylo complied and pulled down the city walls. In the last years of his reign, Danylo engaged in dynastic politics, marrying a son and a daughter to the offspring of Mindaugas of Lithuania and acquiring territorial concessions in Poland from the latter. He also arranged for the marriage of his son Roman to Gertrude, the Babenberg heiress, but was unsuccessful in his bid to have him placed on the ducal throne of Austria. By his death in 1264, Danylo had reconstructed and expanded the territories held by his father, held off the expansionist threats of Poland and Hungary, minimized Mongol influence on Western Ukraine, and raised the economic and social standards of his domains. He was succeeded in Galicia by his son Lev.
|
|||
