The Destruction of Rus

Following their victory on the Kalka River the Mongols left as suddenly as they appeared, or so thought the princes of Eastern Europe. It was an “out of sight, out of mind” attitude and the usual fighting amongst the Riurik dynasty soon re­sumed, particularly for possession of Kyiv.

Chingis Khan s main effort had gone into the conquest of China, with its old civilization and wealth. By 1215 most of northern China and Manchuria were in the hands of the Mon­gols, who had adopted the advanced Chinese military technol­ogy. Subodei and Jebeis force, which had penetrated the out­skirts ofEastern Europe, was only an exploratory probe, to learn what lay beyond the Caspian Sea and its military capabilities. It was after Chingis Khans death in 1227 that a decision was made to invade Europe at a meeting of clan chiefs or a “kuriltai” held in 1234. The force sent consisted of 120,000-140,000 men, both Mongols and allies, with enough siege equipment to overpower the defenses of any city they chose to attack. By now the Mongols had incorporated Chinese and Moslem tech­nologies and knowledge into their own brand of warfare.

It took two years to prepare an invasion of Europe and to assemble animal herds and locate adequate pastures and march­ing routes. The entire horde was under the command of Batu, the son of Chingis Khans eldest son Juchi, who was accompa­nied by Subodei with his knowledge of the territory that would soon be invaded. Before his death, Chingis Khan had divided his conquests amongst three surviving sons by his first wife Barte who were the Onlylegitimate candidates to replace him. Juchi received the west beginning with what is today Kazakh­stan, but he died shortly before his father and his share or “ulus” was given to Batu. Chingis Khan had also expressed the wish he be replaced by his son Ugedey, and this was confirmed unani­mously by the great “kuriltai” held in 1229. Khan Batu was also given an experienced but small force of 4,000 horsemen, and to bring his army up to strength for the western conquest the Great Khan Ugedey transferred parts of other “uluses’” armies to Batu. Ugedey s two sons Guyuk and Kadan, three other of Chingis Khans grandsons and a great-grandson Buriwere also assigned to Batu. It is thought the total force consisted of some 50,000 Mongol horsemen who with Turkic tribesmen and other subjects, brought Batus horde to over 120,000 men. Much of the great army, however, was used for garrison duty and side expeditions and probably no more than 50,000 were available for any major confrontation, still a very large force for the time.²

Before advancing beyond the upper Volga and the Don River the Mongols secured their rear and flanks by destroying all major Bulgar cities and subduing the Mari, Bashkir, Mord­vinian and Burta tribes.

As the Mongols were preparing for the invasion, their re­connaissance units and excellent spy networks were reporting a complete lack of preparation by the northeastern princes. The city states could be isolated and picked off one by one, and the first to be attacked was Riazan which neighbored Bulgar terri­tory on the Oka River. The Mongols first sent envoys to announce

that the sacking of the city was not their intention. If Riazan would surrender and acknowledge the Great Khan Batu as their overlord the city would be spared and placed under Mongol protection. The Mongol rulers had no wish to become em­broiled in local politics and problems and usually allowed tra­ditional rule, customs and religious expression, so long as the standard 10 percent tax was paid each year into the Great Khans coffers.

Riazan refused to surrender and in December 1237 the Mongols began to besiege the city in a novel fashion. Using cap­tive labor, a wooden palisade was erected around the city, which sealed off all access to the outside world and provided cover for the Mongol siege catapults which began to lob large stones and pots ofburning naphtha on the wooden city walls. After a 15 day bombardment the Mongols burst into the city, destroyed the buildings and massacred much of the population, as de­scribed in the chronicles: “The accursed aliens came to the cap­ital city of Riazan and on the sixth day of December they be­sieged the... city... built fortifications around it. The princes of Riazan reinforced the city with their men and they fought courageously, becoming wearied.”

The defenders did not have sufficient manpower to take turns on the walls, which were under constant assault by the much larger Mongol force.

The chronicler’s claims are confirmed by the Popes envoy Carpini when he visited the Mongol capital a few years later. The Mongols first surrounded a fortified place so that no one could get in or out and the siege began with a bombardment of machines and arrows which continued day and night “so that those in the fort can not rest” while the Mongols divided their forces, which took turns in the fighting “so they are not tired at all.” Carpini also mentions the use of “Greek fire,” probably naphtha in a clay pot, which was lit by a wick and delivered by a catapult.³

When the citadel fell the inhabitants were dealt with in a particularly inhuman fashion, even by standards of the day.

... and they killed Great Prince Iury Ingvarevich as well as his princess and other princes and their men, wives, children, monks, nuns and priests. Some were hacked to pieces by swords, some were shot by arrows, and some were thrown into the fire; and some were bound and they would cut out their breasts; some had their gall bladder removed; others they skinned; some they Stuckwith needles and splinters under their nails; they defiled the nuns and the priests’ wives, and the Great Princess and the boyars’ wives; and they raped the women and virgins before their mothers and sisters.”⁴

The brutality was meant as a lesson to the other cities if they resisted. Those deemed fit for labor were spared and others re­leased to spread the word of what was in store for any city that did not open its gates to the invaders. Recruits into the Mongol army were also welcome, particularly trained infantry.

The terror tactics failed to achieve their intended end and Vladimir, Suzdal, Iaroslavl, and Tver had to be taken by the heavy siege machinery and frontal assault.

In the spring of 1239 the Mongols were ready to continue their advance. On 3 March the first city to fall was Pereiaslav in southeastern Rus, and refusing to surrender, it suffered the same fate as Riazan. Next a Mongol army under Mongke invaded the southern part of Chernihiv’s territory. The city was besieged and a large catapult, probably a trebuchet, was brought to batter down the walls—it was said that it could hurl stones, large enough to require four men to lift them, the distance of a bow­shot. Chernihivwas defended by Mikhails cousin Mstislav Gle­bovich, who found himself helpless against Mongkes siege equipment. Leading his men outside of the battered city walls, Mstislav met the Mongols in an open battle and was defeated by superior forces.⁶ Mstislav Glebovich survived the battle, and contrary to Prince Mikhails wishes concluded a peace treaty with Mongke and recognized Khan Batu s overlordship. Mikhail reacted by symbolically appointing his son Rostislav to replace Mstislav as prince of Chernihivbut to no avail; three years later Rostislavbroke with his father and defected to Hungary to join King Bela IV Three other princes followed suit by concluding peace treaties with Khan Batu: Danylo of Galich, Alexander Nevsky of Novgorod and prince Vladimir of Rostov-Suzdal.

The Mongols had also suffered heavy casualties in the fighting, and Batu decided to retire to his base area along the Volga and Don rivers to gather supplies and replace the lost manpower. A reconnaissance force under Mongke was sent to­ward Kyiv to survey the terrain and the city’s defenses in prepa­ration for the next stage of the offense. In the autumn of 1240 the bulk of the Mongol forces began to invade southern Rus and quickly penetrated the “dragon’s teeth” defenses. We have an account by the Kyiv Chronicle of the Mongols’ arrival:

The same year Khan Batu came to Kyiv with many troops and encircled the city. The Tatar forces besieged it so that no one could either enter or leave the city. Those who were within the city could not hear each other because of the creaking of wheels and the din of the camels, the blowing of the trumpets and the sounding of organs (?), the neighing of horses and the hue and clamour of innumerable people; and the entire land was filled with Tatars.⁷

Kyivwas now in the hands of Danylo of Galich, who had appointed a commander called Dmytro to be in charge of the city’s defenses. When the Mongols sent the usual envoys he re­fused to accept an “infidel’s” offer of surrender, not realizing that Mongke was a Christian, a member of the austere Assyrian Church. Kyivwas surrounded and the Mongols began to pound the city walls with heavy siege catapults placed in a ravine against the southeasterly wall by the Liadsky Gates.⁸ Once in place the catapults began to hurl large stones day and night in an attempt to open a breach in the city walls. Unable to make headway Batu sent a delegation to Kyiv with an offer of clem­ency, should they surrender; otherwise all would be put to the sword when the city fell. The Mongol envoys were sent back with curses, and the bombardment continued. This time Khan Batu brought in battering rams, which succeeded in breaking down a part of the walls: “wall-battering rams had destroyed the city walls, they entered the city but the citizens rushed against them. There could be seen and heard the clashing of lances and clanging of shields, and the arrows flew so thickly that one could not see the sky... the dead lay everywhere.”⁹

Unable to penetrate into the city the Mongols climbed partly destroyed walls and waited for the coming daybreak. What remained of the defenders—“voivoda Dmitro was badly wounded and many strong men fell”—retreated into the city and dug in around the Church of the Tithe (Church of the Mother of God) and waited for the final assault. It came on the morning of 6 December, and heavily outnumbered and ex­hausted, the defenders succumbed to the Mongol attack, with the last men fighting within the church until the walls collapsed which put an end to the resistance. Batu was now master of the city, and many of the captives and prisoners of war were put to death. Some chivalry, however, was shown by Batu, and those who had fought to the end may have been spared since the chronicle points out that “voivoda Dmitro was brought, wounded to Batu who ordered that he not be killed because of his courage.” Those that could not flee were massacred, and much of Kyiv was destroyed. A great city was extin­guished, never to shine as brightly as it had during the last two centuries.

We have a unique account of southern Rus (today s Ukraine) by Friar Giovanni DiPlano Carpini, who was sent by Pope Innocent IV as an envoy to Batu s court on the Volga River. Leaving Lyons (France) on 16 April 1245 he was met before the onset of winter by Prince Vasilko in Galicia, who arranged for Carpinis reception by Batu. Passing through Kyivfive years after its sack the friar wrote:

When these people had been defeated the Tartars advanced against Rus and devastated it. They destroyed cities and fortifica­tions and killed men and besieged Kyiv which is the greatest Ru- sian city, and after a long siege they took Kyiv and killed the citi­zens so when we went through that country we found countless human skulls and bones from the dead scattered over the field. Indeed Kyiv had been a very great and populous city but now is reduced to almost nothing. In fact, there are hardly two hundred houses there now and the people are held in the strictest servi­tude.¹⁰

Evidently the Mongols had also suffered heavy casualties in the siege, which must have lasted some two months.

Dividing their army the Mongols continued west, with one column attacking Volodimer in Volyn and another advanc­ing on Galich with both cities falling in 1241 after short sieges, and many smaller towns laid to waste. The main force under Batu and Subodai headed towards the Carpathian passes which were guarded by fortresses, and on 10 March King Bela of Hun­gary received word that they were being attacked. Four days later the fortresses fell, and the Mongols began to advance into Hungary on their hardy steppe horses covering some 40 miles per day, even in snow. Caught off guard by the Mongols’ unex­pectedly rapid advance, King Bela began to gather an army and wait for the enemy on the Danube. A large cavalry army with herds of several hundred thousand heads of cattle, sheep, and horses required a great amount of fodder, and only Hungary offered a plain large enough to support the entire Mongol army in central Europe. To secure the grazing area Khan Batu sent a 20,000 man force northward towards Silesia in today’s Poland as the two columns of the main army entered Hungary to re­cuperate after more than two months of campaigns.

A Mongol army or “urda” consisted entirely of mounted soldiers with about a third heavy cavalry and the rest archers with little or no armor. Each man possessed two, three or even four horses, which gave them rapid long distance mobility. On forced marches the Mongols slept and ate in their saddles, cut­ting strips of raw horsemeat or beef, which they carried under the saddles. A Mongol army was divided on a decimal system of tens, hundreds, thousands, and “tumens” of ten thousand men, armed with battle axes, two or three recursive bows, and the same number of large quivers filled with arrows. They also carried lassoes to snare unsuspecting enemy horsemen or in­fantry. The more well-off owned curved sabers and provided the heavy Cavalrywith horse armor, helmets, and cuirass body armor for the riders. Mongol horses were small, hardy steppe ponies that could survive the winter on the open plains and could cover great distances, unlike the larger west European chargers. Mongol “armor” was made of leather covered with strips of polished steel sewn on, and although not as effective as the complete suit of armor, it was light and flexible.

The thrust to the north was the first to experience major fighting and to gather much booty. Led by Baidar and Kaadan the raiding expedition penetrated deep into Poland to the Wisla (Vistula) River, destroyed Lublin, crossed the river and on 13 February 1241 sacked Sandomiercz (Sandomir). Amonthlater a small force of Polish knights which attempted to halt their ad­vance northwest of Krakow at Cmielnik was annihilated. King Boleslaw the Chaste, however, showed much less courage and fled with all his men. The Mongols entered Krakow unopposed; the citywas promptly looted and many buildings burned to the ground. Heading west towards the Silesian capital of Wroclaw (Breslau) they found the city in flames, set on fire by its own inhabitants who had sought safety in the citadel. They were joined by another Mongol raiding party and learned that a 30,000 man army was approaching, led by Duke Henry II of Silesia and consisting of German, Polish, Czech and even some French knights and foot troops. Even the local gold miners were drafted to help in the fighting. Also a 40,000 man army from Bohemia under King Vaclav was approaching to join Duke Henry. To prevent the two armies from joining, which would have outnumbered the Mongols, Baidar and Kaadan decided to attack first.

The two armies met on the field of Lehnica (Liegnitz) on 9 April 1241, about ten kilometers from the city. Henry formed his men into 4 corps, and encountering heavy volleys of arrows he ordered a charge of the ironclad knights. The first wave was repulsed, but pressed by the second wave the Mongols gave way and began to retreat, drawing the knights deep into their ranks. Cut off from their infantry and archer support, the knights were attacked by the Mongol heavy cavalry and annihilated. The Mongols also employed a smokescreen, which served further to cut off the knights from the infantry support, “a cloud with a foul smell that envelops the Poles and makes them all but faint so that they are incapable of fighting.”¹¹

The burning material was probably gunpowder, which the Mongols are known to have used on battlefields. Henry s infan­try was also surrounded and wiped out, with few managing to escape. Duke Henry was killed and his head paraded around the walls ofLehnica impaled on a spear. It is said that his naked body was only identified by the six toes which he was known to have on his left foot. Several large Mongol detachments pro­ceeded to penetrate into Bohemia and Moravia but were de­feated by King Vaclav of Bohemia at Kladsko.

In the meantime Batu and Subodei were pillaging Hungary with the main 50,000-man horde when news came that King Bela IV was approaching with a large army. The Mongols re­treated to the plain of Moki and were followed by King Belas entire force, who committed the grave strategic error of enclos­ing his men within a camp encircled by wagons. Batu quickly took advantage of the move and surrounded the Hungarian army within his own defensive position, and using large cross­bows, catapults and other siege equipment, began to bombard the Hungarians with rocks, burning naphtha, and large flaming arrows, all the time remaining out of range of the Hungarian archers. Realizing it was a matter of time before his army would be weakened and overrun, King Bela decided to break out of his hopeless position. A reconnaissance unit had brought news of a wide gap in the enemy lines, which happened to be in the direction of the Hungarian stronghold of Pest on the Danube River. Breaking camp the Hungarian army poured through the gap apparently undetected and began the march to Pest. Khan Batu and his commander Subodei once again proved to be the superior strategists. The gap had been left open to channel the retreating Hungarians into a trap, and when the orderly retreat turned into panicked flight the waiting Mongol regiments struck the disorganized Hungarians. A great slaughter ensued, as de­scribed by the chronicler Thomas of Spalato (Split): “The dead fell to the right and to the left. Like leaves in winter the slain bodies of these miserable men were strewn along the whole route. Blood flowed like torrents of rain.”¹²

King Bela survived the battle, together with his wounded brother Kalman, but when he fled to Bratislava (today s Slo­vakia) Duke Frederick of Austria refused to let him through to his lands on the Dalmatian coast unless a large ransom was paid. Paradoxically, a Crusade had been declared against the Baltic pagans and Greek Orthodox Christians but was not against the Mongols. Batu and his men continued their advance across Hungary along the Danube and into Slovakia with a large force (probably a 10,000 man Tumen) sent in pursuit of King Bela. Zagreb was sacked, and the Hungarian King saved himself only by taking refuge on an island in the Adriatic. The Mongols con­tinued along the coast into Albania and a detachment left Hun­gary to invade Austria, but was turned back at Wiener Neustadt by Duke Fredericks army. These would be the furthest reaches of the Mongol advance in Europe. In September 1242 messen­gers brought news that Great Khan Ogedei had died (perhaps poisoned) and Batu decided to head back to Mongolia, for when the great “kurultai” would meet to elect the new Great Khan. Waiting for the rivers and wetlands to freeze, the great Mongol army began to withdraw across northern Serbia and Bulgaria towards the Ukrainian steppe, and their base territory north of the Caspian Sea.

The Mongol invasion had made a great impression in west­ern Europe and news of their arrival had spread quickly. Thus already in 1240 a Benedictine monk in St. Albans monastery in Hertfordshire (England) by the name of Matthew Paris had written of “that detestable race of Satan” which had “ravaged the eastern countries with lamentable destruction, spreading fire and slaughter wherever they went.” His writings represent the first mention of the Mongols, and also the earliest known Jewish conspiracy theory whereby the Jewish leaders in Europe were supposed to have plotted to use the Mongols to subjugate the Christians: “[They bought up] all swords, daggers and armor they could find... and in order to conceal their treachery securely stowed them away in casks (to donate to the Mongol invaders).”¹³

Jewish quarters were attacked throughout western Europe and burned, their inhabitants slaughtered just as during the ear­lier crusades. The survivors fled to other cities, towns, and vil­lages where they were usually met with similar violence. The Catholic Church also OrderedJews to wear distinctive clothes so they could be easily identified and kept out of Catholic com­munities.

What made the Mongol armies virtually invincible and allowed them to conquer most of the known world? In the words of a contemporary historian:

Numerical superiority over their enemies they certainly enjoyed... many sources, Western and Eastern—Matthew Paris, John of Plano Carpini, the Hungarian DominicanJulian, the Persian his­torian Juvaini, Rashid ad-Din—talk of their strategy and military tactics and of their skill: of their carefully planned reconnais­sance, the attention paid to psychological warfare, the prelimi­nary dispatch of envoys whose task it often was to sow dissension among the enemy, the swiftness and surprise of their attacks, their skill in maneuvering, their use of foot-soldiers conscripted from local inhabitants and prisoners of war to bear the brunt of the initial assault, the excellence and accuracy of their bowmen, the speed and endurance of their cavalry, the advanced technique of their siege—drill, rams, catapults, Greekfire—the minute at­tention to detail, the strict discipline, the efficiency of their intel­ligence system, and above all their ability to dispense with ex­tended lines of supply....¹⁴

The Mongols’ combination of tactical brilliance, organi­zation and skill is the envy of military commanders to this day. The main technological innovation the Mongols brought was gunpowder, which would revolutionize warfare to an extent even greater than that brought about by the composite bow. They also introduced the Bubonic Plague (Black Death), which began to break out on a periodic basis and with warfare con­tributed to the heavy toll in human populations.

Mongol Domination: The Rise and Fall of Galicia-Volyn

By the spring of 1242 Batu was back in the east European steppe, but in spite of his impressive victories he appears to have been in a Weakposition amongst his relatives in the Mongol hi­erarchy. He decided not to go to Mongolia for the election but instead began to consolidate his newly conquered realm in west­ern Asia and Eastern Europe. He also decided not to repeat his invasion of central and southern Europe, but all of Rus up to the Carpathian Mountains as well as the northern principalities were now included in his khanate with capital at Saray on the Volga River. The first to swear allegiance were the princes of the north, who were summoned to appear in Saraybefore Batu and acknowledge his overlordship. Alexander Nevsky s father Iaroslavwas confirmed as prince of Vladimir in 1242, and four years later he was ordered to attend Guyuk s enthronement as Great Khan in Mongolia, from where he never returned alive. Alexander and his brother Andrey were also summoned to Saray in 1247 and confirmed as princes of Kyiv and Vladimir, respectively, before being instructed to go to Karakorum in Mongolia to pay their respects to Khan Guyuk. Alexander Nevsky had already arrived at an agreement with Batu, which left him free to fight the Crusaders in the spring of 1242.

All of Rus, however, was placed under Batus direct rule and a Mongolian division UnderKuremsa (Qurumshi) was sta­tioned just south of Kyiv. Only Prince Mikhail of Chernihiv continued to defy the Mongols and continued to fight Batu s ally Prince Danylo for possession of Galicia. He soon realized his onlyhope to retain Chernihivwas to yield to Batu and he also made his way to Saray. Mikhails defiance, however, would cost him his life. He arrived with a boyar named Fedor and his grandson Boris, and was instructed to perform the Mongol cer­emony of purification by walking between two lines of fire, and to bow to a golden statue of Chingis Khan. Mikhail and Fedor refused to perform what they considered to be pagan rituals, and were executed on Batus orders. With Prince Mikhails death all resistance to the Mongols ceased.

Besides the destruction of Kyiv the Mongol invasion al­tered the balance of power, both economically and militarily. Rus, however, was not completely destroyed or depopulated since we know that as early as 1245 the Mongols were recruiting men for the army. Always on the lookout for skilled craftsmen the Mongols lured many skills to their territories, which de­prived the Slavic city states of much future development. Also, virtually all communication between north and south ceased, and both areas began to develop in different ways. Prince Danylo of Volodimer (and later Galicia) was the first to arrive at an agreement with the Mongols, as early as 1239 following the invasion OfVladimir-Suzdal. In 1236 Danylo and Vasilko had been defeated by Prince Mikhail of Chernihiv at Torchesk for possession of Kyiv, but their fortunes began to improve when two years later the brothers defeated the Teutonic Knights at Dorohichin, who had been invited by Duke Conrad of Poland to defend his eastern frontier. The following year Danylo re­took Galich, apparently with the support of the citizens, and embarked on a reconquest of his father Prince Romans domain. As he came across the cities and towns sacked by the Mongols on their way to Poland, he witnessed first hand the devastation: ^aDanylo came with his brother (Vasilko) to Berstia but could not go out into the field because of the stink [from] the count­less dead... not one person remained alive. The Church of the

Blessed Mother of God was filled with corpses, as were the other churches.”¹⁵

With a force of 3,000 infantry and 300 cavalry, Danylo sacked the city of Diakov and occupied the Bakota lands which were held by the Mazovian Prince Boleslav. The brothers’ con­trol of Galicia and Volyn was finally established in the great battle Oflaroslavlwhere with the support of Polovtsi (who were returning from Hungary with the Mongol horde) Danylo and Vasilko won a resounding victory over Prince Mikhail’s son Rostyslav and his Polish and Hungarian allies. The Chronicle gives a graphic and poetic description of the battle:

When Rostislav saw (Danylos) men approaching he put his sol­diers—the Rusians, Hungarians and Poles—in battle formation and went forth against them... ashe was advancing upon Danylos army (his) dvorsky Andrei... hurried (his men) and engaged Rostislav’s army himself. Spears broke fiercely against spears, cracking like thunder, and on both sides many fell from their horses and perished, while others were wounded by the thrust of lances. Danylo saw that the Poles were stubbornly at­tacking Vasilko singing a hymn which emanated loudly from their ranks. (He also saw) Rostislav’s troops approaching and Filia (exhorting his men) to endure the attack (of Danylos men)... and Danylo attacked him with (his stolnik) JakovMarkovich and Shelv.... Danilo (was momentarily) captured but he broke free... catching sight of a Hungarian who was coming to help Filia he struck him with his lance... the shaft broke and (the Hungarian) fell from (his horse) and gave up the ghost... (then) Danylo swiftly swooped down upon Filia again, annihilated his regiment and tore his standard in half. Rostislav... fled, and the Hungarians also turned to flight. (In the meantime) Vasilko was engaging the Poles. (At first) both sides stared facing each other. (But then) the Poles began calling (the Galicians) names, exhort­ing each other (to attack and) drive “these longbeards” away. Vasilko... lashed his horse and charged. The Poles could not withstand his attack and fled.¹⁶

The Hungarian commander Filia was brought before Danylo, who promptly killed him, along with many of the rebellious bo­yars. He now had a free hand to repel the Lithuanian raids that were taking place on his northern frontier.

By 1245 the two prince brothers had achieved the near impossible. They had eliminated the Olgovichi hold on the thrones of Galicia and Volin, driven out the Hungarian and Pol­ish army, established their authority over the unruly boyars, and successfully campaigned against the pagan Lithuanians. Danylos authority over Galicia was further confirmed by Khan Batu when Danylo visited him in Saray in 1246, making him the Khan’s official ally. Galicia-Volin was becoming a power to be reckoned with, and Danylo and Vasilko began to take an ac­tive part in the affairs of central Europe and in the lands of their northern neighbors, the Lithuanians. Making peace with the King ofHungary and the dukes of Poland, the two brothers first invaded the Jadvingians, with Polish and Polovtsian support. Burning pagan villages the allies advanced into enemy territory where they were met WithJadvingian infantry and cavalry. After a great battle the Lithuanian tribesmen were forced to retreat, but counter-attacking they were on the verge of victory when Prince Danylo led a charge of his heavy cavalry. This broke the enemy ranks and forced them to retreat into the thickets where they continued to offer resistance protected by the trees and heavy vegetation. The fighting ended by the river Oleg after the Lithuanians had lost much manpower and most of their war leaders.

Danylos wife had died and to check the growing Lithuan­ian expansion he married the niece of a Lithuanian prince Min­daugas (Mindog) who was establishing his influence amongst the Lithuanian tribes. Next as allies of King Bela ofHungary in 1250, Danylo and Vasilko became embroiled in a war against the “Nemtsy” (Germans), in today’s Austria. We know that to counter the military strength of the boyars Prince Danylo had raised regiments consisting of peasants and townspeople fi­nanced by the Carpathian salt revenues, and had also adopted some Mongol tactics and equipment for his “druzhina” com­panions:

The Hungarian king sent (an envoy) to Danylo requesting him to come to his aid, for he was waging war with the Nemtsi (Ger­mans).... The King rode forth... to meet Prince Danylo, and Danylo approached him with all his troops in battle formation. The Germans (envoys to King Bela) marveled at (their) Tatar armor: all of the horses had mail over their heads and (their bod­ies) were covered with leather and the riders wore armor. And the splendour of his regiments was indeed great due to the luster of their weapons. (Danylo) himself rode at the King’s side, in ac­cordance with the traditions of Rus.

The chronicler continues to describe Prince Danilo’s gold saddle, gilded weapons and luxurious clothes, all intended to impress the enemy envoys: “The Germans could not cease star­ing and admiring (all of this) and the King told (Prince Danylo) that his coming (to him dressed) in accordance with the tradi­tions of Rus and of his forefathers was more important to him than a thousand pieces of silver.”¹⁷ The chronicler makes it clear that Danylo had laid claim as the legitimate successor to the princes of Kyiv, and Galicia and Volyn had now become a part of Rus.

The dispute in which Danylo took part on behalf of the Hungarian King and Duke Boleslav of Mazovia had arisen over the “Rakusian and Styrian” lands, which were also claimed by the Czech King Peremysl. There is no doubt that he saw a bigger role for himself in central Europe by undertaking the cam­paign.¹⁸ It was also an attempt to influence Pope Innocent IV to declare a Crusade against the Golden Horde as Khan Batus army and domain on the Volga became known. In return Danylo would place his domain under the Pope’s ecclesiastical jurisdiction as a move towards adopting Roman Catholicism. As a first step the Pope offered Danylo a royal crown through his envoys, who had arrived to meet the Prince in Cracow.

Danylo insisted the coronation not take place “in a foreign land/’ and returning to Galicia he was crowned in Dorohychin by the papal legate Opizio as “Rex Rusiae” (King of Rus).¹⁹ The choice OfDorohychin was not accidental since the city with its adjoin­ing lands had been occupied by the Catholic Duke Conrad of Mazovia in 1235 and turned over to the Teutonic Knights who were expelled by Prince Danylo two years later. By the corona­tion the Pope tacitly recognized the city to be a part of Danylos “regnum Galiciae et Lodomeriae^w (kingdom of Galicia and Volyn). Nothing came of the arrangement. Although in 1253 the legate Opizio was sent by the Pope to other European rulers to drum up an anti-Mongol Crusade, it was to no avail—no doubt the great defeats suffered by the Catholic armies at Lehnica (Leignitz) and Hungarywere still fresh in their minds.

In 1254 Danylo decided to challenge the Mongols on his own by expelling Mongol troops from the Bolkhov territory (in todays Podilprovince of Ukraine). Ayearlater in retaliation a Mongol force under Kurumshi (Kuremsa) attacked the stronghold ofKremenets while the Mongols’ ally Prince Iziaslav of Smolensk marched on Galich, with the intention of seizing the salt mines of Kolomiya. He was caught off guard by Prince Danylo s son Roman and defeated, while Danylo at the head of his men expelled the Mongols from his eastern domains. This was the first serious setback which the Mongols had experi­enced in Eastern Europe. Not receiving any support from the Catholic rulers, Danylo broke off his arrangement with the Pope to convert, and Galicia and Volin remained Greek Orthodox. In the following year Kuremsa appeared again and without warning attacked Volodimer and Lutsk in Volin. Theywere de­feated again, before the walls of Volodimer by Vasilko, while the unfortified city of Lutsk was saved by the river s high water, which prevented the Mongols from crossing and attacking the city. This was Kuremsas second defeat “and not gaining any­thing (the Mongols) returned to their land—that is, the steppe” as stated in the Galician-Volynian Chronicle.

Batu had died the previous year, and was succeeded by his son Sartok who died soon after in 1256 and was replaced by one Ulagchi, who also died two years later. Batu s brother Berke, who as a young man had converted to Islam, became Khan. In the meantime Prince Danylo moved his capital from Galich to the virtually impregnable new fortress of Cholm, and a year later another fort was built named Lvov in honor of his son Lev, which would grow into a major urban center. In response a new Mongol commander, Burundon appeared with a large army and Danylo fled to seek refuge in Poland. Vasilko was forced to demolish all defenses except Cholm, which could not be taken by the Mongols, who proceeded to cross the Vistula River and pillage the Polish lands. Vasilko, who had no choice but to con­firm his alliance with the Mongols, marched north and defeated the Lithuanians who were raiding in the vicinity of Pinsk.

Prince Danylo died in 1264 followed by his brother Vasilko five years later, and they were succeeded by their sons Lev and Volodimer, respectively. The next century continued in the usual fashion, with chronic warfare between princes, dukes of Rus and kings of Poland, Hungary, and the Mongol horde. The Lithuanian tribes were also becoming more powerful, united by Prince Mindaugas (Mindovg) who became king, only to be assassinated by a conspiracy of the princes. His son Vaishelga (Vaishelk) had renounced power and entered into a Greek Orthodoxmonastery, but on receiving news of his father s murder he left the cloister, donned his armor and with the help of Prince Danylos troops defeated the princes. In 1267 Vai- shelga returned to his monastery after handing his crown to his brother-in-law Swamas, Prince Danylo s son. This did not sit well with Swamas’ half-brother Lev, but before he could make a move, the Lithuanian throne was captured by Prince Traidenis (Traiden) who attacked and sacked Lev’s city of Dorohichin.

Faced with a powerful enemy, Lev turned to his Mongol ally, the Great Khan Mangu Timur of the Golden Horde. “Mangu Timur gave him (Lev) an army (led by) the voivoda Jagurchin and (ordered) all the princes from beyond the Dnipro to come to his aid.” The purpose of the great expedition was to conquer the Lithuanian lands, but a quarrel developed between Lev and the other princes and the force split up. “They had made plans to march into the Lithuanian land... but they did not go because of their [the princes’] anger at Lev, and thus re­turned home.”²⁰ The opportunity to conquer Lithuania was lost, which would continue to grow in strength while the city states of Rus, left to their own devices, weakened.

For the time being, however, Galicia and Volin continued to prosper under the two cousins, Lev and Volodimer. Lev mar­ried the daughter of King Bela of Hungary, and allying himself with the Czech King Vaclav (Wenceslas) II he annexed Lublin at Polish expense. The Mongols changed their policy after Mangu Timur’s death and in 1286 they launched an invasion of the Polish lands as well as Lev’s domain, introducing the dev­astating Black Death in the following year. “That winter God’s wrath appeared in the guise of a great plague, not only in Rus alone but also in Poland. That very same winter all of the horses, cattle and sheep perished also in the land of the Tatars. Every­thing perished, nothing remained.”²¹ In the following year Prince Lev invaded Poland with the intention of capturing Cra­cow, but although he couldn’t take the city he returned home with “an enormous booty in servants (slaves?), cattle, horses and supplies.”

Lev died in 1301 and was succeeded as prince of Galicia and Volin by his son Iury, who took on his grandfather’s title “King of Rus.” Judging by foreign chronicles King Iury I was an effective and a powerful ruler and presided over a prosperous land. The Galician-Volinian Chronicle ends in 1289 and not much is known about his short reign (1301-1315), except that he carried sufficient influence to have been able to obtain Con- Stantinoples consent for a second metropolitanate in Galicia- Volin, when the Metropolitan of Kyiv and Rus moved north to Vladimir in 1303. Iury s two sons, Andrei and Lev, were the last of the Romanovich dynasty to rule Galicia and Volin. The brothers seemed to have followed a hostile policy towards the Mongols-Tatars who by now had adopted Islam, and were prob­ably both killed fighting them.

The Romanovich line became extinct with the brothers’ death, and in 1323 the Galician boyars chose their nephew Prince Boleslav of Mazovia, the son of King Iurys daughter Maria and Prince Troiden of Mazovia. He converted to Greek Orthodoxyunder the name of Iury II and showed no compunc­tion against fighting the dukes of Poland in defense of his lands. To strengthen his position in 1331 he married Princess Auka (Ofka) the daughter of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas. In 1340 he was poisoned by Galician boyars probably at the in­stigation of King Casimir (Kazimiers) III of Poland, who had signed a treaty with the Hungarian King Carl Robert of Anjou in the previous year. Nine days after King Iury’s death King Casimir and his Hungarian allies invaded Galicia. The invaders were met by an anti-Catholic coalition of Galician boyars led by Dmytro Dedko, who defeated the Polish-Hungarian forces and proceeded to offer the crown to Liubartas (Lubart), the son of the Lithuanian Grand Prince Gediminas. Liubartas es­tablished his residence in Volin while the boyar Dedko became his lieutenant in Galicia, and as the new vassal of the Mongol Khan Uzbeg he received support in clearing Galicia of Casimir s troops. In 1349 King Casimir launched another campaign against Galicia-Volin and Lubart once again received support from the Golden Horde. Casimir s forces were expelled from Volin but managed to retain Galicia, and when he died in 1370 without a male heir the kingdom reverted to King Louis of Hun­gary as was specified in their treaty. In 1387 Louis’ daughter Jadwiga became Queen of Poland and received Galicia as a part of her domain.

King Casimir’s onslaught on western Rus was a part of the Roman Catholic Crusade against the Greek Orthodox Church and Lithuanian paganism. Already in 1341 Casimir had re­quested that Pope Benedict XII cancel his commitment to tol­erate the “Orthodox schismatic” traditions and practices, and the Pope was happy to oblige. With Galicia a part of the Polish Crown, the Orthodox Church and many of the local boyars began to lose land and the Roman Catholic Church became the biggest landowner in the province. The Greek Orthodox Church was a major part of the political structure of Rus, and was traditionally hostile to papal authority and Latin Christi­anity, which it considered to be heretical. In spite of their dif­ferences, however, when the Mongols began to invade the Met­ropolitan of Kyiv and Rus, Petro Akerovich followed Pope Innocent IX to the Ecclesiastical Council of the Roman Church held in Lyons (France), where he accepted union with the Latin Church. The concept of a union was rejected by the other Or­thodox states, and as it turned out the Mongols had no inten­tions to persecute Eastern Christianity or any other religion, all ofwhichwere tolerated. All traditional rights and privileges of the Greek Orthodox Church were guaranteed and even ex­panded under Mongol rule. The holdings of the Orthodox Church were also confirmed and exempt from taxation and mil­itary obligations, and its persecution in any form became a cap­ital offense. Greek Orthodox Christianity was beginning to make inroads among the Mongol aristocracy, particularly those who were already Christians, especially when the Metropolitan of Kyiv and Rus moved his seat to the northeast first to Vladimir in 1300, and then to Moscow in 1326. We also know that an Orthodox bishopric was established in the Mongol capital of New Saray by the order Khan Berke.

The great Khan of the Golden Horde, Uzbeg (Ozbag) who reigned 1313-41, however, was a Muslim and with him Islam became the official faith of the Golden Horde. Jews were also treated with tolerance even by the Christian rulers. In Poland a statute proclaimed by Henry the Pious in 1264 granted Jews their own legal courts which were administered by rabbis, per­mitted freedom of worship in synagogues, allowed Jewish ceme­teries, and guaranteed inviolability of person and property. To attract craftsmen and merchants to his new cities Prince Danylo of Galicia had already granted similar rights to Jews, Armenians and Roman Catholics.