Turning the pages back... October 7, 1253 (10/07/01)

Turning the pages back...

October 7, 1253

October 7, 1253, marks the day Danylo Romanovych, prince of Volhynia and Galicia was crowned king of Rus' by Pope Innocent IV. Born in 1201 and living until 1264, Danylo unified Volhynia after a long struggle with neighboring princes and Galician boyars, and later went on to gain control of Halych and in 1239 took Kyiv. The text below is taken from the entry on Danylo in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine.

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The Tatar invasion of 1240-1241, during which Kyiv, Volodymyr and Halych were destroyed, interfered with Danylo's plans for the unification of Ukrainian territories. He was nevertheless able, on August 17, 1245, to defeat a coalition of the Chernihiv princes, disaffected boyars, and their Hungarian and Polish allies at Yaroslav and finally to establish his control over Galicia.

In order to save his state, Danylo was compelled to recognize the khan's suzerainty, which he did in a visit to the khan's court at Sarai in 1246. Yet he prepared to overthrow his Tatar overlords. He sent raids against those who had become the Tatars' vassals who lived along the Sluch and Horyn rivers, built fortifications, and sought alliances in the West, particularly with Pope Innocent IV.

To get the support of the pope, Danylo agreed to acknowledge him as head of the Church in his principalities and accepted a crown from him in 1253. But these steps did not bring the aid Danylo had hoped for. In 1254 Danylo repulsed a Tatar attack on Ponyzia and Volhynia. The Tatar voivode Burundai led a new campaign in 1260, forcing Danylo to dismantle his fortifications and abandon his plans for independence.

Danylo was an exceptionally gifted ruler. For a time he unified the western territories of Ukraine. He built a number of new cities, including Kholm (his new capital) and Lviv; reformed the military forces, creating a heavy infantry based on the peasantry; and gained control over the boyars. Under his reign Western European cultural influences were strong in Ukraine, and Western European political and administrative forms took hold, particularly in the towns.

Source: "Danylo Romanovych," Encyclopedia of Ukraine, Volume II. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1988.

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