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The last era of Kievan Rus' history on
Ukrainian territory coincides with the rise to prominence of the
principality, later the Kingdom, of Galicia-Volhynia. It was one of the three
new power centers established during the era of formation within Kievan Rus,
which, in Ukrainian history, can be said to have lasted from the Mongol
appearance in the 1240s until the demise of Galicia-Volhynia a century later.
In many ways, Galicia
and Volhynia were similar to the other lands of Kievan Rus'. Both were ruled
by princes descended from Jaroslav the Wise; their economies were integrated
with that of the rest of the Kievan lands; and their religious and secular
culture as well as legal and social structures belonged to those of Kievan
Rus'. In its historical development, Galicia-Volhynia was a kind of microcosm
of Kievan Rus'. Both Galicia and Volhynia experienced periods of political
and economic stability made possible by powerful and charismatic princes as
well a as periods of decline and instability marked by conflict over the
transfer of power, civil war, and foreign invasion.
But despite the many similarities between Galicia-Volhynia and the rest of
Kievan Rus', there were some differences with regard to foreign relatlions,
demography, and social developments. Located along the western periphery of
the Kievan realm, Galicia
and Volhynia were less often subjected to the attacks of the nomadic peoples
from the east, who had easier access, for instance, to Kev, Pereiaslav, and
Chernihiv. In contrast, Galicia
and Volhynia were open to invasion from their immediate neighbors – Poland, Hungary,
and, later, Lithuania.
Also, both principalities, but especially Galicia, were more densely
populated than any of the other Rus' lands. This demographic fact, combined
with the relstive freedom from nomadic raids, allowed for the early growth of
a prosperous agricultural economy, which in turn contributed to the existence
of a rich class of landowning boyars. The early princes in Galicia also
tended to give more power to their princely retinues and, later, to the
boyars than did the princes in other Rus’ lands. Consequently, the political
power of the boyars was great, and their strength would have disruptive
consequences for Galician political life. Finally, although Galicia and Volhynia, like other Rus' lands,
had become part of Christian, Orthodox world, they were bordered by Roman
Catholic countries in the west (Poland)
and south (Hungary).
This meant that the influence of Catholicism would be felt more strongly in
these principalities than anywhere else in Kievan Rus'.
The history Galicia-Volhynia during the
Kievan period can be divided into three stages. The first stage began in the
980s, the years for which there is first mention of the territory in the chronicles, and
lasted until 1199, the beginning of the second stage, when the heretofore
separate principalities, now joined together, struggled to create a stable
power base that could ensure internal stability and withstand foreign
invasion, especially from their western neighbors. The third stage, from 1238
to 1349,marked the apogee of Galician-Volhynian power, beginning with the
reign of Danylo and lasting until the united
kingdom was again divided and lost its independence to
the two new dominant powers in the region, Poland
and Lithuania.
 
Galicia and
Volhynia before their unification
The
earliest mention of Galicia and Volhynia appears in the Primary Chronicle's entry
for the year 981, which records that 'Volodymyr marched upon the Liakhs
(Poles) and took their cities Peremyshl' [Przemysl], Cherven', and other
towns.’1 The incident reflected Volodymyr the Great's policy of expanding the
Kievan realm, especially toward the west, where the main object of contention
between the Poles and the Rus' was control of the so-called Cherven' cities
(Brest, Chelm/ Kholm. Cherven', Belz) and Przemysl, along the western borders
of Volhynia and Galicia.
The Rus'-Polish struggle continued, with the result that during the century
following Volodymyr's acquisition these cities changed hands at least five
times. This conflict subsequently produced a still-unresolved historical
debate.Rus’ tradition suggests that the original East Slavic Cherven'
settlements (located on both sides of today's Polish-Ukrainian border) were
'taken back' in 981; Polish historiography asserts that they were originally
part of a Polish political patrimony and simply were 'taken away.'
The immediate goal of Volodymyr and his successors, however, was to secure
control over this economically strategic borderland. The Cherven' cities were
directly located along the international trade route that connected Kiev with Cracow, Bohemia, and the rest of central Europe.
Apart from the interest of Kiev's early rulers in controlling eastern
Europe's international trade routes, Galician territory was valuable in its
own right, because near the city of Halych were salt mines. Salt, as a
preservative, was one of the most valuable medieval commodities, and the
subsequent salt trade transformed Halych into Galicia's leading city. Some
scholars have argued that the very name Halych is derived from the
Indo-European word for salt, *hal.
On economic and perhaps linguistic grounds, therefore, Galicia (the
Latin name derived from the Rus'-Ukrainian form Halychyna) could be considered the 'land of salt.'
Galicia's strategic and
economic value encouraged the princes of Kiev and of neighboring Volhynia to try to
extend their control over the area. Volhynia had been assigned in Iaroslav
the Wise's last testament to his fifth-oldest surviving son, Ihor. But while
Iaroslav before his death in 1054 had given Galicia
to his grandson, Rostyslav, the bequeathal was not mentioned specifically in
his testament Its omission seemed to justify the claims of both Kiev's and Volhynia's rulers to Galicia.
Rostyslav himself was driven from the area, and his three sons, who formed
the Rostyslav dynasty, were continually under attack from their Rus'
neighbors to the east, especially Prince Ihor and his son David of Volhynia.
It was not until the conference of Liubech
in 1097 that the rest of the Rus' princes finally recognized Rostyslavych
rule over Galicia.
Nonetheless, the Volhynian prince David almost immediately violated the
Liubech accord by attacking Galicia
again and blinding its ruler (described in great detail in the Primary Chronicle). This act so
incensed the other Rus' princes that they convened another Meeting at Liubech
(1100), at which they deprived David of his throne in Volhynia. As a result,
in the early twelfth century Volhynia passed to the Mstyslav branch of
Volodymyr Monomakh's descendants.
Click on the map for better resolution
Galicia, meanwhile, was able to survive as
an independent principality under the able rule of Volodymyrko (reigned
1124-1153) and his son Iaroslav Osmomysl' (‘of Eight Minds,' reigned
1153-1187), the two most outstanding princes of the Rostyslav dynasty. It was
during the reign of Iaroslav Osmomysl' that Galicia first realized its
economic potential. He extended the principality's influence down the Dniester River
as far as the Black Sea. This made possible
the opening of an important international trade route from the Baltic Sea
(via the Vistula and Buh Rivers) across Galicia
to Bilhorod, at the mouth of the Dniester, and from there across the Black
Sea to Constantinople. Moreover, when in the
second half of the twelfth century the Polovtsians effectively cut off access
to salt from the Crimea, Kiev's new primary
source of that valuable commodity became Galicia.
In political terms, this first period in
the history of Galicia and Volhynia was marked by (1) efforts on the part of
the princes in both principalities to create their own distinct dynasties
(the Ihorevyches in Volhynia and the Rostyslavyches in Galicia), and (2) an
ongoing struggle between the rulers of the two principalities, set in motion
by the Volhynian princes' claim to authority over what they considered a
single Galician-Volhynian patrimony. By the twelfth century, the rivalry
between Galicia and
Volhynia had worsened, since rulers on both sides frequently were calling for
assistance from abroad, especially from Hungary, as well as from the
boyars living within the territory of their respective antagonists. The
result was an increase in the independence of the boyars vis-a-vis princely
authority and frequent invasion by the Hungarians, especially in Galicia.
In 1189, during their invasions from the
south, the rulers of Hungary
proclaimed themselves kings of Galicia and Lodomeria (the Latin
name for Volhynia). Although the Hungarian presence did not last long, the
addition of the new title to the Hungarian crown would have important
consequences in the future. It provided Hungary with a pretext for continued
expansionist efforts north of the Carpathians during the next century and a
half, and six centuries later the claim to Galicia and Volhynia as expressed
in Hungary's royal title provided the Habsburg emperors (who upon their
accession simultaneously became kings of Hungary) with a legal justification
for their annexation of Galicia in 1772.
The
unification of Galicia and Volhynia
The
second period in the history of Galicia
and Volhynia began in 1199, when at the death of their own Rostyslavych
prince the politically powerful boyars in Galicia decided to invite their
dynasty's enemy, Roman (reigned 1197-1205), the ruler of Volhynia, to rule
over them. By accepting the invitation, Roman finally achieved Volhynia'
long-term goal of gaining control over Galicia. For their part, the
Galician boyars had expected an enhancement of their own political role under
the rule of an 'absentee' Volhynian prince. In fact, the opposite occurred.
Roman, who had experience as a ruler in Volhynia and, previous to that, ill Novgorod, not only founded a new dynasty, the
Romanovyches, but also reversed the policies of Galicia's Rostyslavyches. During
his short, six-year reign, Volhynia and Galicia were united through his
person as the ruling prince of the Romanovyches. He also curbed the power of
the boyars, expelled those who opposed him. and promoted the interests of the
urban and rural population. On the international front, Roman formed an
alliance with Poland
and held the Hungarians ill check.
The activity of Roman and the presence of a strong Galician-Volhynian power
base frightened the grand prince in Kiev.
As a result, a coalition of Rus' armie, was formed and sent against
Galicia-Volhynia. Roman not only defeated his adversaries, but in 1200
captured Kiev
as well. But since Kiev by the beginning of
the thirteenth century had lost its appeal as a power center, Roman (like
Andrei Bogoliubskii of Vladimir-Suzdal' before him) decided to appoint
subordinates to rule in Kiev
and to return to his more prosperous capital of Halych. It was during Roman's
absence that in 1203 the former ruler of Kiev, together with the Polo%__ tsians and
Rus' allies from Chernihiv, retook the city, after sacking it even more
mercilessly than Andrei Bogoliubskii's coalition had done three decades
before. Toward the end of his short career, Roman's alliance with the Poles
broke down. and in 1205 he was killed in battle aganst them. He left only his
wife and two ven young sons, Danylo and Vasyl'ko, who were as yet unable to
rule.
The rest of this second period of Galician-Volhynian history, following the
death of Roman, was marked by a power vacuum in the region. Nearly four
decades of civil strife followed, which paralleled the breakdown of order
that waS occurring in the Kievan realm as a whole during its era of
disintegration before 1240. In Galicia-Volhynia, a complicated series of
events unfolded that were dominated by internal rivalry between princes and
boyars and by frequent foreign invasion. The period can be explained in terms
of the four principles that guided what might be called the political program
of the Galician boyars: (i) to oppose the establishment of any kind of
hereditary princely dynasty; (2) to block especially Roman's son Danylo, who
enjoyed popularity among the masses; (3) to put up various pretenders to the
princely throne, thereby weakening the prestige of the position; and (4) to
allow the role of the prince to be nominal at best, with real power resting
in the hands of the boyars. Attempting to implement these principles, the
Galician boyars first drove Roman's widow and two sons from the region. They
they invited other Rus' princes to accept the princely throne; sided at
different times with invading armies from Hungary, Poland, Lithuania, and
Novgorod; and in 1214 even placed one of their own (a boyar named Volodyslav
Kormyl'chych) on the throne. This was the only instance in Kievan Rus'
history in which someone not of royal blood, that is, not a descendant of
Iaroslav the Wise, ruled one of the Rus' principalities.
Meanwhile, Danylo, who had been five years old at the time of his father's
death in 1205, had grown to manhood and had attempted twice to regain his
throne (1230-1232 and 1233-1235). He had already become known for his
courageous participation in the first battle against the Mongols on the Kalka River in 1222. Finally, in 1238 Danylo
returned to Halych and succeeded in regaining his throne. For the next
quarter century, he was to remain ruler of a reunified Galician-Volhynian
realm. With this third and final accession of Danylo to princely power in
1238, the last period of Galician-Volhynian history began.
Galician and Wolhynian warriors facing the Mongols
(reconstruction by Angus McBride)
While the Mongols were ravaging the northern Rus' lands, Danylo was left alone
to unite his own patrimony. He even expanded eastward, taking control of Kiev on the eve of the
Mongol attack in late 1240. As we saw in chapter 8, when the Mongol armies
finally began their advance across the southern Rus' lands, they passed
rapidly through Galicia-Volhynia in early 1241 on their way to Poland and Hungary. Because Poland and Hungary
were weakened by the Mongol incursions, Danylo was able to exclude both these
powers as well as Lithuania
in the north from further interference in Galician affairs.
In order to restore prosperity in his realm after forty years of
interprincely war and foreign invasion, Danylo introduced a policy whereby
foreigners, especially Armenians, Germans, Jews, and Poles, were invited to
settle in his realm, particularly in the cities, to which they brought their
highly advanced artisanal and commercial skills. The resultant peace and
stability also made possible a renewal of Galicia's
salt trade and a revival of its role as a commercial emporium located between
eastern and east-central Europe.
Although he never acknowledged it, Danylo was actually helped in his activity
by the Mongols. After the Golden Horde's Khan Batu returned from Mongolia to his headquarters at Sarai, near
the mouth of the Volga
River, he turned his
attention to establishing Mongol administrative control over eastern Europe
in cooperation with those Rus' princes who could be made to see the
advantages of the new Pax Mongolica. Danylo was potentially one such leader,
and in 1246 Batu demanded that he appear in Sarai to make his obeisance.
Because the khan knew of Danylo's bravery in battle against the Mongols at
the Kalka River
and was aware of the Rus' prince's firm control over Galicia and Volhynia, Danylo was
treated with great respect even though he had to pledge himself a vassal of
the Mongol ruler. Danylo's pride and that of his military entourage was
deeply wounded, however. In the words of the Galician-Volhynian Chronicle:
'Oh, the greatest disgrace is to be thus honored by the Tatars. Danylo
Romanovych, the great prince who ruled the land
of Rus' - Kiev, Volodymyr, and Halych - and other
lands with his brother, is now on his knees and is called a slave! 12
For their part, the Mongols approved of Danylo's rule in Galicia-Volhynia.
And the Poles and Hungarians in their turn were impressed with Danylo's
stature in the eyes of the all-powerful Mongols, who only a few years before
had ravaged both Poland
and Hungary.
Danylo was even given the responsibility of collecting the Mongol tribute, a
function that in the early years of Mongol rule was almost always carried out
by the khan's personal representatives (baskaki). Thus, what Danylo perceived
as personal humiliation, others — in particular his western rivals — viewed
as a great political victory. In retrospect, his decision to submit to the
Mongols played an important role in ensuring Galicia-Volhynia's strength and
prosperity.
Nonetheless,
Danylo was dissatisfied, and almost immediately he made plans for a crusade
against the Golden Horde. His strategy was to neutralize his neighbors and to
organize a coalition that would include forces from western Europe. First, he
transformed his former enemies — Hungary,
Poland, and Lithuania
— into allies, mostly through the establishment of marriage ties. Then, in
1245, he began negotiations with the pope, requesting support for his
anti-Mongol coalition as well as recognition of royal status. As part of
these negotiations, Danylo, the Galician church hierarchs, and some of the
boyars indicated a willingness to acknowledge the pope as head of their
church. These developments culminated in 1253, when a papal delegation was
sent to crown Danylo King of Rus' (rex Russiae), whereby he was recognized as
a full-fledged monarch in the context of the western European feudal order.
But
the Mongols became suspicious of Danylo's ventures in foreign policy and
began fomenting discontent both among those Rus' boyars who opposed Danylo's
Roman Catholic orientation and among the Turkic Chorni Klobuky, who lived along
Galicia-Volhynia's southern frontier region. Danylo suppressed this movement
in 1254, and two years later he even ousted the Mongol troops from northern
Podolia and eastern Volhynia. The khan was not about to accept such
insubordination, however, and in 1259 he sent a large Mongol army (under
Burunday) to reassert his authority over this recalcitrant Galician Rus'
prince. The Mongols raided freely throughout Galicia
and Volhynia, and they forced Danylo to join them in a campaign against Lithuania as
well as to dismantle the fortifications he had built around several of his
cities (Volodymyr, Luts'k, Kam"ianets'-Podil's'kyi, and L'viv).
Disheartened
by the lack of support in the west for his anti-Mongol crusade (as a result
of which he repudiated any further Roman Catholic influence in his realm) and
faced with the bitter fact that he was still a vassal of the Mongol khan,
Danylo died in 1264. But it must be reiterated that the policy of submission
to the Mongols, a policy he had personally despised, made it possible for his
kingdom to prosper for most of his reign and thus to remain, along with
Vladimir-Suzdal' and Novgorod in the north, one of the three leading Rus'
states to evolve from the Kievan federation during the realignment of
political power that culminated after the Mongol invasion.
The
long reign of Danylo's son, Lev (1264-1301), was marked by a renewal of the
stability in the Galician-Volhynian
Kingdom that had begun
to break down during the last years of his father's rule. This stability was owing
to Lev's conduct as ruler in fulfilling his duties to the Mongol khan and in
maintaining the alliance with Hungary
formed by Danylo. It was also during Lev's reign that L'viv became the
capital of the kingdom.
The prestige attained by the kingdom was
also reflected in the high level of Galician-Volhynian culture during the
thirteenth-century reigns of Danylo and Lev. The founding of new cities, such
as L'viv in 1264, and the fortification of several older centers encouraged
an extensive program of civil and church architecture. Examples of the latter
included several churches (no longer standing) in Danylo's temporary capital
of Chelm and the strongly western-influenced Church of St Nicholas
in L'viv. From this era also derives the most poetic and stylized of Rus'
historical writings, the Galician- VolhTnZ an Chronicle, begun at the
initiative of Danylo. The literary qualitities of this thirteenth-century
work seem to continue the tradition of generally high standards set earlier,
and some scholars suggest that the Lay of Ihor's Campaign, the famous epic
poem attributed to the previous century, was likely composed by a native of Galicia.
The
metropolitanate of Rus'
Galicia-Volhynia's rulers were deeply concerned with ecclesiastical affairs.
In this regard, they followed in the footsteps of Kiev's greatest leaders, Volodymyr the
Great and Iaroslav the Wise, who had understood the value of religion as a
means of forging ideological unity throughout the vast Rus' realm. Their
desire to achieve the conceptual merger of territorial and religious
identities was realized as Christianity finally took root in the countryside
during the last era of Kievan history, after 1240. More and more it became
evident that one was of the Rus' land because one was of the Rus' faith, and
vice-versa. This convergence of religious and territorial identities, which
in modern times has come to be called a national identity, was of particular
importance in Galicia-Volhynia, which bordered on Roman Catholic countries.
Because of the degree to which the church contributed to the political and
cultural outlook of medieval Kievan Rus', the question of where the head of
that church, the metropolitan, would reside was of the greatest importance.
His presence lent significant prestige to the local secular ruler. Beginning
with the first known Rus' metropolitan, the Greek Theopemptos, who took up
his office in 1037, all the heads of the Rus' church resided in Kiev. This tradition
continued until the 1240s and the aftermath of the Mongol invasions, at which
time the metropolitan of Kiev
disappeared during the fall of the city.
Danylo was then ruling in Galicia-Volhynia and, well aware of the political
value of the church, he proposed that the new metropolitan be a native of Galicia,
specifically Cyril, the bishop of Chelm. With Danylo's support, Cyril
(reigned 1243-1281) was elected metropolitan of Kiev
in 1243, although it was not until 1251 that he travelled to Constantinople in order to be consecrated in his new
post by the ecumenical patriarch, the ultimate authority of the Rus' church.
The ecumenical patriarch agreed to Cyril's election, but on the condition
that he not reside in Galicia,
because Danylo had been negotiating with the pope. Barred from Galicia by his ecclesiastical superior, Cyril
was unenthusiastic about returning to Kiev,
where the unstable political situation after (as before) the Mongol invasion
was responsible for the absence of or frequent changes in the ruling prince
and thus placed in jeopardy the metropolitan's regular income, traditionally
guaranteed by the prince himself. This consideration prompted Cyril to move
to one of the new power centers other than Galicia, namely the grand duchy of
Vladimir-Suzdal' farther north and its capital of Vladimir-na-Kliazma, where
he resided for long periods of time and was assured of greater political
stability and a steady income. Despite Cyril's absence, Kiev remained the seat of the metropolitan.
In contrast to Cyril, his successor, Maksym the Greek (reigned 1283-1305),
while maintaining the title of Metropolitan of Kiev and All Rus', left the
city in 1299 and settled permanently in Vladimir-na-Kliazma the following
year. In turn, Maksym's successor moved once again, this time to Moscow, which after 1326
became the permanent residence of the Kievan metropolitanate.
It is therefore the year 1299 which can be seen to mark the final demise of Kiev as the center of
the Rus' realm. By the first half of the twelfth century, the city had lost
its preeminence as the economic center of Kievan Rus'. Then, political
authority had become diffused during the period of disintegration
(1132-1240), and it had gradually been reconsolidated in three new power
centers – GaliciaVolhynia, Vladimir-Suzdal', and Novgorod – during the hundred years after
1240. Finally, during this last period of realignment of political power
(1240-1349), Kiev lost its cultural
preeminence as symbolized by the departure (temporarily after the 1240s,
permanently after 1299) of Kiev's
metropolitans and the permanent transfer of the residence of the Rus' church
to the north (1326).
At the same time, the rulers of the other power center in the Rus' lands,
Galicia-Volhynia, were reluctant to see the metropolitan's office, with its
great symbolic value, slip from their grasp. Consequently, their goal was to
create, if possible, a new metropolitanate. From the standpoint of the
ecumenical patriarch in Constantinople, a
division of the Rus' church was not necessarily advantageous, but that
consideration had to be weighed against the threat of Roman Catholicism,
which, in the absence of a metropolitan on the southern Rus' or Ukrainian
lands, might make new inroads into the Orthodox Rus' realm. The ecumenical
patriarch therefore eventually supported the establishment of a Galician
metropolitanate, which came into being in 1303. Of the fifteen eparchies at
the time in the Kievan metropolitanate, the six within what Constantinople
called Little Rus' (Halych, Przemy§l, Volodymyr-Volyns'kyi, Luts'k, Chelm,
Turatt) were placed under the new metropolitan of Galicia, with his seat at Halych.
This meant that by the beginning of the fourteenth century Galicia-Volhynia
not only was a politically strong and economically viable state, but also had
the cultural prestige that came with being the seat of an Orthodox
metropolitanate.
The
demise of Galicia- Volhy nia
But at the very moment of its seeming apogee, the Galician-Volhynian Kingdom
entered a period of decline that proved to usher in its final demise. The
last of the Romanovyches – Iurii I (reigned 1301-1315) and Lev II (reigned
1315-1323) –introduced an anti-Mongol policy which prompted increasing
attacks by the khan's forces. Finally, in the absence of a male successor, a
Roman Catholic prince (Boleslaw, of the Romanovyches on the female side)
acceded to the throne. In an attempt to assuage his subjects, he converted to
Orthodoxy and took the name Iurii II (reigned 1323-1340). He also tried to
restore the strength of the kingdom by bringing in foreign advisers,
especially from the Germanic Teutonic Order along the Baltic
Sea, and by introducing the German model of administration in
the cities. This model was embodied in the so-called Magdeburg Law, according
to which cities were allowed their own legal system and self-government and
thus were protected from the interference of the prince or boyars. The
establishment of the Magdeburg Law in two Galician cities (Sanok, in 1339;
L'viv, in 1356) during the fourteenth century had a beneficial effect on
their economies. In Galician tradition, however, the still-influential
land-based boyars resented Iurii's urban policies and his dependence on
foreign advisers. Moreover, they continued to suspect him of sympathizing
with Roman Catholicism. In 1340, several boyars formed a conspiracy and
poisoned their ruler.
Galicia-Volhynia was now plunged into a decade of internal anarchy. Moreover,
this change in its fortunes occurred precisely at a time when its neighbor to
the west, Poland,
was under the leadership of its greatest medieval ruler, Casimir (known as
'the Great,' reigned 1333-1370). Casimir had reached an agreement with Hungary whereby the latter consented not to
block Poland's
expansionist policies in the east. Assured of Hungarian non-intervention, Poland attacked Galicia in 1340. This attack was
soon followed by an invasion from the north by the fastest-rising power
throughout eastern Europe, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In these
circumstances, the independent-minded Galician boyars were forced to
cooperate among themselves, and under the direction of their own leader,
Dmytro Dedko, they managed to resist the foreign encroachments for a few
years. Their resistance delayed but could not prevent the inevitable. In
1344, powerful Lithuania
annexed Volhynia, and five years later, in 1349, the armies of Casimir's Poland took over Galicia.
With the fall of the Kingdom of Galicia-Volhynia in the mid-fourteenth
century, the last independent political entity on the territory of Ukraine
to embody the heritage of Kievan Rus' ceased to exist. The other two power
centers within the Kievan realm, Vladimir-Suzdal' and Novgorod, would survive, but in a different
form. During the fifteenth century, one of the cities of Vladimir-Suzdal', Moscow, became a
powerful duchy in its own right. It eventually annexed the other parts of
Vladimir-Suzdal', Novgorod,
and other northern Rus' principalities to form a Muscovite state. The new
duchy and later tsardom of Muscovy had
acquired the seat of the Metropolitanate of Kiev in 1326, and before the end
of the fifteenth century it was claiming all of Kievan Rus' as part of its
inheritance. Muscovy was to use this claim
as an ideological justification for its subsequent expansion to the south and
west.
Meanwhile, the southern Rus' or Ukrainian lands beyond Galicia-Volhynia remained
nominally under the hegemony of the Golden Horde's Pax Mongolica. In the
second half of the fourteenth century, however, the power of the Golden Horde
in eastern Europe would be effectively challenged for the first time, by a
new state, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. This state's acquisition of Volhynia
in 1344 marked the beginning of a process that within a half century would
see the incorporation of most Ukrainian lands into Lithuania. The fall of
GaliciaVolhynia, then, marked the beginning of a new era in Ukrainian
history, the course of which would be determined by the destinies of the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania and, subsequently, the Kingdom of Poland.
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