Summary
Political and cultural connections between Rus', Byzantium and Western Europe achieved much significance to the end of the 12th c. — beginning of the 13th c. First of all, they can be seen in home and foreign policy of Roman Mstislavich, the prince of Galich and Volyn.
The thing of great interest for the historians is Roman's project of «good order» delivered at the year of 1203 by V.N. Tatischev, who used the old Novgorod chronicle in his work. There are no mentions about the project in the Kiev and the Vladimir of Suzdal writings since the princes ruling there were hostile to Roman's idea to elect the Great Prince of Kiev.
All the text of the report on Roman's project is written on the new (late) folios of Academician ms of Russian History. Thanks to the writing manner (increasing of number of lines, decreasing of the size of letters and the space in between) the text of these leaves is almost one and the half larger than the normal page of the manuscript. But in spite of all the devices used by the copyist one couldn't put the complete text of the report on the project on the newly written leaves. It had to be the previous text of the same contents exempted in the process of copying. It means that Tatischev had the information about the project at the very beginning of his work with the 1st variant of the Russian History and therefore it cannot be thought to be the later fiction.
It couldn't happen by chance that Roman's reformation plans reflected the order of election of the superior ruler and some other political institutions of the Holy Roman Empire. The prince of Galich and Volyn suggested establishing the «good order» similar to «the other good ordered states» meaning without doubt the order of election of the German King and the Emperor established in the beginning of the 13th c. with the participation of the board of six Empire princes which was equal to the number of «the elder princes» who were to elect the Great Prince of Kiev according to Roman's project.
Roman Mstislavich had the immediate contacts with the German rulers who took part in the struggle for power in the Empire, especially with king Philip the Schwab and Hermann, landgrave of Thuringia. St. Peter's monastery in Erfurt, which played noticeable role in the competition between the Stauffens and the Velfs, was also connected with the prince of Galich and Volyn and he donated large sums to the monastery, probably during a personal visit.
The union of the Stauffens with the prince of Galich and Volyn is testified by Alberick de Trois Fontain saying in his Chronic that the last Roman's campaign he perished in was aimed to Saxony (1205). Dwellers of the distant Cistercian monastery could know about Roman's campaign thanks to the wide contacts, good knowledge of the European policy and close links with Saxony and Minor Poland Roman marched through.
One cannot accept the version of war Roman waged against Polish princes Leshko and Conrad suggested by Jan Dlugos who mixed the circumstances of the campaign of 1205 with that of the other times. Nevertheless one cannot deny completely the decision by the prince of Galich and Volyn to invade Poland and capture two Polish cities (reported about in the Russian chronicles) influenced by some special reasons rooted in the Polish-Russian relations of that time.
The information on the Papal embassy to Galich with the offer of the royal crown to Roman Mstislavich in exchange of the Union with Rome written in Russian History by Tatichev at the year of 1204 cannot be denied. The idea of Tatichev's practicing imitating of the chronicle entries proposed by some modern scientists is not confirmed. The main instrument of verification the information on the Papal embassy is still its correspondence to the approved data about eastern policy of the Roman Curia during the pontificate of Innocent III. One cannot doubt the persistent will of the Pope to submit the Orthodox Russian Church after the conquest of Constantinople to the jurisdiction of Rome.
The relations with Byzantium took the most important place in the foreign policy of Roman Mstislavich. According to History by Jan Dlugos and the Gustyn Chronicle the overthrown Bizantine emperor Alexios III after his flight from Constantinople in 1203 spent some time in Galich where he met Roman. The fact is confirmed by the Italian chronicler of the second part of the 13th — the beginning of the 14th c. Bartholomew del Fiadoni (Ptolemy of Lukke). Fiadoni who was born c. 1227, could have associated with the alive participants of the events. Being the librarian at the court of John XXII he was well informed of the foreign policy of the Pope and he was highly interested in the details of the 4th Crusade. Besides that Fiadoni has been the bishop of Torcello (the island and the town in the Venetian Lagoon), which citizens took part together with Venetians in the conquest of Constantinople for many years.
The known story of exile of Alexios III, of his visit to Bulgaria and the negotiations with king Kaloian testify the possibility of the contacts with the prince of Galich and Volyn as well. This is confirmed with the information about military and political union of Alexios and Roman and the traditionally active role of Galich in the approval of the pretenders to the royal thrones of Byzantium and Bulgaria also.
It was Roman Mstislavich who became the main military ally of the Byzantine Empire in the beginning of the 13th c. The Romayan State was going through the sever political crisis aroused by Serbian and Bulgarian uprising and the crushing attacks by Polovtsy. According to Niceta Choniate it was possible to stop the nomad aggression thanks to the Galich aid only. The circumstances and the time of Roman's campaign in the story by Choniate are just the same as in the Russian chronicles which report the steppe campaigns of the Galich and Volyn prince.
The outstanding role of Roman Mstislavich in the struggle with the enemies of the Empire is reported in the other Byzantine sources besides Choniate, which are practically unknown to the modern Russian historians. These are the tale of Theodor Skytariote and the poem by Ephrem Ennius. Both authors repeat Choniate mainly, but they add some new details.
All the Byzantine sources give the title of «hegemon Galiciae». The term «hegemon» unlike the other Byzantine titles of the Russian princes meant «the ally and the relative (or in-law) of the Emperor». The result of the union of Alexios and Roman was also the stabilization of the relations with the Russian population in the Lower Dnieper and the Lower Dniestr («the branch of the Tauro-scythes» of «Bordona», as it called in the Byzantine sources).
Diminishing of the role played by the prince of Galich and Volyn Roman Mstislavich in the political life of South Rus' and his uniting the Russian princes for the campaigns against the Polovtsy is typical for the North-Eastern Chronicle tradition first of all because of the political views of chronicler Simon, who arrived from Kiev to Vladimir Suzdalsky in the beginning of the 13th c. and afterwards became the bishop. Tightly connected to the family of the Kievan prince Rurik Rostislavich, the main enemy of Roman in his struggle for Kiev, Simon having arrived to Vladimir became serving the interests of king Vsevolod the Big Nestle who perceived Roman as a dangerous competitor in the influencing the South Russian lands.
Prince Vsevolod was also alien to the foreign policy of Roman who supported the Byzantine authorities in the fight with the rebellious Bulgarians and the Danube Polovtsy which backed them. The prince of Vladimir Suzdalsky had the immediate contacts with the head of the Bulgarian uprising and avoided military assistance of Byzantium of purpose.
Military aid by Roman was guaranteed with the matrimony of the prince of Galich and Volyn and Alexios' niece, the elder daughter of the overthrown emperor Isaac II. On coming the second wife of the prince of Galich and Volyn she continued playing the key role in the political life of South Rus' for years. The chronicle preserved not the name of the princess who is called by the husbands name only: «the great Roman's princess». But we can fill this white space. The junior sister of the princess of Galich and Volyn, Irene, who had come the consort of German king Philip, had her sister's name put down to the necrology of the Speier cathedral. Among the other Greek relatives of queen Irene the name of her elder sister Euphrosine is mentioned.
They were aware of the fate of German relatives of «the great Roman's princess» in Galich as well. The distinct information about the death of king Philip the Schwab at summer of 1208, which was soon followed with that of his queen, can be found in the Chronicle of Galich and Volyn. The detailed story of the circumstances of the murder of Philip was put down and the persons implicated in it were mentioned here. There is no such information in the other Russian chronicles. The details of such distinct events could be of some interest only for the relatives of the perished. And princess Euphrosine with her children were such persons.
Near by the Polish town of Chelm (Old Russian Holm) the ancient stone tower five levels (stories) high, the remnants of chapel on the top of it, is still preserved. This tower rises at the spot where the Old Russian town of Stolpie (Towers) existed sometimes. According to the last investigations the tower of Stolpie is the replica of the edifices widely spread in the North of Greece and appeared to be the cult buildings belonging to the monasteries and the secular lords. The literary sources say that most probably the tower of Stolpie was built in 1220—1240s for «the great Roman's princess» who had become the nun again.
The activity of Euphrosine, the princess of Galich, is seen in the old Russian seals. Several seals from old Novgorod have the image of St. Euphrosine of Alexandria on avers and the image of Transfigutation of Our Lord on the mount of Favor on reverse. There are no grounds to identify the owner of this seals with St. Euphrosine of Polotsk, since she had nothing to do with the foundation of the Transfiguration church or monastery in Polotsk. The Savior's nunnery and the church founded by St. Euphrosine were dedicated to the ancient fest of the Savior Misericors. There is no evidence of any relationship of St. Euphrosine with Novgorod.
But there were tight links between Euphrosine of Galich and Novgorod. She, without doubt, corresponded with prince of Novgorod Mstislav the Brave whose daughter Ann married Daniel, the elder son of widowed princess of Galich. Mstislav himself influenced with the news coming from the South-Western Rus', abdicated from Novgorod throne and resolutely interfered in the struggle for Galich with Hungarian prince Koloman and became the new prince of Galich soon.
There is a great reason to connect the wide spreading of cult of Transfiguration in Galich and Volyn with Euphrosine of Galich. The numerous monasteries and churches of Transfiguration mentioned in the literary sources date back to the 13th c. The numerous former altar icons of Transfiguration of the West Ukrainian lands came from the 13—14th cc. up to our time.
One more name Euphrosine is famous under in the scientific literature is Ann, which she must have taken on returning to nunnery in the beginning of the 1220s. The connection of «the great Roman's princess» with the cult of St. Ann, Our Lady's mother, is witnessed with the chapel of St. Joachim and Ann built on her grave according to the chronicle of Galich and Volyn. There is the unique icon of the «Assembly for St. Joachim and Ann» painted at the edge of 13—14th cc. and copying the older altar icon.
The name of Ann and the scene of Transfigutation used by the princess of Galich at her personal seals (such scene is quite unique for the Russian seals and is very rare for the Byzantine ones) can indicate some personal attitude of the elder daughter of Isaac II to the memory of the nun-empress Anna Dalassina which was honored as the ancestor of all the Comnenos and the Angelos at the Byzantine court.
It is thanks to Euphrosine of Galich that several famous Christian relics of both liturgical and political (as the insignia of power) significance appeared in Galich and Volynian Rus'. First of all it was the reliquary cross with the particle of Holy Cross which is kept in Our Lady's of Paris. «Crowned Manuel Comnenos» is ought to be identified with Manuel I.
The creating of the Galich Aprakos Gospel of the beginning of the 13th c. (now in the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow) is also connected with Euphrosine of Galich. The miniatures and ornaments illuminating the manuscript are considered to be some of the best examples of the Russian artistic bookwork.
The influence of great princess Euphrosine explains the appearance of unusual and unique Christian names among the Galich and Volynian Rurikides. First of all it is the name «Daniel», which was adopted by the Moscow princes afterwards. This name became in use thanks to the spreading of the cult of Daniel Stylites and rising of the interest in the attributes of stylites which can be seen in sigillography and in the numerous architectural monuments of Galich and Volyn of the 13th — beginning of the 14th c. as well. Thanks to the family links of the Galich and Volyn princes and their Vladimir Suzdalsky this cult spread in the North- East of Rus' and then in Moscow.
Euphrosine being the daughter of Isaac II the interest in the stylites increased among the princes. According to Niceta Choniate emperor Isaac showed hot love and especially protected the stylites and the hermits astonishing the contemporaries, because since the times of iconoclasm stylites lost their previous influence on the emperors and their movement declined.
Byzantine hagiographical tradition on St. Daniel Stylites and emperor Leo the Great explains the connection of the names Daniel and Lev (Leo) among the descendants of Roman Mstislavich and Euphrosine. Daniel Stylites was the spiritual father and the main councilor of emperor Leo I. It seems as if this circumstance reflected in the pair of names of the Galich princes: father and son — Daniel Romanovich and Lev Daniilovich.
The name of prince Iraclii (Hercules) Daniilovich is connected with cult of the Holy Cross. Though the Byzantine emperor Hercules I who returned the main Christian relic the Holy Cross from the Persian captivity hadn't been canonized by the Chuch his memory was worshiped both in the East and in the West. The special interest in Hercules marked the Crusade epoch in Europe, when his name became the symbol of liberating and the defense of Holy Land and thus impressed in numerous monuments of art and literature and in the names of Patriarchs of Jerusalem also.
Together with the untypical for the Rurikides «Byzantine» names of the Galich princes the political and cultural inheritance of Roman Mstislavich displayed in some attributes and symbols of the imperial power. First of all it is the double-headed eagle known from the descriptions of the monumental sculptures and the information about the territorial symbols of Galich and Volynian Rus'. Depicting the appearance of Daniel the chronicler witnesses the unusual case of bearing «Greek olovir». This special term meant «real» or «imperial» purple.
The external attributes of the imperial dignity corresponded to the imperial title of the Princes of Galich and Volyn. Using the title «tsar» and «autorcator» and the derivates towards the princes of Galich and Volyn is seen in the numerous literary sources all the 13th c. along. The features of the Byzantine emperor are evidently shown in the political activity of Roman Mstislavich and his descendants. First of all it is seen in their attempts to enlarge their powers according to the idea of the imperial (that of Basileus) power, in their claims of the investments of the bishops, in their choice of the instruments of the political struggle.
To begin with Roman Mstislavich the princes of Galich and Volyn took permanent care of giving their power sacral air through gathering highly worshiped Christian relics. Byzantine emperors conducting such a policy for many centuries collected almost all known relics of the Christian East in Constantinople. The Byzantine capital having been plundered many European monarchs thought about «translatio imperii» (the translation of the Empire) through acquisition and translating the Constantinople relics to their capitals. The Moscow Great Princes and the Tsars continued this practice for centuries afterwards.
The seizure of Constantinople by the crusaders was reflected in «the Tale of capture of Tsar-grad by the Franks». Dobrynya Yadreycovich, boyarin of Novgorod and the future archbishop of Novgorod, is thought to be the most probable author of the text. Closely connected with Roman Mstislavich, the prince of Galich and Volyn, Dobryanya was sent by him to Constantinople, where he spent several years and saw the devastation of the Byzantine capital in April, 1204. It was the tense connection with the prince of Galich and Volyn that appeared in Dobryanya's attention to the prince's in-law, the German king Philip the Schwab, who had played a role in the organization of the Fourth Crusade. Dobrynya could have been informed by one of the king's partisans archbishop of Salzburg Conrad von Krosig who took part in the siege of Constantinople in 1203—1204.
The Byzantine heritage of Roman Mstislavich and «great princess» Euphrosine-Ann displayed in their sons' and grand-sons' foreign policy. It appeared first of all in the struggle for Austria led by Daniel Romanovich and his son Roman's attempt to seize the throne of the dukes of Austria in 1252—1253. The princes of Galich and Volyn were among the main claimants to the «Austrian heritage» thanks to their relationship with the Babenbergs by the distaff side: Euphrosine was a cousin of Duchess of Austria Theodora Angelina, and the childless Duke Frederick II the Quarrelsome was the cousin of Daniel.
The Austrian knot of Galician prince's foreign police could have got tied in the late 1230s already, when Frederick the Quarrelsome was actually deprived of power by the German Emperor Frederick II. At first Daniel Romanovich intended to support his Austrian relative, but after meeting the Emperor Frederick II in Vienna in spring of 1237 turned to his side. He was given a pecuniary award of 500 silver marks and the title of king of Rus' (rex Russiae) for that.
The union with Bela IV, King of Hungary, brought Daniel of Galich to the enemies of Frederick Babenberg. There are many reasons to suggest Daniel to take part at the king's side in the battle on the Leita river, where Frederick perished. Moreover, the prince of Galich could have had personal attitude to the death of the Duke who fell in the fight with a «king of Rus'». According to one version Frederick the Quarrelsome perished due to Count Henry von Hassbach who afterwards helped Daniel's son Roman to take hold of the throne of Austria. The Romanovichi could have broken with Frederick because of his hard conflict with his own mother Theodora Angelina who sought for the shelter at her foreign relatives.
The fight for the «Austrian heritage» is directly connected with the coronation of Daniel of Galich by the Pope Innocent IV. Some friendship of Daniel with the Apostolic Siege began in 1246—1248 already because of the Pope's promises to back the Romanovichi's claim for Austria which was announced in his messages and through the archbishop of Salzburg Philip von Schpangeim at the negotiations in Pressburg. It developed in 1252—1253 with the mediation of the king of Hungary Bela IV, who also aimed at the share of the «Austrian heritage».
At the same time the Byzantine factor continued to play a great role in the Romanovichi's foreign policy. Daniel's coronation and the negotiations about the Church Union with Rome went on at the background of the wider political process initiated by the Pope Innocent IV and the Emperor of Nikea Johm III Vataz. The authorities of Nikea agreed to admit the superiority of the Pope in the Church affairs and subordinate to him the Orthodox clergy in exchange for the return of Constantinople to the Greeks.
The interests of Nikea were pursued in Galich and Volyn still by Daniel's mother Euphrosine-Ann. The union of the mightiest prince of Rus' with Rome was profitable for that time Nicean rulers since it helped to achieve their own political aims. The denial of the new Emperor of Nikea Theodore II Laskaris to cede to the Pope together with his decision to take Constantinople by led to the immediate break of the princes of Galich and Volyn with Rome.
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