PRINCE DANYLO ROMANOVYCH AND HUNGARIAN KINGS 1205–1235 (IN RESPONSE TO VOLODYMYR ALEXANDROVYCH) PART 1

Abstract

The current article is a response to a number of publications by Volodymyr Alexandrovych during 2015–2019, aimed at denying the dependence of Prince Danylo Romanovych on the Árpáds at various stages of his relations with the Hungarian kings Andrew II and Bela IV. By the careful analysis of works of the mentioned Lviv professor, the authors demonstrate the falsity of his methodological approaches, professional miscaunts and detections of subjective personal hostility to the criticized opponents. The verification of not all the source evidences involved by Volodymyr Alexandrovych in his own argumentation reproduces the stages of step-by-step (by the will of Roman Mstyslavovich’s widow) falling of young Danylo into dependence on King Andrew II in 1205–1206/7, which had been establishing de jure and de facto since the meeting in Sanok of the king in with the widow of the Rus’ian ruler, who died near Zavykhost on June 19, until the final voluntary relocation of Prince Danylo to the court of the Árpáds in the winter of 1206/7 at the latest. During the allotted time, Danylo’s mother evidently more than once  asked Andrew II for military assistance against the hostile neighboring dynasties, granting of which resulted the king’s use of the title “Galiciae Lodomeriaequae Rex” with relevant subsequent political practices since 1206 at the latest (by default, since the end of 1205) and at least seven times during only that year. The Hungarian ruler had used the acquired title until 1235, having passed it on to his eldest son Bela, without renouncing it in 1210 (or 1211), by the way, when he installed the young Danylo on the Galician throne on his own. The outlined model of relations with the Romanids obviously stemmed from the uncertainty of their position in the homeland, due to the problematic (from a canonical point of view) origin. Instead, the Árpád dynasty, having taken the young Prince Danylo under his tutelage and patronage, pursued a policy toward the lands of his late father that was entirely consistent with the other Balkan neighbors of the late 11^th  – the early 13^th centuries, a part of whose lands were de facto controlled by Hungarian kings with corresponding changes in the titles of the latters.

Keywords: Volodymyr Alexandrowych, the Árpád dynasty, Romanids, Prince Danylo, the king Andrew II, Roman Mstyslavovych, Galiciae Lodomeriaequae Rex.