“Idosha ko batyevi”: The “Horde” diplomacy by Daniel and Vasylko Romanovych in the 1240-50s

Abstract

The article discusses the controversial issues of diplomatic contacts of the Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia with representatives of the Ulus of Jochi ruling elite and attempts to trace the dynamics of changes in the administrative and political status of Galicia– Volhynia in the state system of the Mongolian Empire and the Jochi Ulus (Horde) in the 1240-50s. Based on a comparative historical analysis of the Russian chronicles, as well as the information from some European and Muslim sources, the author concludes that the relations of the Romanovichi with the Jochids were of a multi-level nature and included both diplomatic contacts and military conflicts (the so-called “Tatar” or “Kuremsa” army) and military and political pressure actions (Burundai’s campaigns). As a result, the late 1250s saw a final formalization of the vassal-tributary dependence of Galicia–Volhynia on the Jochi dynasty, with the participation of the Romanovich squads in the military activities of the Mongols against the Eastern European states (the Kingdom of Hungary, the Principality of Lithuania, the principalities of Southern Poland).