Battle on the Irpin River

Coordinates: 50°23′N 30°13′E / 50.383°N 30.217°E / 50.383; 30.217
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
(Redirected from
Stanislav of Kyiv
)
Battle on the Irpin River
DateEarly 1320s
Irpin River
50°23′N 30°13′E / 50.383°N 30.217°E / 50.383; 30.217
Result Lithuanian victory
Belligerents
Grand Duchy of Lithuania Kiev Principality
Commanders and leaders
Gediminas
Stanislav of Kiev
Oleg of Pereyaslavl 
Roman of Bryansk
Leo II of Galicia 

The Battle on the Irpin River was a semi-legendary battle between the armies of the

Kiev. There are no contemporary sources attesting to the battle. It is known only from late and generally unreliable Lithuanian Chronicles. Therefore, historians disagree whether it was an actual battle in the early 1320s[nb 1] or a fictional story invented by later scribes. Lithuanians gained full control of the city only in 1362 after the Battle of Blue Waters against the Golden Horde.[1]

Account in the Lithuanian Chronicles

As told by the

Alšėniškiai family, was installed in Kyiv as Gediminas' viceroy.[5]

Analysis

The Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia (1245–1349)

Information about the Lithuanian conquest comes from generally confused and unreliable Lithuanian Chronicles (second and third redaction) and Ukrainian (Gustynskaia Chronicle) produced many years after the events. No contemporary sources directly corroborate the story. In the 1880s, Ukrainian historian Volodymyr Antonovych was the first to critically evaluate the chronicles and dismiss the campaign and battle as fiction.[6] However, after careful analysis, modern historians believe that Antonovich was too critical and that there is some truth to the story.[6]

Political situation

The Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia attracted Gediminas' attention early on; he attacked Brest in 1315 and arranged a marriage between his son Liubartas and Euphemia, daughter of Andrew of Galicia.[7] After the attack in 1315, the Principality allied with the Teutonic Order, a long-standing Lithuanian enemy. A link between this alliance and the Lithuanian attack was suggested by Bronisław Włodarski.[7] Galicia–Volhynia was also a rich land and offered access further south to Kyiv. Letters of Gediminas from 1323 would suggest that commercial rivalry was a contributing factor in the attack.[3] There were no known attacks by the Teutonic Knights on Lithuania between July 1320 and March 1322, which could indicate the peace mentioned in the chronicle.[8] There was an attack on Lithuania by the Golden Horde in 1325; historians Feliks Shabuldo and Romas Batūra interpreted it as a direct reprisal for the Lithuanian expansion.[9] The Lithuanian takeover of Cherkasy, Kaniv, Putyvl probably refers to a campaign led by Vytautas in 1392.[10]

It is known that brothers Andrew and Leo of Galicia–Volhynia died sometime between May 1321 and May 1323.

Władysław I the Elbow-high lamented that the death of Andrew and Leo left Poland vulnerable to an attack from the Golden Horde and made no mention of the Lithuania aggression.[12]

Personal names

Names recorded in the Chronicle are often confused. The Chronicle mentions Prince Vladimir of Volodymyr. No such prince was known at the time of Gediminas' reign; the last Prince Vladimir III Ivan Vasilkovich died in 1289.

patronymic name with the first name of a more famous predecessor.[14] There is no evidence to prove or disprove whether Leo and Dmitry Romanovich were brothers-in-law. Historians had suggested that the three names were borrowed from an earlier campaign: the Hypatian Codex recorded a 1274 battle between the Lithuanians and Vladimir of Volodymyr, Leo I of Galicia, and Roman of Chernihiv and Bryansk at Drahichyn.[14] However, historian S. C. Rowell found no other textual similarities between the 1274 battle in the Codex and the 1320s campaign in the Lithuanian Chronicles.[14]

Nothing can be said about Oleg of Pereyaslavl as nothing is known on princes of Pereyaslavl after its devastation in 1240 during the

Mongol invasion of Rus'.[15] Stanislav of Kyiv is not found in any other sources and cannot be easily explained as an error. The Chronicles mention that he escaped to the Principality of Ryazan where he married a daughter of the local prince and succeeded to the throne.[3] That contradicts known facts that Ivan Yaroslavich of Ryazan was succeeded by his son Ivan Ivanovich Korotopol in 1327.[15] S. C. Rowell found a mention of Ioann Stanislavich who, Rowell extrapolated, could have been a prince of Vyazma and son of Stanislav of Kyiv (Stanislav is not a common name among East Slavs).[14] The genealogy of the Shilovskys (ru:Шиловские), a boyar family from Ryazan, mentioned that they fled Kyiv with Stanislav. If nothing else, this mention in the genealogy proves that the story of the Battle on the Irpin River well predates the chronicles.[15]

Algimantas, son of Mindaugas from the

basqaq (tax collector), and fifty warriors.[17] In 1916, new evidence was published that Fiodor was a brother of Gediminas[17] and historians reinterpreted that the 1331 incident shows that Fiodor was still paying a tribute to the Mongols.[18] Lithuanians gained full control of the city only in 1362 after the Battle of Blue Waters against the Golden Horde.[1]

Notes

  1. ^ a b Historians disagree on exact dating: Maciej Stryjkowski provided 1320/21, Aleksandr Ivanovich Rogov argued for 1322, C. S. Rowell for 1323, Feliks Shabuldo for 1324, Romas Batūra for 1325 (Rowell (1994), p. 984).

References

In-line
  1. ^ a b Rowell (2000), p. 707
  2. ^ a b Rowell (1994), p. 307
  3. ^ a b c d Rowell (1994), p. 97
  4. ^ Rowell (1994), pp. 307–308
  5. ^ Rowell (1994), p. 308
  6. ^ a b c d Rowell (1994), p. 101
  7. ^ a b Rowell (1994), p. 94
  8. ^ a b c Rowell (1994), p. 95
  9. ^ Rowell (1994), p. 98
  10. ^ Rowell (1994), p. 105
  11. ^ Rowell (1994), p. 99
  12. ^ a b Baronas (2011), p. 457
  13. ^ Rowell (1994), pp. 101–102
  14. ^ a b c d Rowell (1994), p. 102
  15. ^ a b c Rowell (1994), p. 103
  16. ^ Rowell (1994), pp. 103–104
  17. ^ a b c d Rowell (1994), p. 104
  18. ^ Sužiedėlis (1970–1978), pp. 446–447
Bibliography
  • Baronas, Darius (2011). "Ekspansijos Rusioje potvyniai ir atoslūgiai". In Dubonis, Artūras (ed.). Lietuvos istorija. XIII a. – 1385 m. valstybės iškilimas tarp rytų ir vakarų (in Lithuanian). Vol. III. Baltos lankos. .
  • Rowell, S. C. (1994). Lithuania Ascending: A Pagan Empire Within East-Central Europe, 1295-1345. Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought: Fourth Series. Cambridge University Press. .
  • Rowell, S. C. (2000). "Baltic Europe". In Michael Jones (ed.). The New Cambridge Medieval History c.1300–c.1415. Vol. VI. Cambridge University Press. .
  • Sužiedėlis, Simas, ed. (1970–1978). "Theodore". .