Principality of Minsk

Geography

The principality originally occupied territories around the Drut, Svislach and Berezina river basins. Besides the capital city of Minsk, other population centers in the principality included Barysaw, Lahojsk, Zaslawye, Orsha and the historical town of Drutsk.

History

The area around Minsk was controlled by the Principality of Polotsk beginning from the 10th century. Following the death of Vseslav of Polotsk in 1101, Polotsk was divided into six smaller principalities each to be inherited by one of his six surviving sons. Vseslav's second born son, Gleb Vseslavich inherited the lands surrounding Minsk and started the Minsk branch of the princes of Polotsk.

Almost immediately following his father's death, Gleb started a war against his brothers Davyd, prince of Polotsk and Roman, prince of Drutsk to expand his territory. In 1106, he had partaken in a raid against the Baltic tribes in Semigallia. In 1116, he started a war with Vladimir II Monomakh of the Principality of Kiev and sacked the town of Slutsk. In retaliation, Vladimir marched towards Minsk and laid a two-month siege; Gleb sent peace envoys to the enemy camp and agreed to a peace treaty on the condition of good behavior on his part. Nevertheless, Gleb resumed his hostilities in 1117, attacking Smolensk. Vladimir Monomakh sent his son Mstislav to Minsk with another large army, besieging and taking Minsk, and bringing Gleb to Kiev as prisoner, where he died in September 1119.

Thereafter, the principality of Minsk fell under Kievan influence, with Gleb's widow, Princess Yaropolkovna of Minsk, most likely reigning after him for 40 years until 1158, as reported in the Kievan Chronicle. One year after her death, her son Volodar Glebovich is mentioned as the prince of Minsk for the first time. Volodar and his descendants would fight wars with the princes of Drutsk and Vitebsk. This period saw the principality's relationship with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania grow, and in 1164, Volodar with the help of the Lithuanians, won a battle against the prince of Polotsk, which affirmed the principality's independence from Polotsk.

In the 13th century, the influence of Lithuanian princes grew and the princes of Minsk were virtually vassals of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Minsk escaped the Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus' in 1237–1239. However, in later years it was attacked by nomadic invaders from the Golden Horde, who ravaged and vassalized many principalities to the south. In 1242, Minsk was annexed by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In 1249, a combined Minsk and Lithuanian army repelled a Tatar-Mongol invasion.

The city of Minsk oversaw periods of growth and prosperity during Lithuanian reign and many local nobles enjoyed high ranking in the society of the Grand Duchy. For instance, in 1326, a treaty between Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the city of Novgorod was signed for Lithuanian Prince Gediminas by Vasily, the then ruler of Minsk.

In 1413, when the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland signed the Union of Horodło, the Principality of Minsk ceased to exist and the city became the center of the newly created Minsk Voivodeship.

References

Bibliography

Primary sources

• Kievan Chronicle ( 1200)
  • (Church Slavonic critical edition)
  • (modern English translation)
  • (modern Ukrainian translation) — A modern annotated Ukrainian translation of the Kievan Chronicle based on the Hypatian Codex with comments from the Khlebnikov Codex.

Literature

• {{cite book | access-date = 14 September 2018
• Edited by Donald Ostrowski and Christian Raffensperger.