Vladimir-Volynsky

Who holds it

Name

Roman Mstislavich, prince of Vladimir and Galich

Title

Prince of Vladimir

Since

1170

Confidence

high

Lord in 1200

Prince Roman Mstislavich (since 1170); a governor in his absences is not named.

How things stand that morning

Held directly by Roman; its boyars and townsmen are loyal to his house (they will defend his widow and sons after 1205).

Charter

No written charter: towns of Rus' held no chartered privileges in 1200; the townsmen acted through their assembly (veche) and their elders.

Council

The veche of the Vladimir townsmen; the bishop of Vladimir (bishop in 1200 not pinned).

Communities

Not pinned for 1200. In 1288 the Galician-Volhynian chronicle names Germans, merchants of Surozh (Sudak), Novgorodians and Jews mourning Prince Vladimir Vasilkovich in this town.

Fairs and markets

None recorded.

Militia

The town host; Roman's retinue.

Walls and castle

The fortress (detinets) is a great earthwork ring with timber walls (the surviving Valy); the trading quarter lies round it; the stone Dormition cathedral (1160); no stone walls.

Trade and crafts

The Kiev to Kraków road; the Bug river trade to the Vistula; furs, wax, honey, grain and slaves; local crafts.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Well attested as Roman's capital; officers and townsmen for 1200 unnamed.

Primary sources for Roman's Galicia and Volhynia

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• The Hypatian Chronicle (the Kievan Chronicle compiled about 1200 at the Vydubichi monastery; the Galician-Volhynian Chronicle in the 13th century). The southern record. Read online
• Chronicle of the Poles, by Master Vincent (Wincenty Kadłubek), Wincenty Kadłubek (about 1190 to 1208). Book 4 is a contemporary's account of the fight for the senior throne of Kraków. Read online
• The Deeds of the Hungarians, by the Anonymous Notary of King Béla, Anonymus (P. magister) (about 1200 to 1210, the date disputed). Not a record of events but a picture of the kingdom's nobility and geography as a courtier of about 1200 wished to see it: the clans and their lands, the castles and counties, the Vlachs, Cumans and other peoples of the Carpathian basin, all projected back onto the conquest. Read online
• The Tale of Igor's Campaign (about 1187 to 1200 (disputed)). A poem on Igor Sviatoslavich's defeat by the Polovtsians in 1185 that addresses the princes of the day by name: Vsevolod of Vladimir, Rurik and David Rostislavich, Yaroslav of Galich, Roman of Volhynia and the Olgovichi of Chernigov, of whom Igor himself was prince from 1198. Read online