Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia

The Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia was the western heir of Kievan Rus, a medieval state in what is now Ukraine that lasted from 1199 to 1349. At the turn of the thirteenth century Roman the Great joined the principalities of Galicia and Volhynia into one realm, among the three great powers born from the wreck of Kiev. The Mongol storm of 1239–1241 broke its strength: Prince Daniel bent the knee to Batu Khan of the Golden Horde in 1246, then spent his reign seeking a way out, courting the Pope and Hungary for an anti-Mongol alliance. In 1253 a papal legate crowned him King of Ruthenia, the first Ruthenian crown recognised by Rome, but no crusade ever came and the tribute to the khans continued. The kingdom's princes ruled weakly over strong boyars, and after the native line died out, neighbours closed in. In 1349 Casimir the Great of Poland seized Galicia, ending both the Mongol overlordship and the kingdom's independence; the land became the Ruthenian Voivodeship of Poland, keeping its laws for a century before they too were extinguished.