Principality of Halych

The Principality of Halych, also called the Principality of Galicia, was a medieval East Slavic state in the southwestern lands of Kievan Rus'. It took shape in the early twelfth century around the city of Halych on the Dniester, where a branch of the Rurikid dynasty established a separate principality. The traditional date is 1124, when Rostislav Vladimirovich made Halych his capital. The principality controlled important trade routes between Kiev, Hungary, Poland and the Black Sea, and its salt deposits added to its wealth. Power was shared uneasily between the princes and a strong boyar elite, whose influence could make or unmake rulers; this aristocratic strength distinguished Halych from many other Rus' principalities. Its most famous ruler, Yaroslav Osmomysl, expanded the state and maintained an independent foreign policy. After a period of dynastic conflict, Roman Mstislavich, prince of Volhynia, took Halych in 1199 and joined the two lands into the principality of Galicia–Volhynia, which became a major power in the region until the fourteenth century.