Principality of Volhynia

The Principality of Volhynia was a western principality of Kievan Rus, founded around 987 by the Rurikid prince Vsevolod and named after the historic region of Volhynia, which now lies across the borders of Ukraine, Belarus and Poland. Its capital and largest city was Volodymyr, also called Lodomeria in Latin sources; other centres included Lutsk, Kremenets, Brest, Belz and Dorogobuzh. In the late eleventh century the land was held by the Izyaslavichi, who ruled it alongside Turov until they lost that city in 1105. After 1154 the state was often styled the Principality of Volodymyr, and the separate Principality of Lutsk was carved out of it. The principality was repeatedly contested between rival branches of the Rurikids and local boyars, and several attempts by the grand princes of Kiev to reassert control were defeated. In 1199 Prince Roman the Great of Volhynia inherited Halych after its ruling line died out and united the two lands into the Kingdom of Galicia-Volhynia, moving his seat west. Volhynia remained a distinct administrative unit within that realm almost to the middle of the fifteenth century, when the last appanage principality disappeared amid the Lithuanian civil wars.