Place · polity

Galicia-Volhynia

Wikipedia point

What the sources say here: 3 passages

Cities Volodymyr (Vladimir-Volynskii)1259 to 1260 (6768 to 6769)

Burundai: 'tear down all your town walls'

Editorial contextThe Tatar general Burundai arrived in Volhynia during a princely wedding and told the princes: if you are at peace with me, raze your towns. Lev dismantled Danilov and Stozhek and then Lviv; Vasilko razed Kremenets and Lutsk. Vladimir-in-Volhynia was too big to pull down quickly, so Vasilko had it burned overnight, and next day Burundai came to see it burned 'with his own eyes' and dined with the prince.

'If you are at peace with me, then tear down all your towns.' Lev tore down Danilov and Stozhek, and from there he sent and tore down Lviv, and Vasilko sent and tore down Kremenets and Lutsk.
Working translation
Original wording
«оже есте мои мирници, розмечѣте же городы своѣ всѣ.» Левъ розмета Даниловъ, и Стожекъ, оттолѣ же пославъ Лвовъ розмета, а Василко пославъ Кремянець розмета и Луческъ.

Hypatian Chronicle, PSRL vol. 2 (1843), quoting Burundai

See the original page (p. 198)

About Burundai, Tatar general; Princes Vasilko and Lev

Keep in mind

'Razing' here means pulling down fortifications (walls and ramparts), not whole towns.

Continue in this sourceThe Hypatian Chronicle: Kiev, Galicia and the Horde852 to 1292 · 13 passages

Cities Volhynia1240 to 1241

Twelve catapults at Kolodiazhin, and a town Batu could not take

Editorial contextAfter Kiev, Batu marched into Volhynia. At Kolodiazhin he set up twelve siege engines but could not break the wall, so he talked the defenders into surrendering and then killed them. Kremenets, Daniil's town, he judged impossible to take and left alone. Vladimir-in-Volhynia was stormed and its people slaughtered. The passage shows that walls and position still mattered against the Mongols.

he came to the town of Kolodiazhin, and set up 12 siege engines and could not break the wall, and began to talk the people over; they, heeding his evil counsel, surrendered and were themselves slaughtered. … and seeing Daniil's town of Kremenets, that it was impossible for him to take it, he went away from them
Working translation
Original wording
приде къ городу Колодяжьну, и постави порока 12 и не може разбити стѣны, и начатъ перемолвливати люди; они же, послушавше злого съвѣта его, передашася и сами избити быша. … видивъ же Кремянець градъ Даниловъ, яко невозможно пріяти ему, и отъиде отъ нихъ

Hypatian Chronicle, PSRL vol. 2 (1843)

See the original page (p. 178)

About Tatars (Mongols under Batu); towns of Prince Daniil of Galicia

Continue in this sourceThe Hypatian Chronicle: Kiev, Galicia and the Horde852 to 1292 · 13 passages

Strange tales LutskAbout 1255 to 1259

The wind that turned the catapult stones back

Editorial contextWhen Kuremsa's Tatars attacked the unfortified town of Lutsk in a winter flood, the townsmen cut the bridge. Kuremsa set up siege engines, but, says the chronicler, God, St John and St Nicholas worked a miracle: the wind blew the stones back onto the Tatars, and then the sling of the engine broke. The Tatars went back to their camp in the steppe.

But God worked a miracle, and St John and St Nicholas: there was such a wind that when the engine threw, the wind turned the stone back upon them; and again, as they hurled hard, by the power of God their sling broke, and having achieved nothing they went back to their camps, that is, to the steppe.
Working translation
Original wording
Богъ же чюдо створи, и святый Иванъ, и святый Никола, вѣтру же таку бывшу, яко порокомъ вергшу вѣтръ же обращаше камень на нѣ, пакы же мечющимъ на нѣ крѣпко изломися, Божіею силою, пракъ ихъ, и не успѣвше ничтоже вратишася во станы своя, рекше въ поле.

Hypatian Chronicle, PSRL vol. 2 (1843)

See the original page (p. 196)

About Tatars of the commander Kuremsa

Keep in mind

Told as a miracle; the wind may have been real, the saints' part is the chronicler's reading.

Continue in this sourceThe Hypatian Chronicle: Kiev, Galicia and the Horde852 to 1292 · 13 passages

1 source and maps name this place

1266–1299within a century
Hypatian Chronicle
WAnonymous Kievan and Galician-Volhynian chroniclerscompilationW163