Roman II Igorevich

Roman II Igorevich (1177/1179 – September 1211) was a Rus' prince (a member of the Rurik dynasty). He was prince of Zvenigorod (1206–1208, 1210–1211), and of Halych (1208, 1208–1209).

His life

Vladimir was the youngest son of prince Igor Svyatoslavich of Putivl, by his wife (possibly Evfrosinia Yaroslavna), a daughter of prince Yaroslav Volodimerovich of Halych.

In 1206, the infant prince Daniil Romanovich of Halych fled to his patrimony of Volodymyr-Volynskyi when grand prince Vsevolod IV Svyatoslavich of Kiev organized a campaign against Halych. Shortly afterwards, the Galicians asked Roman’s brother Vladimir Igorevich to rule Halych. On receiving the information, Vladimir Igorevich rode to Halych, and occupied it. At the same time, Roman went to Zvenigorod. Both Roman and his brothers had blood ties to the extinct dynasty of Halych whose last member prince Vladimir II Yaroslavich of Halych (who had died in 1198) was their maternal uncle.

In 1206, their third brother Svyatoslav Igorevich was taken captive by duke Leszek I of Cracow. In 1208, Roman and his brother Vladimir Igorevich quarreled; Roman rode to the Hungarians and with their help defeated his elder brother. Roman therefore occupied Halych forcing his brother flee to Putivl.

On September 4, Rostislav Rurikovich, the son of grand prince Rurik Rostislavich of Kiev, occupied Halych and the townsmen drove out Roman. However, Rostislav Rurikovich’s father probably died soon after that date, and the Galicians expelled him and installed Roman with his brother. Since Roman had usurped power from his elder brother, Vladimir Igorevich, we may assume that he ruled with his younger brother Svyatoslav Igorevich who had returned from captivity.

In 1209, after king Andrew II of Hungary learnt of the “lawlessness and revolt” of the Galicians, he dispatched Benedek (the Voivode of Transylvania) against Halych. Voivode Benedek captured the town and took Roman captive while he was washing in the bathhouse and carted him off to Hungary. Andrew II refused to appoint a prince to Halych; the atrocities the Hungarian troops inflicted on the Galicians suggest that the king wished to avenge himself on them for breaking their promise. Voivode Benedek tormented the people, and he and his men also gave vent to their lust by defiling married women, nuns, and the wives of priests.

Sometime in the early part of 1210, it seems, Roman escaped from Hungary. He evidently returned to Putivl. Shortly afterwards, the Galicians sent messengers to the three brothers admitting that they had sinned against them and begging them to save Halych from the tormentor. The three brothers set out against Benedek and drove out him from Halych. They evidently returned to the same towns that they had ruled before their quarrel.

According to the chronicler, the three brothers conspired to do away with the Galician boyars and, as chance presented itself, killed some 500 of them. They were also accused of plundering the boyars’ estates, of handing over their daughters to marry slaves, and of giving their patrimonies to outsiders from the Chernigov lands. Because a faction of boyars championed Daniil Romanovich’s return, the three brothers undoubtedly removed the hostile boyars from their domains and replaced them with Chernigov druzhinniki and loyal Galicians. Because of these outrages, some boyars fled to Hungary and beseeched king Andrew II to let them have Daniil Romanovich and to help them seize Halych. The king answered their pleas by dispatching a great force with the young prince.

Significantly, Daniil Romanovich’s attacking forces were made up mostly of non-Galicians: except for the boyars who organized the revolt, the troops backing them constituted the Hungarians, the Poles, and the princes of Volhynia. Vladimir Igorevich dispatched his son Izyaslav Vladimirovich to bring the Cumans. After the nomads routed the Hungarians besieging Zvenigorod, Roman Igorevich rode out to seek help from Kiev. While passing by the hostile town of Shumsk, enemy soldiers captured him and handed him over to Daniil Romanovich. After Vladimir Igorevich had fled from Halych, the boyars of Volodymyr-Volynskyi and Halych, along with the Hungarians, installed Daniil Romanovich on the throne.

The Hungarians proposed to take Roman, his brother Svyatoslav Igorevich and a certain Rostislav (who may have been Roman’s son) that they had taken captive to the king. But the Galicians bribed the commanders to turn over the captives to them. In September, the Galicians hanged the three princes.

Sources

• Benda, Kálmán (General Editor): Magyarország történeti kronológiája - A kezdetektől 1526-ig /A Historical Chronology of Hungary - From the Beginnings to 1526/; Akadémiai Kiadó, 1981, Budapest; ISBN963-05-2661-1 (the part of the book which describes the events of the period from 1197 to 1309 was written by László Solymosi).
• Dimnik, Martin: The Dynasty of Chernigov - 1146-1246; Cambridge University Press, 2003, Cambridge; ISBN 978-0521-03981-9.

Preceded by (part of the Principality of Halych)	Prince of Zvenigorod 1206–1208	Succeeded by (part of the Principality of Halych)
Preceded by Vladimir III Igorevich	Prince of Halych 1208	Succeeded by Rostislav I Rurikovich
Preceded by Rostislav I Rurikovich	Prince of Halych 1208–1209	Succeeded by Andrew I
Preceded by (part of the Principality of Halych)	Prince of Zvenigorod 1210–1211	Succeeded by (part of the Principality of Halych)