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The Battle of Zawichost (1205) between Roman the Great of Halych-Volhynia and Leszek I the White of Lesser Poland is an event with rather contradictory accounts. While mentioned in several chronicles, the chroniclers agree only on the year, the opposing parties and that Roman with his force (druzhina) was ambushed and killed by the Poles in the vicinity of Zawichost by the Vistula (Visla) River.

Before the battle

The border between Lesser Poland and Ruthenia (Rus') was changing constantly at least since 11th century. As in early Middle Ages the area of what later became Galicia was scarcely populated, it was settled from two general directions: from the east by Ruthenians and by the Poles from the west. Because of that several border regions were changing hands quite frequently. This was true to the lands of Przemyśl, Sanok, Drohiczyn and Volodymyr-Volynskyi. The decline of Kievan Rus gave the rulers of Lesser Poland also competing for the area the upper hand. In 1199 an armed campaign led by Leszek the White helped to install Roman the Great on the throne in Volodymyr. However, the alliance was ended soon afterwards, for unknown reasons. In 1205 an army of the Volodymyr-Halych principality led by Roman himself invaded Poland.

Opposing forces

Ioannes Longinus in his Annals mentions that the Polish forces gathered by princes Leszek and Konrad consisted of forces of a wide variety of lands, including Sandomierz, Masovia and Cuyavia. However, the exact numbers of both sides are unknown. Although both Leszek I the White and his younger brother Konrad I of Masovia took part in the battle, the commander of the Polish forces was Krystyn, the voivod of Masovia.

Battle

Different historians and different chroniclers give contradictory accounts on the size of the opposing forces, the reason and the scale of Roman's campaign. Even the date of the skirmish is cited as June 19 or October 14, 1205, depending on the source.

Little is known of the battle itself. It is probable that Roman's forces were ambushed in the marshes around Zawichost. The defeated Ruthenians could not retreat as they were pushed back to the escarpment of Vistula river, where many of them died - including prince Roman.

According to the Suzdal Chronicle of the Laurentian Codex):

"The same year (1205)... Roman of Halych took on Poles and conquered cities. And stopped at the Vistula River with his small druzhina. Poles then attacked and killed him with the druzhina. And people from Halych came, took their dead prince and carried him to Halych and buried him in a church."

According to the later "Chronica Poloniae Maioris"):

"At this time Roman... refuses to pay the tribute to Leszek, bravely challenges him and with amassing the large force unexpectedly invades into the Polish lands. As Leszek found that out, he assembled a small troop rushed to meet him in Zawichost, fiercely attacks him, captures and defeats. Of the Ruthenians, that initially came arrogantly, many were wounded, very many killed with prince Roman, and the others, seeing tried to find the rescue escaping, and many pathetically ended their lives in the Vistula And so happened in 1205 AD."

It is difficult to understand how Roman, one of the greatest and most powerful Ruthenian princes, was in homage dependency to Leszek, a prince of the Lesser Poland, in order to refuse to pay the tribute at the first place. On the basis of Albert of Stade chronicles, some historians speculate that Roman could have been passing through Poland on his way to Saxony to assist Philip of Swabia, the son of Frederick Barbarossa, in the Philip's quest for the Emperor's Crown. On his way Roman was met by Leszek, who was allied with the Saxon Welfs against Frederick and wished to prevent the Ruthenian prince from reaching the Saxony.

References

1. Template:En icon Template:La icon Ioannes Longinus. Annales seu cronicae incliti Regni Poloniae / The Annals of Jan Dlugosz. ISBN 1901019004. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |chapterurl= and |coauthors= (help)
2. *Suzdal Chronicle Laurentian Codex
3. ^ Template:Ru icon V. L. IAnin; L. M. Popova, N. I. Shchaveleva, "Velikaia khronika" o Polshe, Rusi i ikh sosediakh, XI-XIII vv. (The Great Chronicle of Poland, Rus' and their negbours), Moscow, Moscow University, OCLC 22324865
4. Пашуто В. Т. Внешняя политика... — p. 165, OCLC 2728099; Щавелева Н. И. Древнерусские известия Великопольской хроники // Летописи и хроники. — М., 1976. — С. 59 — 62, ISBN 5884511353; Chronica Alberici Monachi Trium fontium / Ed. P. Scheffer — Boichorst // MGH. SS. — Hannoverae, 1874. — Т. XXIII. — P. 885; Wlodarski В. Polityka ruska Leszka Bialego. — Lwow, 1925. — S. 19 — 21).

• Dovidnyk z istoriï Ukraïny, 3-Volumes, Article "Roman Mstyslavych" (T.3), Kiev, 1993-1999, ISBN 5770751908 (t. 1), ISBN 5770785527 (t. 2), ISBN 9665042378 (t. 3).
• Roman Mstyslavych in Encyclopedia of Ukraine
• Roman Mstyslavych in Енциклопедія українознавства (Encyclopedia of Ukrainian studies), 3-volumes, Kiev, 1994, ISBN 5-7702-0554-7
• "Chronica Poloniae Maioris" (The Cronicle of Greater Poland), Chapter 31 (Russian translation available online)
• Ivan Kryp'yakevych, Halych Volynian principality, Kiev, 1984
• Suzdal Chronicle of Laurentian Codex (Original text "Тогож̑ лѣт̑ . ходиша кнѧзи Рѧзаньскъıӕ В на Половци и взѧша вежѣ ихъ ❙ Тогож̑ . лѣт̑ . Иде Романъ Галичьскъıи на Лѧхъı и взѧ . в҃ . города Лѧдьскаӕ . и ставшю же ѥму над Вислою рѣкою . и ѿѣха сам̑ в малѣ дружинѣ ѿ полку своѥго . Лѧхове же наѣхавше оубиша и . и дружину ѡколо ѥго избиша . приѣхавше же Галичане взѧша кнѧзѧ своѥго мр҃тва . и несоша и в Галичь . и положиша и въ цр҃кви ст҃ъıӕ Бц҃а")

• 1205
• Battles of Kievan Rus
• Battles of Poland
• Galicia (Central Europe)