Turov and Pinsk, Principality of
Substate | Defunct
1097 CE to 1300 CE
The Duchy of Turov and Pinsk is a medieval principality and important subdivision of Kievan Rus since the 10th century on the territory of modern southern Belarus and northern Ukraine.
Princes of Turov often serves as the Grand Princes of Rus early in 10th-11th centuries.
The principality's capital is Turov; other important cities are Pinsk, Mazyr Slutsk, Lutsk, Berestia, and Volodymyr.Until the 12th century, the principality is very closely associated with the principalities of Kiev and Volyn.
Later, for a short period until the Mongol invasion, it enjoys a wide degree of autonomy when it is annexed to the Kingdom of Rus.
In the 14th century, it becomes part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Ruthenia and Samogotia.
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The Great Crossroads
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The defeat at the Kalka River had left the Kievan principality at the mercy of invaders, but the Mongol forces had retreated, not to reappear for thirteen years, during which time the princes of Rus' have gone on quarreling and fighting as before, until they are startled by a new and much more formidable invading force.
The main Mongol force, headed by Jochi's sons, and their cousins, Möngke Khan and Güyük Khan, arrive at Ryazan in December 1237.
Ryazan refuses to surrender, and the Mongols sack it.
The Principality is completely overrun with almost the whole princely family killed and the capital completely destroyed; it will later be moved to another location.
Batu moves into central Russia in 1238 to subdue the Western Russian principalities.
Besieging Vladimir, he finally overruns it on February 8, 1238.
A great fire destroys thirty-two limestone buildings on the first day alone, while the family of Grand Prince Yuri II perishes in a church where they had sought refuge from the flames.
The grand prince himself manages to escape.
Yuri’, after the Mongols sack his capital, flees across the Volga northward to Yaroslavl', where he hastily musters an army.
He and his brothers then turn back toward Vladimir in hopes of relieving the city before the Mongols take it, but they are too late.
Yuri sends out a force of three thousand men under Dorozh to scout out the Mongols’ position; whereupon Dorozh returns saying that Yuri and his force are already surrounded.
As he tries to muster his forces, he is attacked by the Mongol force under Burundai and flees, but is overtaken on the Sit River and dies there along with his nephew, Prince Vsevolod of Yaroslavl'.
The battle marks the end of unified resistance to the Mongols and inaugurates two centuries of the Mongol domination of modern day-Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus.
Major cities such as Torzhok and …
…Kozel'sk are captured and burned.
Kozel'sk becomes famous when its seven-year-old prince Vasily, son of Titus, has to defend the town against the army of Batu Khan.
The latter dubs it an "evil town" because its citizens had been fighting the attackers for seven weeks in a row, killing around four thousand enemy soldiers during the siege.
The citizens of Kozel'sk are greatly outnumbered and almost all of them die in battle.
Yaroslav, following the battle death of his older brother, leaves Kiev for Vladimir, where he is crowned grand prince.
Some of the armed forces of Ryazan withdraw to unite with the Vladimir-Suzdal army and meet the forces of Batu Khan near Kolomna.
Batu advances toward Novgorod in 1239 but is forced to turn back after becoming bogged down in a muddy spring thaw.
He rests throughout the remainder of 1239 until fresh Mongol troops and horses replenish the heavy losses of the recent campaigns.
The Mongols and Turkic auxiliaries under Batu attack the Alans and the Cumans in the steppe to the north of the Black Sea in 1239, driving some two hundred thousand Cumans west of the Carpathian mountains.