Abstract: Historical Galician land (земля Галичкая) during the 10th – 14th centuries remained the permanent intersection of civilizational influences that determined the ethnic background of the region, political orientations of the elites and local identity. For a long time since the end of the 11th century the local thrones were occupied by various branches of the Rurikids (the Rostislavovids and the Romanids), the bearers (with an official Orthodox Church support) of the concepts of “Rus’” and the “Rusyns” in the politics and language. The presence of the Ruthenian princes in Galich (Halych) consolidated the perception of the region at the inter-dynasty level as a part of the “Ruthenian world”. However, the local definition of the inhabitants as the Galicians (it is known as a separate term terminus post quem 1138) and their homeland as Galicia (Galician land), which had been known since 1152, allowed to coexist, periodically to conflict and systematically to “fight” with “Ruthenian” definition in the ideological and often military-political spheres. Only before the final inclusion of Galicia to the possessions of the Romanids dynasty, “Russification” (“Ruthenization”) of this region (included to the uninstitutionalizated Kingdom of Rus’ – Regnum Russiae) began after 1253. Hence, the Ruthenian identifications became stronger than Galician, influencing the perception of the Galician past and historical research during the 19th – beginning of the 20th century.

Authors: Voloshchuk, Myroslav

DOI: 10.17846/CL.2021.14.2.37-50

Publication order reference: prof. dr. hab. Myroslav Voloshchuk; Vasyl’ Stefanyk Precarpathian National University, Faculty of History, Political Science and International Relations, Department of World History, Centrum Studiorum Mediaevalium, Shevchenko St., 57, 76018 Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine; email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; ORCID: 0000-0002-1737-7205, Scopus Author ID: 57200183525, WoS Researcher ID: AAS-4803-2021

Source: Konštatínove listy, 2021, vol.: 14, issue: 2, pages: 37-50 (PDF file)

Keywords: THE RURIKIDS, THE ROSTISLAVOVIDS AND THE ROMANIDS, RUS’, REGNUM RUSSIAE, GALICIA (GALICIAN LAND), TERMINOLOGY

Language: ENGLISH