Leshko, roused against Roman by Cane Legs, marched with Konrad, his brother, to attack him. Roman abandoned the siege and went to meet the two brothers. When he was encamped on the left of the Vistula, at Zavihvost, envoys came to him from Leshko, and a truce was agreed upon, pending a final arrangement and treaty. Supposing this truce to be genuine, Roman, taking no further thought about action or safety, went out one day from his camp to hunt with a small party. All at once he was surrounded, and, in a desperate struggle with men who would not take note of the truce, he fell, weapons in hand, with all his attendants. This was in 1205, on the day of Saints Gervasius and Protasius.
Leshko and his brother were so rejoiced at the unhoped-for deliverance, that in the Cracow cathedral they raised an altar to those two saints and made them their patrons. [[161]]
CHAPTER VII
PRINCE OF HUNGARY MADE KING OF GALITCH
When Roman’s death became known, Chermny, Prince of Chernigoff, set out for Kief. But the monk Rurik was in the city before him. Throwing off his habit, he ruled again in the ancient capital, replacing Rostislav, who left the throne to his father. Rurik and his allies, bound by old treaties, took fresh oaths, Rurik agreeing to give them certain towns near the capital, Bailgorod on the Ros, Torchesk, and Tropoli.
Meanwhile in Galitch there were disturbances, quarrels and uprisings. There was no end to dissensions among boyars, who rushed in from all sides, returning some from Hungary, and others from Poland. Roman’s former enemies tried to arm all men against the heirs of their late opponent. The youthful widow of Roman was left with two sons, Daniel, four years of age, and Vassilko, an infant. Though in 1205 the people of Galitch had proclaimed Daniel to be their prince, and had taken oath to him, it was impossible for a little boy, or those who had charge of him, to keep peace among quarreling factions which were threatening one another with bloodshed. At this difficult juncture, the widow sought audience of Andrei of Hungary, who had just received the Hungarian crown so long withheld from him. This was the same Andrei who had once ruled in Galitch, but had become afterward a friend of Roman. He was moved now by her grief as she presented Roman’s orphans, and he remembered the promise which on a time he had given their father. Loyal to his brother by adoption, as he called Roman, who was a distant relative, Andrei’s grandfather, Geiza, having married Efrosina, daughter of Mystislav the Great, and sister of Roman’s grandfather, Andrei fondled Daniel, called him “dear son,” and sent a detachment of warriors to establish him in Galitch and guard the peace there. Hungarian garrisons were [[162]]distributed also in many places. This timely aid, though foreign, stopped attack from Kief and Chernigoff princes, who fought on the Dniester and Seret successfully, but dared not draw near Galitch.
This evidence of friendship on the part of the king forestalled action by the boyars of Galitch. But the year following, 1206, Chermny again led his men into Galitch, bringing with him a great force of Polovtsi. All the sons of the late Igor of Novgorod-Seversk joined him, and also the grandsons of Yaroslav, who, through their mother, the daughter of Eight Minds, thought themselves the next heirs to Galitch. Chermny also engaged the Mazovian princes, who were hostile to Galitch. Though connected with these princes by marriage, for his wife was the daughter of Kazimir, he relied less on their friendship for him than on their jealousy of Hungary. He believed that the Poles and Hungarians would dispute over Galitch, and he was not mistaken. Rurik also, as Kief prince, thought himself master of every inheritance. This time the allies were more numerous than a year earlier.
At news of this advance of Russian princes and of their alliance with Poles, a disturbance began which was worse than any preceeding it. The enemies of Roman’s sons preferred Chernigoff princes. Some of the boyars wished neither Daniel nor any grandson of Eight Minds, but Hungary, with which they desired perfect union. Others inclined toward the Poles; still others declared that they wished no prince whatever, that they were all foreign upstarts; that a government by boyars was the right one for Galitch. To this party were joined men who had deserted the people, adventurers of all kinds. These disposers of Galitch were willing to attach themselves to any faction, to leave any side for any other. They were ready to flatter all parties at once, if by thus doing they could continue disorder. The seizure of lands and the winning of fortunes was their single policy. The tyranny of boyars increased daily. The grabbing of land had become now an everyday action, and men who were not boyars at all, but laid claim to the title, took lands and kept them.
Roman’s sons were surrounded by falsehood and treason. When they heard that Polish and Russian forces were marching against them, they turned to their protector. But to wait for the king would have been perilous. He gave notice indeed that he was coming and would save them, but Galitch disorders had [[163]]become so serious that the widowed princess refused to stay longer in the city with her children; and the family of Roman saved itself only by flight to Volynia. When the king had passed the mountains, he heard that the Poles were marching on Volynia, and he hastened to intercept them.