Mystislav waited for the Polovtsi; when they came he began action. His faithful friend and ally, Prince Vladimir, brought with him the promised warriors of Smolensk, and he and Mystislav then moved against Galitch. But Daniel did not go with them. They received no word from him, for he was greatly occupied elsewhere. Daniel would have been troubled to count the toils and battles which he passed through at that time. With whom and where had he not struggled? In recent days his conflicts with Poles had increased. They roused the Yatvyags against him and against those Lithuanians who were under him. Daniel, defending these men, warred frequently in forests and wild regions belonging to their enemy. He met the Poles themselves among his Lithuanian subjects, whom the Polish princes tried to take from him through interference and intrigues. The Poles also attacked Daniel on the Būg, where he was forced to meet them, and through Bailz and Lutsk he met continual raids from Russian princes.
Only after Mystislav had come and triumphed, could Daniel [[200]]breathe with some little freedom, but till Mystislav appeared the first blows of Poles, and also of Hungarians, fell directly on him. Beginning with Benedict Bor, the famous harrier of people, Hungarian magnates were frequent visitors in Galitch. Ruling in the king’s name, they differed little from that renowned Bor known as “Antichrist.”
In the time now before us, the chief man near Koloman was Filni, a magnate whom the Russians nicknamed “Filya.” Hungarian magnates in those days were famous for haughtiness, but Filya surpassed all Hungarians in this regard. Moreover, to this nickname was added another; he was called “Filya the Important.” Of him people said, and this was stamped on his countenance, that he thought his equal was not on the earth, that he could embrace the whole world, and drink the whole sea up. It was known also that though his pride was unbounded, his mind was quite limited. When on a time Filya was warned before battle that his enemies were many and his strength insufficient, though as a rule he avoided battle, he repeated, when moving his warriors: “A stone is but one; still it breaks many pots just by moving.”
Koloman and Salomeya reigned in Galitch, but all things were managed through Filya, whose aids were traitorous boyars, of whom the chief man was Sudislav. These boyars wished to merge Galitch in Hungary, and were hated by common folk. “Sudislav the traitor, the disturber of the country,” were the only words used to describe this man.
When news came that Mystislav the Gallant was marching, Filya and Sudislav made preparations to defend the city. Filya placed himself at the head of Hungarian and Polish forces, and put Sudislav in command of the Galitch men. He did not dream, in his confidence, that the enemy could come near the capital, still he took measures to meet a siege seriously. To show that in the building of fortresses he was not inferior to the celebrities of that day, he strove in every way to make Galitch impregnable. In doing this he roused the indignation of the Orthodox. He seized the cathedral, made it a fortress, and added a tower to it.
The excitement of the adherents of Hungary and Poland was extraordinary. Sudislav and his friends, in their rage at the man who was moving Russian regiments against them, declared that [[201]]Mystislav wanted to deliver all boyars to the Polovtsi, and settle the steppes with them. Their hatred for Mystislav was boundless, and, through the efforts of Poles, Hungarians, and their partisans among Russians, a venomous opposition was raised against him. He had marched half-way from the Dnieper to the upper waters of the Dniester and the San, when blood commenced to flow in Būg regions. At the opening of the war, Leshko promised Filya to protect the rear of the Polish and Hungarian troops, which, combined, seemed able to hurl aside Mystislav; and after that Filya was to finish him. Leshko had undertaken besides to hold down Volynia, and not let it move to assist Mystislav.
Leshko entered Volynia territory and seized towns and cities. Daniel and Vassilko had work in plenty near their own capital. Konrad, more honest than Leshko, his brother, tried in vain to make him friendly to Daniel, and hostilities in Volynia continued. If they were not of greater violence, and even fatal to Daniel, it was because Mystislav’s campaign was ended with one blow, and so quickly that neither Filya nor Leshko could foresee such a result. The Hungarian magnate had been deceived in the strength of his enemy, and only came to his mind when Mystislav was near Galitch. Then he and Sudislav hastened to lead forward their forces, and block the road to the gallant prince.
The place of meeting was a broad, rolling country, from the highest points of which all other high places were visible. On lower slopes, and in depressions between one round-topped high place and another, a commander might hide a whole army. Filya drew up his warriors and disposed them in two camps apart from each other. It seemed to him that no man could stand against this force. The Poles and Sudislav’s regiments from Galitch were placed by themselves in one body. One of these forces was to meet the oncoming enemy on his right, the other on his left flank.
Mystislav, leaving in one of those deep depressions just mentioned his Polovtsi legions, moved forward against Filya. From a distance he saw that the Poles were too far to one side for their profit, hence he commanded Vladimir, his ally, to entice them away with his warriors, who were eager for battle, and while struggling with them to retreat toward the Polovtsi.
The Poles met Vladimir’s men bravely, forced them back toward the ambush, and followed. Mystislav marched with chosen regiments [[202]]and his personal following to the high place beyond which was Filya’s position. Relying on the valor of his ally, whom he had tried against Yuri and Yaroslav, and on the great number of the Polovtsi who were placed in ambush, he seemed to abandon Vladimir and his men. The Poles followed the retreating Smolensk men toward the place where the Polovtsi were waiting, as Mystislav could see clearly. Right in front of Mystislav stood Filya. It was imprudent now to delay longer. Strengthening his army with the name of the holy cross, he rushed at the enemy. The battle was grievous, but Mystislav triumphed. The Hungarians were crushed, and Filya was captured.