Abstract
This study is an attempt to present the history of Rus’ foreign policy ties with Germany and Hungary in the early 13th century. It focuses on a Rus’ chronicler’s account of the events surrounding the murder of German king Philip of Swabia in 1208. The chronicler certainly knew that Hungarian princess Elizabeth (future St Elizabeth of Thuringia) was betrothed to the son of the Landgrave Herman I of Thuringia - a marriage alliance made to shore up aid for the brothers of the Hungarian queen who had been condemned for their part in the murder plot. Not only agreeing with Western sources, but also supplementing them, the Galician-Volhynian Chronicle is the only source to note that Langrave Herman I of Thuringia was one of the main allies of Queen Gertrude, helping to protect her brother, Bishop Ekbert. By contrast, the relations between Roman Mstislavich and the Staufens’ supporters in Germany, along with his military effort to support King Philip which cost the Galician prince his life, are detailed in Western sources, but the early loss of the initial part of the Galician-Volhynian Chronicle may explain the absence of similar information in Rus’ sources. Four novel and crucial points have emerged from this study. First, the entry in the Galician-Volynian Chronicle mentioning the murder deserves to be taken seriously as an accurate, albeit very brief, notice of the episode. Second, the entry offers firm evidence of the attempt of the German-born Queen Gertrude of Hungary to aid her brothers who were undoubtedly responsible for King Philip’s murder, and the chroniclers rightly noted the connection between the murder and the betrothal of Gertrude’s daughter Elizabeth to Louis, son of Landgrave Herman of Thuringia. Third, these details might have found their way into the Galician-Volhynian Chronicle owing to the correspondence and blood-ties between royal women in the Galician-Volhynian, German, and Austrian courts: Euphrosyne-Anna, the widow of Prince Roman Mstislavich, her sister Irene-Maria, the queen of murdered German king, and Theodora, the spouse of Duke Leopold VI of Austria. Fourth, the important passage in the chronicle reflects and points to the close involvement of western Rus’ princes in German and Hungarian political affairs in the early thirteenth century.
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