Cherven towns

Cherven towns. Group of towns and fortresses on Volhynian territory—Cherven, Volyn, Hrubeshiv, Suteiske, Ternava, etc—which were situated on the left bank of the Buh River on the border between Poland and Rus’. The area controlled by these towns was also known as the Cherven Land (Chervenska zemlia). Historians have offered many hypotheses and have argued for a long time about the extent of the territory and the political affiliation of the Cherven towns, which were united around the town of Cherven on the Huchva River. In 981 Grand Prince Volodymyr the Great captured the Cherven towns from the Polish princes, but in 1018 the Polish prince Bolesław I the Brave won them back. In 1031 Yaroslav the Wise and Mstyslav Volodymyrovych finally annexed the towns. The towns played an important role in Kyivan Rus’ as trade links between Kyiv and Byzantium (through Hungary) when the Black Sea route was severed by the Cumans. In the 11th–12th century the Cherven towns belonged partly to Volhynia principality; in the 13th–14th century they belonged to the Principality of Galicia-Volhynia as part of the Kholm land.