Chorna Rus’

Chorna Rus’ [Чорна Русь] (Black Rus’ or Black Ruthenia). Medieval name of northwestern Belarus. From the 10th century AD it belonged to Kyivan Rus’. In the 13th century the Principality of Galicia-Volhynia and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania fought over the territory, and in the 1240s Lithuania conquered it. From 1255 to 1258 it was ruled by the son of Danylo Romanovych of Halych, Roman Danylovych, who was a vassal of the Lithuanian grand duke Mindaugas. In the 1270s Chorna Rus’ was finally taken over by Lithuania.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 1 (1984).]