Terebovlia principality

Terebovlia principality [Теребовлянське князівство; Terebovlyans’ke knyazivstvo]. A southeastern appanage principality of Kyivan Rus’, the capital of which was Terebovlia. Its territories included parts of southeastern Galicia, Bukovyna, and western Podilia. It bordered on Kyiv principality to the east, Zvenyhorod principality to the west, and parts of Volodymyr principality, Lutsk principality, and Peresopnytsia principality to the north. It was established as an appanage principality ca 1084 and was given to Vasylko Rostyslavych (his brothers, Volodar Rostyslavych and Riuryk Rostyslavych, ruled Zvenyhorod and Peremyshl respectively). Vasylko extensively colonized the territories southeast of Terebovlia by employing Turkic peoples (Berendeys, Torks, and Pechenegs), and he annexed Ponyzia, thereby securing it against nomadic raiders. Halych gained importance as a political and economic center; other important cities and fortresses included Terebovlia, Mykulyn (now Mykulyntsi), Chern (now Chernivtsi), Vasyliv (Bukovyna), Onut, Kuchelemyn, Bakota, Ushytsia, and Kalius. After Vasylko's death in 1124, Halych principality seceded, and by 1141 Terebovlia principality had become a part of the Principality of Galicia-Volhynia. After the Rostyslavych dynasty died out, it was briefly an appanage principality under Iziaslav Volodymyrovych.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 5 (1993).]