Vasylko Rostyslavych

Vasylko Rostyslavych [Василько Ростиславич; Vasyl’ko Rostyslavyč], b ?, d 28 February 1124. Rus’ prince; son of Rostyslav Volodymyrovych. He and his brothers, Volodar Rostyslavych and Riuryk Rostyslavych, are regarded as the cofounders of Halych principality. They formed a loose alliance with Byzantium and the Cumans in order to maintain their independence from the grand prince of Kyiv to the east and from Hungary and Poland to the west. Vasylko became the prince of Terebovlia in 1092. He was blinded by Davyd Ihorovych in Zvenyhorod (Kyiv region) (other sources say in Bilhorod) in 1097 after the Liubech congress of princes. The instigator of the assault, the Kyivan prince Sviatopolk II Iziaslavych, then invaded Volhynia (1100) but was unable to seize power in the Rostyslavych realm. Vasylko was defended by Volodymyr Monomakh and Davyd Sviatoslavych and Oleh (Mykhailo) Sviatoslavych, and ruled the Terebovlia principality until he died. He probably founded the town of Vasyliv (Bukovyna) at the confluence of the Seret River and the Dnister River.

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