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Red Ruthenia, also called Red Rus or Red Russia, is a term used since the Middle Ages for the south-western principalities of Kievan Rus', namely the Principality of Peremyshl and the Principality of Belz. It is closely related to the term Cherven Cities ("Red Cities").
First mentioned by that name in a Polish chronicle of 1321, Red Ruthenia was the portion of Ruthenia incorporated into Poland by Casimir the Great during the 14th century. Following the Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus' in the 13th century, Red Ruthenia was contested by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (the Gediminids), the Kingdom of Poland (the Piast dynasty), the Kingdom of Hungary and the Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia. After the Galicia–Volhynia Wars, for about 400 years, most of Red Ruthenia became part of Poland as the Ruthenian Voivodeship.
Nowadays, the region comprises parts of western Ukraine and adjoining parts of south-eastern Poland. It has also sometimes included parts of Lesser Poland, Podolia, Right-bank Ukraine and Volhynia. Centred on Przemyśl and Belz, it has included major cities such as: Chełm, Zamość, Rzeszów, Krosno and Sanok (now all in Poland), as well as Lviv and Ternopil (now in Ukraine).
Later Walddeutsche ("Forest Germans"), Jews, Armenians and Polish people also made up part of the population."were mainly Germans, Poles, Armenians and Jews, but also Karaims, Crimean Tatars, Greeks or Wallachians in: "Kwartalnik historii kultury materialnej: t. 47, PAN. 1999. p. 146 According to Marcin Bielski, although Bolesław I Chrobry settled Germans in the region to defend the borders against Hungary and Kievan Rus' the settlers became farmers. Maciej Stryjkowski described German peasants near Rzeszów, Przemyśl, Sanok, and Jarosław as good farmers. Casimir the Great settled German citizens on the borders of Lesser Poland and Red Ruthenia to join the acquired territory with the rest of his kingdom. In determining the population of late medieval Poland, colonisation and Polish migration to Red Ruthenia, Spiš and PodlachiaVierteljahrschrift für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte, 1992 (whom the Ukrainians called Masurians—poor peasant migrants, chiefly from MazowszeM. H. Marunchak. The Ukrainian Canadians, 1982) should be considered.
During the second half of the 14th century, the Vlachs arrived from the southeastern Carpathians and quickly settled across southern Red Ruthenia. Although during the 15th century the Ruthenians gained a foothold, it was not until the 16th century that the Wallachian population in the Bieszczady Mountains and the Low Beskids was Ruthenized.Czajkowski, 1992; Parczewski, 1992; Reinfuss, 1948, 1987, 1990 From the 14th to the 16th centuries Red Ruthenia underwent rapid urbanization, resulting in over 200 new towns built on the Magdeburg rights (virtually unknown before 1340, when Red Ruthenia was the independent Kingdom of Halych).Kwartalnik historii kultury materialnej: t. 47, PAN. 1999. p. 146
A minority of ethnic Polish people have lived since the beginning of the second Millennium in northern parts of Red Ruthenia. The exonym "Ruthenians" usually refers to members of the Rusyns and/or Ukrainians ethnicity."The dominant population of Galicia, or Red Rus', called itself “Rusyn” ... and was considered by Russophile authors to be Russian, or, more specifically, . That view began to gain ground after the publication in the Russian Empire of a Russian translation of Pavol Šafárik's Slovanský národopis in 1843." (Serhii Plokhy, Lost Kingdom: The Quest for Empire and the Making of the Russian Nation, New York, Hachette, p. 168.
In 1340, the Romanovichi house of princes of Galicia and Volhynia died out, causing the Galicia–Volhynia Wars (1340–1392). Casimir the Great of Poland managed to take control of Galicia in 1340, while the Grand Duchy of Lithuania obtained Volhynia.H. H. Fisher, "America and the New Poland (1928)", Read Books, 2007, p. 15N. Davies, God's playground: a history of Poland in two volumes, Oxford University Press, 2005, pp. 71, 135 [2] During his reign from 1333 to 1370, Casimir the Great founded several cities, urbanization the rural province. Anna Beredecka, NOWE LOKACJE MIAST KRÓLEWSKICH W MAŁOPOLSCE W LATACH 1333–1370 Under Polish rule, 325 towns were founded from the 14th century to the second half of the 17th century, most during the 15th and 16th centuries (96 and 153, respectively).A. Janeczek, Town and country in the Polish Commonwealth, 1350-1650, in: S. R. Epstein, Town and Country in Europe, 1300-1800, Cambridge University Press, 2004, p. 164
In October 1372, Władysław Opolczyk was deposed as count palatine. Although he retained most of his castles and goods in Hungary, his political influence waned. As compensation, Opolczyk was made governor of Hungarian Galicia. In this new position, he contributed to the economic development of the territories entrusted to him. Although Opolczyk primarily resided in Lwów, at the end of his rule he spent more time in Halicz. The only serious conflict during his time as governor involved his approach to the Eastern Orthodox Church, which angered the local Catholic . The Polish name Ruś Czerwona (translated as "Red Rus") came into use for the territory extending to the Dniester, centring on Przemyśl. The Polish region was divided into a number of voivodeships, and an era of Ostsiedlung and Polish people settlement among the Ruthenians began. Armenians and Jews also migrated to the region. A number of castles were built at this time, and the cities of Stanisławów (Stanyslaviv in Ukrainian, now Ivano-Frankivsk) and Krystynopol (now Chervonohrad) were founded. Red Ruthenia consisted of three voivodeships: Ruthenia, whose capital was Lviv and provinces were Lviv, Halych, Sanok, Przemyśl and Chełm; Belz, separating the provinces of Lviv and Przemyśl from the rest of the Ruthenian voivodeship; and Podolia, with its capital at Kamieniec Podolski. Since the reign of Władysław Jagiełło (d. 1434) the Przemyśl Voivodeship was called the Ruthenian Voivodeship ( województwo ruskie), centring on Lviv. The Ruthenian Voivodeship consisted of five regions: Lwów, Sanok, Halicz (Halych), Przemyśl, and Chełm. The town of Halych gave its name to Galicia.
Ruthenia was subject to repeated Tatars and Ottoman Empire incursions during the 16th and 17th centuries and was impacted by the Khmelnytsky Uprising (1648–1654), the 1654–1667 Russo-Polish War and Swedish invasions during the Deluge (1655–1660); the Swedes returned during the Great Northern War of the early 18th century.
| Lviv | Lviv Oblast | |
| Ivano-Frankivsk | Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast | |
| Ternopil | Ternopil Oblast | |
| Rzeszów | Subcarpathian Voivodeship | |
| Drohobych | Lviv Oblast | |
| Kalush | Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast | |
| Chervonohrad | Lviv Oblast | |
| Kolomyia | Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast | |
| Stryi | Lviv Oblast | |
| Zamość | Lublin Voivodeship | |
| Chełm | Lublin Voivodeship | |
| Przemyśl | Subcarpathian Voivodeship | |
| Krosno | Subcarpathian Voivodeship | |
| Jarosław | Subcarpathian Voivodeship | |
| Sanok | Subcarpathian Voivodeship | |
| Sambir | Lviv Oblast | |
| Boryslav | Lviv Oblast | |
| Novoiavorivsk | Lviv Oblast | |
| Truskavets | Lviv Oblast | |
| Chortkiv | Ternopil Oblast |
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