Roman Danylovich (died after 1258) was the Prince of Black Ruthenia (

Novogrudok Novogrudok or Navahrudak (; ; , ; ) is a town in Grodno Region, Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Novogrudok District. As of 2025, it has a population of 27,624. In the Middle Ages, the city was ruled by King Mindaugas' son V ...

) 1254–1258, Prince of

Slonim Slonim is a town in Grodno Region, in western Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Slonim District. It is located at the junction of the Shchara and Isa (river), Isa rivers, southeast of Grodno. As of 2025, it has a population of ...

. He was born as a younger son of

Daniel of Galicia Daniel Romanovich (1201–1264) was Prince of Galicia (1205–1207; 1211–1212; 1230–1232; 1233–1234; 1238–1264), Prince of Volhynia, Volhynia (1205–1208; 1215–1238), Grand Prince of Kiev (1240), and King of Ruthenia (1253–1264). B ...

, a powerful prince of lands east from

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

and later

king King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

of those regions, which was usually called

Volhynia Volhynia or Volynia ( ; see #Names and etymology, below) is a historic region in Central and Eastern Europe, between southeastern Poland, southwestern Belarus, and northwestern Ukraine. The borders of the region are not clearly defined, but in ...

Ruthenia ''Ruthenia'' is an exonym, originally used in Medieval Latin, as one of several terms for Rus'. Originally, the term ''Rus' land'' referred to a triangular area, which mainly corresponds to the tribe of Polans in Dnieper Ukraine. ''Ruthenia' ...

(roughly, near modern

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

and

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

). His mother was Anna Mstislavna of Novgorod, daughter of

Mstislav the Bold Mstislav Mstislavich, also called the Daring, the Bold or the Able (died ), was a prince of Tmutarakan and Chernigov, one of the princes from Kievan Rus' in the decades preceding the Mongol invasions. Biography Mstislav Mstislavich was the ...

(died before 1252). In 1252, he was married to

Gertrude, Duchess of Austria Gertrude of Austria (also named ''Gertrude of Babenberg'') (c. 1226 – 24 April 1288) was a member of the House of Babenberg, Duchess of Mödling and later titular Duchess of Austria and Styria. She was the niece of Duke Frederick II, Duke of A ...

as her third husband. During that time he resided in the castle of

Himberg Himberg bei Wien () is a municipality in the district of Bruck an der Leitha in the Austrian state of Lower Austria. It belonged to Wien-Umgebung District Bezirk Wien-Umgebung was a Districts of Austria, district of the States of Austria, state ...

and participated in her attempts to get the power in her duchy, under rivaling claimants. However, already next year they ended up in divorce and Roman returned to Rus' where Lithuanian duke

Mindaugas Mindaugas (, , , , ; c. 1203 – 12 September 1263) was the first known grand duke of Lithuania, Grand Duke of Lithuania and the only crowned King of Lithuania. Little is known of his origins, early life, or rise to power; he is mentioned in a ...

awarded him with control over the region of Black Ruthenia, including the cities of Novogrudok,

and Vovkovysk. In 1258

Mongol Mongols are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, China (Inner Mongolia and other 11 autonomous territories), as well as the republics of Buryatia and Kalmykia in Russia. The Mongols are the principal member of the large family of M ...

leader Boroldai forced Roman along with his uncle Vasylko Romanovych of

and other princes of modern-day

to join a campaign against Lithuania, during which the prince fell in battle.

Marriage and issue

Roman was married twice: #

(born c. 1223 - died c. 1288 or died 24 April 1299), married 27 June 1252 (divorced 1253) #Elena Glebovna of Volkovysk (born after 1288), married c. 1255 He had the following issue: *Vasilko Romanovich (born c. 1256, died after 1282) m. Prince of Slonim; he may (or may not) have been grandfather of Prince Daniel Ostrogski * Mikhail Romanovich arentage uncertain Prince of

Drutsk Drutsk (, ; , , also known as ''Дрютескъ'' (''Dryutesk'') or ''Дрюческъ'' (''Druchesk'') in the Middle Ages), is a historical town in Belarus, 40 kilometres (ca. 25 miles) west of Mogilev. The town was established in 1078 as an o ...

; his alleged descendants include Princes Drutski, Drutskoy-Sokolinski, Konoplya-Sokolinski, Drutski-Ozeretski, Drutski-Prikhabski, Babichev, Drutski-Lubetski, Drutski-Gorski, and Putyatin. * Maria Romanovna m. married

Joachim Joachim was, according to Sacred tradition, the husband of Saint Anne, the father of Mary, mother of Jesus, Mary (mother of Jesus), and the maternal grandfather of Jesus. The story of Joachim and Anne first appears in the Gospel of James, part of ...

, son of

Baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...

Stefan of Zagreb *Maria, married Prince of Turov Yaroslav Yuriyovych

References

External links

Monomakh branch (Volhynia)
at Izbornik Romanovichi family Rostislavichi family (Smolensk) Year of birth uncertain {{Europe-royal-stub