Principality of Polotsk

This article is about the specific polity Principality of Polotsk and therefore only includes events related to its territory and not to its possessions or colonies. If you are interested in the possession, this is the link to the article about the nation which includes all possessions as well as all the different incarnations of the nation.

If you are looking for the page with the statistics about this polity you can find it here:All Statistics

Was a medieval principality of the Early East Slavs, centered on the town of Polotsk in modern-day Belarus.

Establishment

January 1001: The isolation of the Polotsk land from Kiev and its transformation into an independent principality actually began already under Izyaslav.

January 1001: Jersika was established in the 10th century as an outpost of the principality of Polotsk on the old "trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks".

Chronology

Interactive Chronologies with maps are available in the section Changes Navigation

1. Danish invasion of northern Germany (1201)

Was the invasion of northern Germany by king Canute VI of Denmark caused by disagreement with Adolf III, Count of Schauenburg and Holstein, over the possession of the island of Rügen.

January 1202: Albrecht von Buxthoeven, consecrated as bishop in 1199, arrived the following year with a large force, and established Riga as the seat of his Bishopric of Riga in 1201.

2. Further events (Unrelated to Any War)

January 1101: After the late 10th century, Polotsk, ruled by Prince Vseslav of Polotsk, successfully expanded its territory to include lands inhabited by the ancestors of today's Latvians and Lithuanians.

January 1102: In 1101, during the division of the possessions of the Polotsk prince Vseslav Bryachislavich between the sons, the single Polotsk principality was divided into 6 or 7 appanages. One of such was the Minsk principality.

January 1102: Following the death of Vseslav of Polotsk in 1101, Polotsk was divided into six smaller principalities each to be inherited by one of his six surviving sons. Vseslav's second born son, Sviatoslav Vseslavich inherited the lands surrounding Vitebsk.

January 1102: Borisov principality was an appanage principality that supposedly existed in the 12th century as the inheritance of the Polotsk principality.

January 1102: The appanage duchy of Drutsk was established after the death of Vseslav, the Prince of Polotsk, in 1101 and the division of the Polatsk territory between Vseslav's sons.

January 1191: The Principality of Koknese was established in the 1180s.

January 1209: By 1208 the important Daugava trading posts of Salaspils, Koknese and Sēlpils Castle had been taken over by the Livonian Order.

January 1228: With the wars against Estonians from 1208 to 1227, the Livonian Brothers of the Sword conquered Estonia with the exception of Saarema and Danish Estonia.

January 1238: Lithuania, taking advantage of the conflict between the Teutonic and Livonian Orders, launched an attack on Ruthenia and successfully annexed the regions of Navahrudak and Hrodna.