Minsk, Principality of

Minsk, Principality of 

an appanage principality that separated from the Principality of Polotsk in 1101. The Principality of Minsk occupied the territory of the Svisloch’, Drut’, and Berezina basins and included Minsk, Drutsk, Borisov, Iziaslval’, Logozhsk, and a number of other cities. The ruinous wars waged against the princes of Kiev (1104 and 1116) by Gleb Vseslavich, Minsk’s first prince, culminated in the victory of the Kievan princes in 1119. During the reign of Rostislav Glebovich the Principality of Minsk was again captured by Kievan forces (1129). In the mid-12th century the sons of Gleb, who had recovered the principality, repulsed the efforts of the princes of Polotsk to subjugate it. In 1249 the forces of the Principality of Minsk and several Lithuanian detachments routed the invading Mongol Tatars not far from the city of Minsk. The influence of the Lithuanian princes began to increase in the second half of the 12th century, and by the second half of the 13th century the princes of Minsk were, in effect, the vassals of the Lithuanian princes. In 1326, Gedymin annexed the Principality of Minsk to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.