Princes of Stepan: A Little-Known “Appanage Dynasty” of the 13th — Mid-15th Centuries
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15407/uhj2025.05.020Keywords:
Princes of Stepan, Rurikids, Gediminids, Princes of Holshany, hippocentaur, Volyn, Casimir Jagiellon.Abstract
The goal is to study the origin of the Princes of Stepan, analyze references to members of the family, and find out the time and reason for the confiscation of the Stepan district. The methodology is based on the principles of scientific impartiality and uses such methods as historical and chronological, comparative historical, textual analysis, and retrospective analysis. Scientific novelty. Arguments are presented against the belonging of the Princes of Stepan to the Gediminids dynasty. A hypothesis is proposed about their marriage with the Princes of Holshany, somewhere around 1400. The probable time and circumstances under which Stepan came into the possession of the Holshany Princes are specified. Conclusions. The early Princes of Stepan (13th century) came from the Turovo-Pinsk branch of the Rurikids. In the author’s opinion, this family could have continued to exist as part of the Lithuanian State. Semen Stepanskyi, mentioned in 1387, should be identified with Semen Ivanovych, who in 1388 had some connection to Volyn and used a seal with the hippocentaur emblem. Probably around 1400, one of Stepan’s Princes married the daughter of Prince Ivan of Holshany, the governor of Kyiv. It was as a result of this marriage that the Holshanski’s borrowed the heraldic emblem hippocentaur from the Stepanski’s (between 1401 and 1422). The male line of the Princes of Stepan was cut off in the 1440s. And their rightful heir, Mariia Mykhailivna, was deprived of the right to Stepan in connection with the events of the end of 1453, when the young Duchess’s father-in-law and stepfather were arrested and accused of organizing an anti- Lithuanian conspiracy in Volyn. After that, the Stepan was granted to Prince Yurii of Holshany, a Lithuanian aristocrat and, according to the author, a relative of the Stepan Princes.
References
Sobchuk, V. (2014). Vid korinnia do krony: Doslidzhennia z istorii kniazivskykh i shliakhetskykh rodyn Volyni XV — pershoi polovyny XVII st. Kremenets. [in Ukrainian].
Pryshchepa, B. (2016). Pohorynski mista v X—XIII st. Rivne. [in Ukrainian].
(2001). Ipatievskaia letopis (PSRL. T. 2). Moscow. [in Old Russian].
(2002). Halytsko-Volynskyi litopys. Doslidzhennia. Tekst. Komentar. Kyiv. [in Ukrainian, Old Russian].
Nasonov, A. (1969). Istoriia russkogo letopisaniia XI — nachala XVIII v. Moscow. [in Russian].
(2013). The Hustynja Chronicle. Ed. O. Tolochko. Harvard University Press. CXCVIII. [in English, Ukrainian].
Rapov, O. (1977). Kniazheskie vladeniia na Rusi v X — pervoi polovine XIII v. Moscow. [in Russian].
(1990). Litopys Ruskyi za Ipatskym spyskom. Trans. L. Makhnovets. Kyiv. [in Ukrainian].
Hrushevskyi, M. (1905). Istoriia Ukrainy-Rusy. T. 2. Lviv. [in Ukrainian].
Karamzin, N. (1842). Istoriia gosudarstva Rossiiskogo. Vol. I. T. 4. Saint Petersburg. 186, 162 col. [in Russian].
Soloviov, S. (1988). Sochineniia. Vol. II. Istoriia Rossii s drevneishikh vremen. T. 3-4. Moscow. [in Russian].
Khmyrov, M. (1871). Alfavitno-spravochnyi perechen udelnykh kniazei russkikh i chlenov tsarstvuiushchego doma Romanovykh. Polovina 1: A—I. Saint Petersburg. [in Russian].
(1950). Novgorodskaia Pervaia letopis starshego i mladshego izvodov. Ed. A. Nasonov. Moscow; Leningrad. [in Old Russian].
Voitovych, L. (2006). Kniazha doba: portrety elity. Bila Tserkva. [in Ukrainian].
(1981). Notitiae episcopatuum ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae. Ed. J. Darrouzès. Paris. XVI. [in French, Old Greek].
Litskevich, O. (2019). “Letopisets velikikh kniazei litovskikh” i “Povest o Podolie”: opyt kompleksnogo kriticheskogo razbora. Saint Petersburg. [in Russian].
(1882). Codex epistolaris Vitoldi magni ducis Lithuaniae. 1376—1430. Ed. A. Prochaska (Monumenta medii aevi historica res gestas Poloniae illustrantia. T. 6). Kraków. CXVI. [in Latin, Polish].
Wolff, J. (1886). Ród Gedimina. Kraków. VIII. [in Polish].
Grusha, A. (2010). Mianownaia gramata kniazia Vasilia Narymontavicha i farmiravanne pismovai kultury w pravavoi sfery Vialikaga kniastva Litowskaga w aposhniai tretsi XIV — pershai tretsi XV st. Minsk. [in Belarusian].
Tęgowski, J. (1999). Pierwsze pokolenia Giedyminowiczów. Poznań; Wrocław. [in Polish].
Kelembet, S. (2018). Fedir-Fedot (Fediushko) Liubartovych, kniaz Lutskyi i Volodymyrskyi, derzhavtsia Siverskyi. Siverianskyi litopys. 6: 13-36. [in Ukrainian].
Wolff, J. (1895). Kniaziowie litewsko-ruscy od końca czternastego wieku. Warszawa. XXV. [in Polish].
Puzyna, J. (1932). Potomstwo Narymunta Gedyminowicza. V. Michałks. Piński. Miesięcznik Heraldyczny. 7-8: 133-136. [in Polish].
(1963). Smolenskie gramoty XIII—XIV vv. Ed. T. Sumnikova & V. Lopatin. Moscow. [in Old Russian].
Kuchkin, V. (2003). Dogovornye gramoty moskovskikh kniazei XIV v.: vneshnepoliticheskie dogovory. Moscow. [in Russian].
(1851). Rodoslovnaia kniga po trem spiskam. Vremennik Imperatorskogo Moskovskogo obshchestva istorii i drevnostei rossiiskikh. X: VIII. [in Old Russian].
(1856). Letopis po Voskresenskomu spisku (PSRL. T. 7). Saint Petersburg. X. [in Old Russian].
(1787). Rodoslovnaia kniga kniazei i dvorian rossiiskikh i vyezzhikh. P. I. Moscow. [in Old Russian].
Odnorozhenko, O. (2018). Rodovi, dynastychni ta terytorialni znaky v lytovsko-ruskii kniazivskii heraldytsi XIV — pershoi polovyny XVII st. Zapysky NTSh. CCLXXI: 366-453. [in Ukrainian].
Polekhov, S. (2015). Nasledniki Vitovta: Dinasticheskaia voina v Velikom kniazhestve Litovskom v 30-e gody XV v. Moscow. [in Russian].
(1903). Litovskaia metrika. T. 1 (Russkaia istoricheskaia biblioteka. T. 20). Saint Petersburg. VII, 50 p., 1566 col., 258, IV p. [in Old Belarusian].
Liubavskiy, M. (1892). Oblastnoe delenie i mestnoe upravlenie Litovsko-Russkogo gosudarstva ko vremeni izdaniia Pervogo Litovskogo statuta. Moscow. VIII, 884, C. VI p. [in Russian].
Hrushevskyi, M. (1907). Istoriia Ukrainy-Rusy. T. 4. Kyiv; Lviv. [in Ukrainian].
Kelembet, S. (2021). Kniazi Nesvizki ta Zbarazki: XIII — pochatok XVI st. Kremenchuk. [in Ukrainian].
Rozov, V. (1928). Ukrainski hramoty. T. 1. Kyiv. 176, 75, IX p. [in Old Ukrainian].
Piekosiński, F. (1907). Jana Zamoyskiego notaty heraldyczno-sfragistyczne. Studya, rozprawy i materyały z dziedziny historyi polskiej i prawa polskiego. Kraków. T. 7/2: 18-138. [in Polish].
Puzyna, J. (1911). O pochodzeniu kniazia Fedka Nieświzkiego. Miesięcznik Heraldyczny. 5-6: 74-82. [in Polish].
Gumowski, M. (1930). Pieczęcie Książąt Litewskich. Ateneum Wileńskie. VII/3-4: 684-725. [in Polish].
(1932). Akta unji Polski z Litwą 1385—1791. Wyd. S. Kutrzeba i W. Semkowicz. Kraków. LVI. [in Polish].
Polechow, S. & Butyrski, M. (2018). Pieczęć kniazia Iwana Olgimuntowicza Holszańskiego. Inter Regnum et Ducatum: Studia ofiarowane Profesorowi Janowi Tęgowskiemu w siedemdziesiątą rocznicę urodzin. Białystok. 441-461. [in Polish].
(2004). Dokumenty strony polsko-litewskiej pokoju Mełneńskiego z 1422 r. Wyd. P. Nowak i P. Pokora. Poznań. XVII. [in Polish].
Guletskiy, D. & Petrunin, K. (2017). Russkie srednevekovye monety. Moscow. [in Russian].
(1932). Kodeks dyplomatyczny katedry i diecezji Wileńskiej. T. I/1. Vyd. ks. J. Fijałek i W. Semkowicz. Kraków. [in Polish].
Kelembet, S. The Khan, the Prince, his wife & her captor. Ruthenica. XIX (print).
Rusyna, O. (2005). Studii z istorii Kyeva ta Kyivskoi zemli. Kyiv. [in Ukrainian].
(1845). Codex diplomaticus Lithuaniae. Ed. E. Raczyński. Wrocław. XV. [in Latin].
(1995). Lietuvos Metrika. Knyga Nr. 8 (1499—1514): Užrašymų knyga 8. Parengė A. Baliulis, R. Firkovičius, D. Antanavičius. Vilnius. [in Old Belarusian, Lithuanian].
Halecki, O. (1915). Ostatnie lata Świdrygiełły i sprawa wołyńska za Kazimierza Jagiellończyka. Kraków. VII. [in Polish].
(1887). Archiwum książąt Lubartowiczów Sanguszków w Sławucie. Wyd. Z.L. Radzimiński. T. I. Lwów. XXIX. [in Polish, Old Ukrainian, Latin].
(1998). Lietuvos Metrika. Knyga Nr. 3 (1440—1498): Užrašymų knyga 3. Parengė L. Anužytė ir A. Baliulis. Vilnius. [in Old Belarusian, Lithuanian].
(1897). Zapisi zemelnykh dach korolia Kazimira. Dokumenty Moskovskogo arkhiva Ministerstva yustitsii. Ed. M. Dovnar-Zapolskiy. Moscow. I: 1-62. [in Old Belarusian].
Nasevich, V. (1994). Lukoml i Lukomlskaia volasts. Histarychna-arkhealahichny zbornik. 4: 161-186. [in Belarusian].
Narbutt, T. (1839). Dzieje narodu Litewskiego. T. 6. Wilno. 566, 50 s. [in Polish].
(1890). Archiwum książąt Sanguszków w Sławucie. Wyd. B. Gorczak. T. III. Lwów. XI, XXXV. [in Polish, Old Ukrainian, Latin].
(1998). Lietuvos Metrika. Knyga Nr. 25 (1387—1546): Užrašymų knyga 25. Parengė D. Antanavičius ir A. Baliulis. Vilnius. XXII. [in Old Belarusian, Lithuanian].
(2023). Ruska (Volynska) metryka. Knyha za 1569—1572, 1574 r. Ed. P. Kulakovskyi & Yu. Sviatets. Kamianets-Podilskyi. [in Ukrainian, Old Ukrainian].
