had sinned against him on many occasions by waging war and by reneging on his promises. He pledged never again to antagonize Daniil Romanovich and forswore making any future attempts on Halych. Daniil Romanovich invited him to Volhynia, returned his wife, and relinquished control of Kiev and he gave Lutsk to Rostislav, evidently, in compensation for taking away Halych. Meanwhile, the Tatars sacked Kiev which fell on December 6, 1240. On learning Kiev's fate, Mikhail Vsevolodovich and his family withdrew from Volhynia and for the second time imposed himself on Conrad of Mazovia's graces. In the spring of 1241, Mikhail Vsevolodovich went home to Kiev and gave Chernigov to Rostislav. Boyar greed gave Rostislav the pretext for reviving his quest for Halych where the local magnates acknowledged Daniil Romanovich (his uncle) as their prince, but appropriated authority to themselves. In 1241, Rostislav marshaled the princes of Bolokhoveni, and besieged Bakota which was an important purveyor of salt. When he failed to take the city, he withdrew to Chernigov, but later he redirected his attack against the more important towns of Halych and Przemyśl. He had strong support from the local boyars who cajoled the townsmen of Halych itself into capitulating without a fight. After occupying Halych, Rostislav made prince Konstantin Vladimirovich Ryazansky the ruler of Przemyśl. The bishops of the only two eparchies in Halych also supported Rostislav. However, his uncles (Daniil and Vasil’ko Romanovich) retaliated by marching against Halych; unable to withstand their attack, Rostislav fled with his supporters and sought sanctuary in Shchekotov. His uncles pursued him, but on learning that the Tatars had left Hungary and were returning via Halych, they abandoned the chase. As the Tatars passed through Halych, they routed Rostislav's force at a location which the chronicler identifies as a small pine forest; he therefore fled again to the Hungarians. His struggle for Halych Béla IV, who had returned home from Dalmatia after May in 1242, approved Rostislav's marriage to his daughter, Anna. The king was seeking to organize a new defensive system by creating client states to the south and east of Hungary, and in his search for a vassal whom he could appoint to Halych, he chose Rostislav. On learning that Béla IV had given his daughter in marriage to Rostislav, his father believed that his efforts to form an alliance with the Árpád dynasty had finally been realized. Mikhail Vsevolodovich therefore