who attacked the principality of Volhynia which was still under the rule of Daniil Romanovich. However, in the meantime the Cumans plundered the Galician lands forcing Mikhail Vsevolodovich to abandon his campaign. At the beginning of the summer of 1236, Daniil Romanovich and his brother Vasilko Romanovich rallied their troops to march against Mikhail Vsevolodovich and Rostislav, but they barricaded themselves in Halych with their retinue, the local militia, and a contingent of Hungarians sent by king Béla IV, and thus their opponents had to withdraw. After the Hungarian troops had departed, Daniil Romanovich tried again, and Mikhail Vsevolodovich attempted to placate him by giving him Przemyśl. Shortly afterwards, Rostislav was appointed to rule Halych by his father who was about departing for Kiev which had been occupied by Yaroslav Vsevolodovich. After Mikhail had reoccupied Kiev, he and Rostislav attacked Przemyśl and took it back from Daniil Romanovich. Rostislav retained the loyalty of the Galician boyars but he was not as capable a military commander as his father. Around 1237, he rode against the Lithuanians who had pillaged the lands of duke Conrad of Mazovia who had been his ally against Daniil Romanovich. He also took all the boyars and horsemen with him and only a skeleton force remained behind to defend Halych. The people of Halych therefore summoned Daniil Romanovich and installed him as prince. On hearing the news, Rostislav fled to king Béla IV. The Tatar invasion of the Kievan Rus’ In the winter of 1237, the Tatar troops led by Batu Khan devastated Ryazan; by 1240, almost the lands of Chernigov, Pereyaslavl, Ryazan, and Suzdalia lay in ruins. During the first half of 1240, Mikhail Vsevolodovich defied Batu Khan by putting his envoys, who were seeking to coax him into submitting, to death. The only allies to whom he could turn for aid were the Hungarians and the Poles, and therefore he fled to Hungary. He attempted to arrange a marriage for Rostislav with the king's daughter, but Béla IV saw no advantage to forming an alliance and evicted the two princes from Hungary. Rostislav and his father went to Masovia where his father decided that the expedient course of action was to seek reconciliation with Daniil Romanovich who had been controlling his domains by that time and holding Mikhail Vsevolodovich's wife (and his own sister) captive. Mikhail Vsevolodovich sent envoys to his brother-in-law admitting that he