Vitebsk Principality

Slavonic Principality, occupied territory in the basin of the central reaches of the western Dvina River; according to the administrative division of the 19th century it included the Vitebsk, Gorodok, and Surazh districts. In 1101 the Vitebsk principality was separated from the Polotsk principality as the independent principality of Roman, the son of Vseslav Polotskii. At the beginning of the 13th century it was dependent upon Smolensk; during the second third of the 13th century it was captured by Lithuania, and at the end of the 13th century it was ruled by deputies of the Smolensk prince. At the beginning of the 14th century it belonged to Prince laroslav Vasil’evich, and in 1320 it was transferred to his brother-in-law, Prince Olgerd of Lithuania. The Vitebsk principality was finally liquidated in 1441.