From 1230 to 1240 war raged throughout Galitch and Volynia, Chernigoff, and Kief. More than once did Vladimir flee from Kief to be succeeded by Michael; more than once was Michael deprived of his possessions. All Southern Russia, from the San and the Dniester to the Desna, was the alternate and fleeting possession of Michael and his brothers, or of the men who opposed them, namely, Vladimir and Daniel. Each side had its victory, but each met defeat somewhat later. Daniel brought aid many times to Vladimir. In one of these campaigns the two men crossed the Dnieper and captured Chernigoff; they warred on the Desna, and captured many towns in other places. More than once Michael appeared with his troops on the San and the Dniester. He seized Galitch and left his son and heir, Rostislav, to reign there. At times Michael gave towns to Daniel; at times he drove him unsparingly from Galitch regions. At times one of them fled from the other to Hungary, alternately they were hostile and friendly to each other. Once Daniel and Vladimir were defeated by Michael and the Polovtsi, which he led in. Vladimir was captured by those same Polovtsi and could not, for some time, buy his freedom. On the day that Vladimir was captured a horse was killed under Daniel, who barely escaped with his life from that battle-field. Then again not only did Michael lose Kief and Galitch, he lost Chernigoff also. At last Michael was brought to such straits that he begged for peace earnestly, and made amends to Daniel. “Much have I sinned against thee,” said he. “I have not held to my promises, I have done great harm to thee, but how many times have I wished to act otherwise, though unable, for the faith-breaking boyars of Galitch would never permit me. Now I take oath that with thee I will never have enmity.” So Daniel, with his brother Vassilko, received Michael as a relative. But this happened in 1239, when Michael’s dominions had been turned to a terrible wilderness, and the city of Chernigoff was a ruin. Up to that ghastly period wars and dissensions were constant in Southern Russia. During that troubled time Kief was without a prince really, for it passed from one hand to another so frequently that the interval during which one prince was winning the place from another was often far longer than the time he sat on the throne after winning it. Instead of asking who in that period of unrest ruled Kief, one might better ask who of prominent princes was not its ruler. The same was true of Galitch. It was difficult to say who reigned there. In 1229 some of the Galitch men, faithful to the people, secretly invited Daniel to come and rule in their land. At his approach, boyars favorable to Hungary closed the gates of the city, burned the bridge on the Dniester, and used every possible means to oppose him. But the people from Ushitsa, Bobrok and Pruth regions marched in from all quarters to meet the prince “born to them,” and no party had sufficient power to check them.