One of the sons of king
Daniel I of Galicia of the
house of Romanovich, Shvarn inherited the north-western parts of the
Kingdom of Ruthenia, his fathers' domain. This land included the town of
Halicz itself, as well as the land across the
Bug River, that is
Red Ruthenia with the towns of
Bełz,
Czerwień,
Mielnik,
Drohiczyn and eventually also
Chełm (since 1264). His brother
Lev I inherited the southern part of the land, with the cities of
Lviv and
Przemyśl, while Roman became the heir of duchies of
Lutsk and
Terebovl. This allied him to Lithuania and together the two rulers undertook numerous military campaigns against the
Kingdom of Poland. Already in 1255 they raided
Lublin, in 1262 a major campaign against
Masovia was started. Shvarn and
Treniota captured the city of
Płock and besieged Shvarn's brother-in-law,
Siemowit I of Masovia in
Jazdów (modern
Warsaw). In the end Siemowit was killed by Shvarn's troops and his son
Konrad II was taken prisoner. The Polish relief force did not arrive in time and was later defeated in a battle at
Długosiodło on August 5, 1262. In 1264 king Daniel of Galicia died and Shvarn received nominal overlordship over all of
Kingdom of Ruthenia as its duke. Immediately he mounted a major campaign against Poland, this time aiming for
Lesser Poland. However, although joint armies managed to plunder
Skaryszew,
Tarczek and
Wiślica, this time the campaign was less successful and the allied Ruthenian and Lithuanian armies were repelled. The
Yotvingian auxiliaries were defeated by
Bolesław V the Chaste at the
Battle of Brańsk. and he probably did not gain a strong foothold in that country. However, he was apparently fairly successful in expanding his borders. Following successful military campaigns, in 1267 he defeated his brother Mstislav in the battle of the
Yaselda River and captured
Turov and
Pinsk. and came under the control of
Traidenis, a noble from
Aukštaitija. ==Ancestry==