Cherven Towns

In the turn of 10th and 11th century the territory of Cherven Cities or Cherven Towns Ukrainian: Червенські городи, Polish: Grody Czerwieńskie) was a point of dispute between the Kingdom of Poland and Kievan Rus', each claiming its own rights to the land. Finally it became a part of Ruthenia. In English texts these often literally translated as Red Cities/Red Towns.

Originally, the name "Cherven Cities" probably identified a territory between the Bug and Wieprz rivers. Its name is derived from Cherven (cf. Proto-Slavic "red"), a gord that existed there, possibly on the site of the present village of Czermno.

In early medieval times, Slavic tribes, the Vyatichi and Radimichs, settled in this area. Nestor (c. 1056 – c. 1114), the reputed author of the Primary Chronicle, refers to the Vyatichi and Radimichs as Lachy (Lendians). From the mid-950s onward, the Lendians were politically anchored in the Bohemian sphere of influence. Cosmas of Prague (c. 1045 – 1125) relates that the Přemyslid rulers of Bohemia controlled the land of Kraków until 999. In support of Cosmas, the foundation charter of the Archdiocese of Prague (1086) traces the eastern border of the archdiocese, as established in 973, along the Bug and Styr (or Stryi) rivers.Abraham ben Jacob, who travelled in Eastern Europe in 965, remarks that Boleslaus II of Bohemia ruled the country "stretching from the city of Prague to the city of Kraków".

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