Leo II of Galicia, also known as Lev Yuriiovych (Ukrainian: Лев Юрійович, died in 1323) was Prince of Lutsk and Galicia (Latin: dux Galiciae), one of the last two Romanovichi rulers of Rus' (r. 1308–1323; according to some sources, 1315–23). He was a member of the senior branch of Monomakhovichi.
Leo was the son of King Yuri I (1252–1308), whom he succeeded on the royal throne of Galicia-Volhynia. His mother was Euphemia of Kuyavia. After the death of his father, he ruled the kingdom together with his brother Andrew. According to most sources, the brothers were co-kings, managing the kingdom together, but there are sources indicating that Lev II was seated in Halych and Andrew in Volodymyr, which would seem to imply split jurisdiction. The brothers' policy was aimed at weakening their principality's dependence on the Golden Horde by allying themselves with the Teutonic Knights and Poland.
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Reign
The first common letter of Lev II and Andrew dates to August 9, 1316. In it they renewed the union with the Prussian Crusaders (the Teutonic Order, also known as Teutonic Knights), whom they promised to defend from the Tatars and "any hostile invader"; the latter mention apparently referred to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, as that state at the time threatened not only the unity but also the very existence of both the Knights and the Galician state. In the second decade of 13th century, the Lithuanians increased their pressure upon Galicia-Volhynia, eventually wresting away control of Dorohychyn and Berestia. The years of the brothers' "joint" reign were in spent in more-or-less constant conflict with both the Gediminids of Lithuania and with their own nominal overlords, the Mongol-Tatars of the Golden Horde.
Lev II and Andrew established firm relations with the Polish High Duke (King) Władysław I and, as already pointed out above, with the crusading knights of the Teutonic Order, and worked to lessen the degree of their kingdom's subservience to the Golden Horde. They were also in union with the allies of King Władysław I – the Scandinavian Kings and the Pomorian Dukes – against the Margraves of Brandenburg (1315).




