[1] The principality emerged after the central power of Kievan Rus' declined in the late 11th century, and Sviatoslav Olgovich managed to establish a local dynasty, the Olgovichi, as a branch of the Rurikid house.

[2] Novgorod-Seversk was originally a subdivision of the Principality of Chernigov,[3] and would go on to include territories that were earlier part of Chernigov and the Principality of Pereyaslavl.

[4] In 1185, a large Rus' campaign against the Cumans (Polovtsy) ended in defeat for Prince Igor of Novgorod-Seversk, famously recorded in The Tale of Igor's Campaign.

[5][3] After the 1205 death of Roman the Great, the first prince of Galicia–Volhynia, the three sons of Igor seized power in Halych and reigned between 1206 and 1212.

[citation needed] In the fifteenth century the principality was given to Prince Ivan of Mozhaisk when he fled from Grand Prince Vasily II of Moscow.