Rusyn

The Rusyns are the East Slavic highlanders of the Eastern Carpathians, around Uzhhorod and Mukachevo, which in 1337 belonged to the Kingdom of Hungary. They grew from waves of Slavic settlers between the eighth and seventeenth centuries, including White Croats and Rus' migrants joined by Vlach shepherds. Their highland groups included the Boykos, Hutsuls and Lemkos.

In 1241 Batu Khan's Mongol army swept through the Veretski Pass, burning villages and emptying the valleys. In 1396 the exiled Lithuanian prince Theodor Koriatovich made Mukachevo his seat, built up its castle and founded an Orthodox monastery, drawing Ruthenian migrants from Podolia.

Under Hungarian rule much of the population later entered the Greek Catholic Church while keeping its Eastern rite and Rusyn speech. By the Partitions of Poland in 1772 the Carpathian lands were under the Habsburg monarchy.