The Novgorod area was a thickly wooded and marshy land, a huge territory in northeastern Russia, stretching all the way to the Arctic Ocean, in the north, and to the Urals, in the east. It teemed with fur-bearing and other animals, but was not quite suitable for land cultivation. So the local population, - Finno-Ugrian tribes, - engaged in fishing and hunting. As the Slavs who had come here began to reclaim this land, they introduced their culture and built a number of towns that became a kind of trading stations in the north of the Kiev Rus. Novgorod sprang into existence in the 9th century on the Volkhov river, at the crossroads of the trade routes from the Baltic countries to Byzantium, which was of importance both to the Kiev Rus and the whole of Northern Europe. The city location was extremely favourable for developing foreign trade, which was Novgorodians’ main concern and the source of city wealth. Novgorod traded most briskly with what was known as the Hanse, an alliance
of German towns under Luebeck. There Novgorod’s second most important export was wax. The Orthodox and Catholic churches consumed great amounts of wax to make candles from. Catholics, besides, used wax to make figurines showing the sore parts of the body. It was exclusively through Novgorod that Russian principalities traded in wax with Europe. The big, handsome city of Novgorod stood at the point where the Volkhov River has its beginning. The Novgorod Kremlin rose on a hill, topping the left bank of the river; beyond those walls could be seen the gleaming gold spires of the Cathedral of St.Sophia. This was known as the Sophia area, while that on the right bank was called the trading area. All Novgorod’s trade was transacted in this part of the town, which was linked to the other by a big bridge. The streets of Novgorod were always crowded, even on weekdays. Merchants who had been to many countries claimed they had never seen anything to equal it, except perhaps in Tsargrad, as Constantinople was then known in Russia. The towns in Germany, they said, could not match Novgorod for size. It was a very big, well-built town, with many handsome buildings. It was easily seen that the residents of Novgorod were good householders who liked order. The main thoroughfare as well as the side streets were overlaid with wide planks; the ditches were well-swept and clean, while sunk into the ground near every house stood a barrel full of water – to be used in the event of fire. Moored to the many piers lining the riverbanks were vessels from many towns and countries. They were so numerous that when fire did break out on one bank it would leap from one ship to the next and finally reach the other bank. Trade was very brisk. Counters in the stores of the northern merchants
were piled high with furs and walrus tasks. Staid Persians and Armenians
and lively Jews would finger mink, ermine, beaver, fox and rabbit furs,
while German The variety of textiles on display in Novgorod ranged all the way from Flemish and Danish broadcloth to Venetian velvets and Persian silks. Next to the tradesmen’s stores stood the counters of Novgorod artisans. Noblemen and merchants milled around the smithy while their wives waited patiently for their rings, bowls or ornaments to go with their furs. Molten gold was poured into intricate molds to the tapping of little hammers. It was merchant companies and associations that pursued Novgorod’s foreign policy. These associations were centred around a patronizing church. The biggest and most influential trade association was the “Ivanovo merchantry” at St. John the Precursor’s church “na Opokakh”. The association brought together well-off merchants trading in wax and other wares with West European countries. Only those who could pay a heavy entrance fee of 50 silver ingots with a total weight of more than 10 kilos were granted membership. Novgorod churches were quite important in trading since they were the only stone structures of the time, and church cellars were the best place to keep wares and accounting books in. It was both merchants and boyars (noblemen), and the clergy who engaged in trade. That city life was permeated with the spirit of free enterprise is borne out by Novgorod tales, including the Tale of Sadko, a psaltery-player whom the Sea King awarded a huge catch of fish for his excellent playing, thus making him a very rich man. Sadko became one of Novgorod’s first merchants and once set out on an overseas voyage aboard his ships. The Sea King demanded that he should pay what tribute Sadko owed him, but since Sadko chose not to pay anything, the Sea King stopped his ships and demanded that Sadko himself should turn up at his Court. When in the undersea world, Sadko started playing his psaltery to please the Sea King. The King started dancing and could not stop, causing a storm that drowned other merchants’ ships. St. Nicholas, who is the seamen’s Saint, appeared before Sadko and told him to stop playing, thereby saving the Sea King. It is this folk tale that Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera “Sadko” is based on. In addition to being able merchants and craftsmen, Novgorodians were also completely literate. Probably no other medieval town could boast a population, all of whom were able to read and write. It was back in the 11th century that the first-ever school in Rus was set up in Novgorod. Children were taught the alphabet at the age of 5 or 6. Birch bark was used for writing. Many of these priceless documents have been unearthed. They tell us about life in Novgorod at that time, about the cares and joys of its inhabitants in all walks of life. Small wonder that the rich and cultured city, situated far away from
the Old Rus capital Kiev, Novgorod grew Frequent conflicts between the Kiev princes undermined their authority in the 12th century. Novgorod boyars, - the nobles, - tired of the repeated change in the rulers, had finally won the right to choose their own rulers or make them step down if those failed to live up to Novgorodians’ expectations. In short, the authority of the Kiev princes in Novgorod was nominal. The supreme body of power in Novgorod was a general assembly known as the veche, which chose their executive officer from among the local boyars to decide on all problems of vital importance. Novgorod the Great had thus become a republic. A bell summoned the members of the veche to a meeting on the Trading area square. Only men were allowed to take part. A many-thousand strong crowd would care little for order or the need to respect the speakers and each other, so the meetings were noisy and stormy ones, with matters decided by the strength of cries, rather than by the number of votes. If differences arose, the veche broke in two, and then one assembly was called in the Trading area, while the other – on the St. Sophia’s Cathedral side. The opposing factions met each other on the bridge across the Volkhov, and sometimes it came to fist fights. Bloodsheds would have been a regular occurrence, had it not been for the interference of the clergy. The ill fame of the Volkhov bridge gave rise to the following legend. When Novgorodians were baptized, they threw their idol Perun into the river. The idol was carried along by the water, and on reaching the bridge, he threw his cane at it and said: “Take this, Novgorodians, to remember me by”. From then on fist fights became a frequent occurrence on the bridge. It was democracy of sorts. Formally power was vested in the popular assembly, but the republic was actually run by the boyars, though they did have to reckon with what other assembly members thought of the problems of importance to the city. Economic inequality gave rise to political inequality, prompting discord and revolts that shook the boyar republic. The history of Novgorod is largely similar to that of the medieval Florence, a rich aristocracy-run trading republic, torn apart by the endless strife of feudal parties, and by the struggle of the poor citizens against the rich noblemen. Architectural monuments that survived the adversities of the last one thousand years, namely churches and stone structures are evidence of Novgorod’s wealth and advanced cultural standards. One of the oldest is St. Sophia’s Cathedral. It was built in the early 11th century by Prince Vladimir to replace the 13-dome wooden church that was built in the year Russia was baptized, in the 10th century. St. Sophia’s Cathedral became to be the republic’s main church and its symbol. At that time the expression “to die for St. Sophia’s” meant to fall on the battlefield for Novgorod. The six-domed Cathedral is crowned by a lead dove, a symbol of the Holy Spirit. The Cathedral was magnificently painted, and some fragments of the paintings have survived to this day. The Cathedral was both the place of worship and the political and economic
centre of Novgorod. It was also the city treasury, the place where foreign
ambassadors were received and trade and military alliances concluded. The relics of Saint Prince Vladimir, the founder of the Cathedral, and his mother Princess Ingigerda, christened Irene, who was the daughter of the Swedish King Olaf Sketkonung, are also kept at St. Sophia’s. According to Swedish legends, she was a very intelligent and courageous lady. Shortly before her death she took the veil, thus ushering in the custom for princes and princesses to take monastic vows before their death. The custom was observed until the 17th century. The Cathedral also holds the burial-vault of the only prince that Novgorodians had elected, Mstislav Udaloi, or the Daring, who was granted that honour for saving the city twice at times of trouble. Novgorod did not suffer as much from the Mongol-Tatar invasions as Kiev
and other Old Rus cities did. What’s more, when southern and central Rus
was devastated by their incursions in the 13th century, Novgorod was living
through a period of uplift in many areas. The great city power began to
decline by the 14th century. The residents’ sagging morale undercut its
economic and military might, and Novgorod fell prey to its powerful neighbour,
the Moscow principality, which used force to annex it. Eventually the once
rich boyar republic, Novgorod the Great, became the backyard of the Moscow
principality.
Illustrations: B.Rybakov, “The World of History. Ancient Russia”,
1984. Drawings by K.Soshinskaya
11/25/2004
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was
a so-called “German courtyard” in Novgorod, with St. Peter’s church in
it. German merchants enjoyed special privileges, they were allowed, for
instance, to enter any of the republic’s harbours. That the Hanse was keenly
interested in cementing trade relations with Novgorod is borne out by the
following episode. In 1293 Swedes founded Vyborg and began to attack merchant
caravans heading for Novgorod by the Neva. German merchants asked their
King Adolph I to interfere, so he had mediated an agreement with Sweden
under which the German merchants were allowed to take to Novgorod anything
with the exception of arms and iron, to prevent the Russian city from building
up its military power.
buyers
bargained over blocks of perfumed wax and clerks called out. “Green beads
from Hormuz! Swords from Baghdad!”
eventually
strong and decided to cast off the yoke of the Kiev lords.
