Veliky Novgorod
Veliky Novgorod, also known simply as Novgorod, is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the oldest cities in Russia, being first mentioned in the 9th century. The city lies along the Volkhov River just downstream from its outflow from Lake Ilmen and is situated on the M10 federal highway connecting Moscow and Saint Petersburg. UNESCO recognized Novgorod as a World Heritage Site in 1992. The city has a population of At its peak during the 14th century, the city was the capital of the Novgorod Republic and was one of Europe's largest cities. The "Великий" part was added to the city's name in 1999.
Climate
Veliky Novgorod has a humid continental climate. The city has warm summers with temperatures reaching over 30 °C and relatively cold winters with frequent snowfall. The lowest air temperature ever recorded is -45 °C. The warmest month is July with a daily mean of 18.7 °C, the coldest month is February with a daily mean of -6 °C. The highest amount of precipitation is on average in June with 73 mm of precipitation, the driest is March with 30 mm of precipitation. The annual amount of precipitation is 603 mm.History
Early developments
The Sofia First Chronicle makes initial mention of it in 859, while the Novgorod First Chronicle first mentions it in 862, when it was purportedly already a major Baltic-to-Byzantium station on the trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks. The Charter of Veliky Novgorod recognizes 859 as the year when the city was first mentioned. Novgorod is traditionally considered to be a cradle of Russian statehood.However, chronicles may have attributed the city's existence to this period retrospectively, since the reliably dated archaeological layers of Novgorod date back no earlier than the 930s. Novgorod appeared around the turn of the 9th and 10th centuries or at the beginning of the 10th century.
The archaeological excavations in the middle to late 20th century found cultural layers dating back to the late 10th century, the time of the Christianization of Rus' and a century after it was allegedly founded. Archaeological dating is fairly easy and accurate to within 15–25 years, as the streets were paved with wood, and most of the houses made of wood, allowing tree ring dating.
The Varangian name of the city, or , is used in Norse Sagas at a yet earlier stage, but the correlation of this reference with the actual city is uncertain. Originally, Holmgård referred to the stronghold, now only to the south of the center of the present-day city, Rurikovo Gorodische. Archaeological data suggests that the Gorodishche, the residence of the knyaz, dates from the mid-9th century, whereas the town itself dates only from the end of the 10th century; hence the name Novgorod, "new city", from Old East Slavic новъ and городъ ; the Old Norse term Nýgarðr is a calque of an Old Russian word. First mention of this Norse etymology to the name of the city of Novgorod occurs in the 10th-century policy manual De Administrando Imperio by Byzantine emperor Constantine VII.
Princely state within Kievan Rus'
In 882, Rurik's successor, Oleg of Novgorod, conquered Kiev and founded the state of Kievan Rus'. Novgorod's size as well as its political, economic, and cultural influence made it the second most important city in Kievan Rus'. According to a custom, the elder son and heir of the ruling Kievan monarch was sent to rule Novgorod even as a minor. When the ruling monarch had no such son, Novgorod was governed by posadniks, such as the legendary Gostomysl, Dobrynya, Konstantin, and Ostromir.Yaroslav the Wise was Prince of Novgorod from 1010 to 1019, while his father, Vladimir the Great, was a prince in Kiev. Yaroslav promulgated the first written code of laws among the Eastern Slavs and is said to have granted the city a number of freedoms or privileges, which they often referred to in later centuries as precedents in their relations with other princes. His son, Vladimir of Novgorod, sponsored construction of the great Saint Sophia Cathedral, more accurately translated as the Cathedral of Holy Wisdom, which stands to this day.
Early foreign ties
In Norse sagas the city is mentioned as the capital of Gardariki. Many Viking kings and yarls came to Novgorod seeking refuge or employment, including Olaf I of Norway, Olaf II of Norway, Magnus I of Norway, and Harald Hardrada. No more than a few decades after the 1030 death and subsequent canonization of Olaf II of Norway, the city's community had erected in his memory Saint Olaf's Church in Novgorod.The Gotland town of Visby functioned as the leading trading center in the Baltic Sea region before the Hanseatic League. In 1080, Visby merchants established a trading post at Novgorod which they named Gutagard. Later, in the first half of the 13th century, merchants from northern Germany also established their own trading station in Novgorod, known as the Peterhof. At about the same time, in 1229, German merchants at Novgorod were granted certain privileges, which made their position more secure.
Novgorod Republic
In 1136, the Novgorodians dismissed their prince Vsevolod Mstislavich. The year is seen as the traditional beginning of the Novgorod Republic. The city was able to invite and dismiss a number of princes over the next two centuries, but the princely office was never abolished and powerful princes, such as Alexander Nevsky, could assert their will in the city regardless of what Novgorodians said. The city state controlled most of Europe's northeast, from lands east of today's Estonia to the Ural Mountains, making it one of the largest states in medieval Europe, although much of the territory north and east of Lakes Ladoga and Onega was sparsely populated and never organized politically.One of the most important local figures in Novgorod was the, or mayor, an official elected by the public assembly from among the city's boyars, or aristocracy. The, or "thousandman", originally the head of the town militia but later a commercial and judicial official, was also elected by the. Another important local official was the Archbishop of Novgorod who shared power with the boyars. Archbishops were elected by the or by the drawing of lots, and after their election, were sent to the metropolitan for consecration.
While a basic outline of the various officials and the can be drawn up, the city-state's exact political constitution remains unknown. The boyars and the archbishop ruled the city together, although where one official's power ended and another's began is uncertain. The prince, although his power was reduced from around the middle of the 12th century, was represented by his, or lieutenant, and still played important roles as a military commander, legislator and jurist. The exact composition of the, too, is uncertain, with some historians, such as Vasily Klyuchevsky, claiming it was democratic in nature, while later scholars, such as Valentin Yanin and Aleksandr Khoroshev, see it as a "sham democracy" controlled by the ruling elite.
In the 13th century, Novgorod, while not a member of the Hanseatic League, was the easternmost kontor, or entrepôt, of the league, being the source of enormous quantities of luxury and non-luxury furs.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the city thrived culturally. A large number of birch bark letters have been unearthed in excavations, perhaps suggesting widespread literacy. It was in Novgorod that the Novgorod Codex, the oldest Slavic book written north of Bulgaria, and the oldest inscription in a Finnic language were unearthed. Some of the most ancient Russian chronicles were written in the scriptorium of the archbishops who also promoted iconography and patronized church construction. The Novgorod merchant Sadko became a popular hero of Russian folklore.
Novgorod was never conquered by the Mongols during the Mongol invasion of Rus. The Mongol army turned back about from the city, not because of the city's strength, but probably because the Mongol commanders did not want to get bogged down in the marshlands surrounding the city. However, the grand princes of Moscow, who acted as tax collectors for the khans of the Golden Horde, did collect tribute in Novgorod, most notably Yury Danilovich and his brother, Ivan Kalita.
In 1259, Mongol tax-collectors and census-takers arrived in the city, leading to political disturbances and forcing Alexander Nevsky to punish a number of town officials for defying him as Grand Prince of Vladimir and his Mongol overlords. In the 14th century, raids by Novgorod pirates, or, sowed fear as far as Kazan and Astrakhan, assisting Novgorod in wars with the Grand Duchy of Moscow.
During the era of Old Rus' State, Novgorod was a major trade hub at the northern end of both the Volga trade route and the "route from the Varangians to the Greeks" along the Dnieper river system. A vast array of goods were transported along these routes and exchanged with local Novgorod merchants and other traders. The farmers of Gotland retained the Saint Olof trading house well into the 12th century. Later German merchantmen also established tradinghouses in Novgorod. Scandinavian royalty would intermarry with Russian princes and princesses.
After the great schism, Novgorod struggled from the beginning of the 13th century against Swedish, Danish, and German crusaders. During the Swedish-Novgorodian Wars, the Swedes invaded lands where some of the population had earlier paid tribute to Novgorod. The Germans had been trying to conquer the Baltic region since the late 12th century. Novgorod went to war 26 times with Sweden and 11 times with the Livonian Brothers of the Sword. The German knights, along with Danish and Swedish feudal lords, launched a series of uncoordinated attacks between 1240 and 1242. Novgorodian sources mention that a Swedish army was defeated in the Battle of the Neva in 1240. The Baltic German campaigns ended in failure after the Battle on the Ice in 1242. After the foundation of the castle of Viborg in 1293 the Swedes gained a foothold in Karelia. On 12 August 1323, Sweden and Novgorod signed the Treaty of Nöteborg, regulating their border for the first time.
In the 15th century, Novgorod faced significant struggles with food scarcity, which lasted for a decade in the mid-15th century. This scarcity had profound implications for the population and the city's stability during that time, including its downfall. Novgorod was a hub for trade, attracting German merchants in substantial numbers, around 200 German merchants resided in the trade city in the 1430s, comprising about 1% of the total population of Novgorod at that time. The interactions between these merchants and the local population contributed to the nature of Novgorod during that time, influencing its economic prosperity and cultural diversity.
The city's downfall occurred partially as a result of its inability to feed its large population, making it dependent on the Vladimir-Suzdal region for grain. The main cities in the area, Moscow and Tver, used this dependence to gain control over Novgorod. Eventually Ivan III forcibly annexed the city to the Grand Duchy of Moscow in 1478. The was dissolved and a significant part of Novgorod's aristocracy, merchants and smaller landholding families was deported to central Russia. The Hanseatic League kontor was closed in 1494 and the goods stored there were seized by Muscovite forces.