A history of Russia

Throughout the appanage period Novgorod remained one of the most important Russian principalities. It played a significant role in the rivalry between Moscow and Tver as well as in the struggle between Moscow and Lithuania. As Moscow successfully gathered other Russian lands, the position of Novgorod became increasingly difficult. Finally in 1471 the city surrendered to Ivan III of Moscow. Trouble followed several years later and in 1478 the Muscovites severely suppressed all opposition, exiling many people, and incorporated the city organically into the Moscow state.

Novgorod: Institutions and Way of Life

Novgorod was an impressive city. Its population at the time of its independence numbered more than 30,000. Its location on the river Volkhov in a lake district assisted commerce and communication and supported strong defense. The Volkhov flows from Lake Ilmen to Lake Ladoga, opening the way to the Baltic Sea and trade centers beyond. This complex of waterways represented the northern section of the famed commercial route 'from the Varangians to the Greeks,' and it also connected well with the Volga and trade routes going east. As to defense, its location and the skill of the Novgorodians made the city virtually inaccessible to the enemy, at least during much of the year. Novgorod reportedly possessed sturdy wooden walls with towers of stone, although recently a fourteenth-century stone wall was discovered. It found further protection in defensive perimeters constructed roughly two and a half, seven, and twelve miles from the city. These defensive lines frequently had monasteries as strong points, and they skillfully utilized the difficult terrain. In particular, the Novgorodians were excellent hydraulic engineers and knew how to divert water against an advancing enemy.

Like other medieval towns, Novgorod suffered from crowding because everyone wanted to dwell within the walls. The rich families and their servants lived in large houses built in solid blocks and the poorer inhabitants used whatever area they could obtain. The Volkhov divided the city into two halves: the commercial side, where the main market was located, and that of St. Sophia. On the St. Sophia side stood, of course, the cathedral itself as well as the ancient kremlin, or citadel, of the city. The Novgorodians enjoyed the advantages of fire protection, streets ingeniously paved with wood, and a wooden water pipe system, the principles of which they had learned from Byzantium.

Local initiative, organization, and autonomy constituted the distinguishing traits of Novgorod. Several block houses in the city composed a street

which already had the status of a self-governing unit with its own elected elder. Several streets formed a sotnia, that is, a hundred. Hundreds in their turn combined into quarters, or kontsy, which totaled five. Each konets enjoyed far-reaching autonomy: not only did it govern itself through its own veche and officials, but it also possessed separately a part of the piatina lands, a large area outside the city limits and subject to Novgorod. The piatina holdings of a particular konets usually radiated from its city boundary. It should be added that distant Novgorodian territories did not belong to the piatina lands and were managed by the city as a whole. Also, because of the autonomy of the kontsy, formal Novgorodian documents had to be confirmed at times with as many as eight seals: one for each of the five kontsy and three for central authorities.

The chief central official remained the prince, who commanded the army and played a major role in justice and in administration. However, after the popular revolution and the expulsion of 1136, the veche proceeded to impose severe and minute restrictions on his power and activities. We have the precise terms of a number of such contracts between princes and the city, the earliest concluded with Alexander Nevskii's brother Iaroslav in 1265. As in most of these contracts, the prince promised to follow ancient Novgorodian custom in his government, to appoint only Novgorodians as administrators of the city's lands, not to dismiss officials without court action, and not to hold court without the posadnik, an elected official, or his delegate to represent the city. He had to establish his headquarters outside the city limits; he and his druzhina could not own land in Novgorod or trade with the Germans; his remuneration as well as his rights to hunt and to fish were all regulated in great detail. Thus, although in the course of time the grand prince of Moscow or at least a member of the Muscovite ruling family came to hold the office of prince in Novgorod, his power there remained quite limited.

The posadnik and the tysiatskii, elected by the veche, shared executive duties with the prince and if need be, especially the posadnik, protected the interests of the city from the prince. The posadnik served as the prince's main associate and assistant, who took charge of the administration and the army in the prince's absence. The tysiatskii, or chiliarch, had apparently at least two important functions: he commanded the town regiment or thousand - hence probably his name - and he settled commercial disputes. He has sometimes been regarded as a representative of the common people of Novgorod. The archbishop of Novgorod must also be mentioned. In addition to performing the highest ecclesiastical functions in the principality, he continuously played a leading role in political affairs, presiding over the Council of Notables, advising secular authorities, reconciling antagonistic factions, and sometimes heading Novgorodian embassies abroad.

Truly outstanding was the power of the Novgorodian veche, or town council, which usually met in the main market place. As we have seen, it invited and dismissed the prince, elected the posadnik and the tysiatskii, and determined the selection of the archbishop by electing three candidates for that position. It decided the issues of war and peace, mobilized the army, proclaimed laws, raised taxes, and acted in general as the supreme authority in Novgorod. A permanent chancellery was attached to it. The veche could be called together by the prince, an official, the people, or even a single person, through ringing the veche bell. One might add parenthetically that the removal of the bell by the Muscovites symbolized the end of the independence of Novgorod and of its peculiar constitution. The veche, composed as usual of all free householders, did settle many important matters, but it also frequently bogged down in violent factional quarrels promoted by its practices of direct democracy and unanimity of decision. The Novgorodians won respect as independent and self-reliant people who managed their own affairs. Yet the archbishop made many solemn appearances at the veche in a desperate effort to restore some semblance of order; and a legend grew up that the statue of the pagan god Perun, dumped into the river when the Novgorodians became Christian, reappeared briefly to leave a stick with which the townspeople have belabored one another ever since.

The Council of Notables also rose into prominence in Novgorodian politics, both because the veche could not conduct day-to-day business efficiently and, still more fundamentally, as a reflection of the actual distribution of wealth and power in the principality. Presided over by the archbishop, it included a considerable number of influential boyars, notably present and past holders of the offices of posadnik and tysiatskii, as well as heads of the kontsy and of the hundreds. The Council elaborated the legislative measures discussed or enacted by the veche and could often control the course of Novgorodian politics. It effectively represented the wealthy, so to speak aristocratic, element in the principality.

The judicial system of Novgorod deserves special mention. It exhibited a remarkable degree of elaboration, organization, and complexity, as well as high juridical and humanitarian standards. The prince, the posadnik, the tysiatskii, and the archbishop, all had their particular courts. A system of jurymen, dokladchiki, functioned in the high court presided over by the posadnik; the jurymen, ten in number, consisted of one boyar and one commoner from each of the five kontsy. Novgorodian jurisprudence also resorted frequently to mediation: the contending persons were asked to nominate two mediators, and only when the four failed to reach an agreement did court action follow. Judicial combat, after a solemn kissing of the cross, was used to reach the right decision in certain dubious cases. There seem to have been instances of such combat even between women.

Novgorodian punishments remained characteristically mild. Although the death penalty was not unknown, they consisted especially of fines and, on particularly grave occasions, of banishment with the loss of property and possessions which could be pillaged at will by the populace. In contrast to the general practices of the time, torture occupied little, if any, place in the Novgorodian judicial process. Much evidence reflects the high regard for human life characteristic of Novgorod; the Novgorodian Chronicle at times refers to a great slaughter when it speaks of the killing of several persons.

Novgorod stood out as a great trading state. It exploited the enormous wealth of northern Russian forests, principally in furs, but also in wax and honey, for export to foreign markets, and it served, as already mentioned, as an intermediary point on extensive trade routes going in several directions. Manufactured goods, certain metals, and other items, such as herring, wine, and beer, were typical imports. Novgorod traded on a large scale with the