Table Of ContentT H E CHRONICLE
OF N O V G O R O D
IO16-I47I
T H E C H R O N I C L E
OF NOVGOROD
1016-1471
TRANSLATED FROM THE RUSSIAN
BY
ROBERT M ICHELL
AND
NEVILL FORBES, Ph.D.
Reader in Russian in the University of Oxford
W ITH AN IN T RO D U CT IO N BY
C. RAYMOND BEAZLEY, D.Litt.
Professor of Modern History in the University of Birmingham
AND AN ACCOUNT OF THE TEXT BY
A. A. SHAKHMATOV
Professor in the University of St. Petersburg
CAMDEN THIRD SERIES
VOL. XXV
LONDON
OFFICES OF THE SOCIETY
6 » 7 SOUTH SQUARE
g r a y ’s in n , w.c.
1914
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
General Introduction (and Notes to Introduction) . vii-xxxvi
Account of the T e x t.........................................................xxxvii-xli
Lists of Titles, Technical terms, etc.....................................xlii-xliii
The C hronicle.........................................................................1-220
A ppendix.....................................................................................221
Note on the Bibliography.......................................................223-4
Index .........................................................................................225-37
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
I. THE REPUBLIC OF NOVGOROD
“ Lord Novgorod the Great/' Gospodin Vdikii Novgorod, as it once
called itself, is the starting-point of Russian history. It is also
without a rival among the Russian city-states of the Middle Ages.
Kiev and Moscow are greater in political importance, especially in
the earliest and latest mediaeval times—before the Second Crusade
and after the fall of Constantinople—but no Russian town of any
age has the same individuality and self-sufficiency, the same sturdy
republican independence, activity, and success.
Who can stand against God and the Great Novgorod ?—Kto protiv
Boga % Vdikago Novgoroda ?—was the famous proverbial expression
of this self-sufficiency and success.
From the beginning of the Crusading Age to the fall of the
Byzantine Empire Novgorod is unique among Russian cities, not
only for its population, its commerce, and its citizen army (assuring
it almost complete freedom from external domination even in the
Mongol Age), but also as controlling an empire, or sphere of influence,
extending over the far North from Lapland to the Urals and the Ob.
The modem provinces of Novgorod, Olonets, and Archangel, with
portions of Vologda, Perm, and Tobolsk, represent this empire.1
The great Novgorod of the Middle Ages, the quiet, decayed cathe
dral town of to-day, lies on both sides of the deep and broad Vol
khov, on its way from Lake Ilmen to Ladoga and the Baltic. Here
we are about one hundred miles south-east of St. Petersburg.
As in the Middle Ages, the Side or Quarter of St. Sophia still lies
on the left of the Volkhov, the Commercial Side on the right. The
eleventh-century cathedral of the Holy Wisdom, " Saint Sophia,"
is still one of the historical monuments of Russia, while the walls of
the Kremlin of Novgorod show how slender was the fourteenth-
century Russian skill in fortification.1
But the mighty turbulent Republic is no more. The modem
town, of some 26,000 people, has little more than a tenth, perhaps,
of its old numbers, when to Ghillibert de Lannoy, coming from the
Low Countries in 1413, it appeared “ of prodigious greatness."8
The Hanseatic Market is a memory. The ancient earthem ramparts
are in mins, and of their stone towers only one, The White, still
stands on the south of the city. Quite as ruinous is the Tower of
Yaroslav, overlooking that Court of Yaroslav, which was once the
viii THE CHRONICLE OF NOVGOROD
favourite meeting-place of the popular assemblies. The great bell
which summoned the citizens to these assemblies, or to riot, hangs
there no longer. More than from Florence or from Ghent has the
old life departed, which made Novgorod a Slavonic counterpart of
the city-states of Italy or of Flanders.4
Novgorod, in the days of its power, is in name an elective Princi
pality, in fact something like a democratic Republic. The Veche, or
General Assembly of the citizens, is the ultimate and irresistible
authority, though its ordinary activities are of course limited by
other forces, ecdesiastical, commercial, aristocratic, and princely.
(i) The power of these Electoral Knyazes or Princes rests mainly on
their own personality, and their capacity of maintaining popularity
and organizing support. In modem language, Novgorod is largely
governed by the party system. While the Prince can command a
majority, or at least avoid open defeat, he is secure, except against
surprise: as soon as his party is the weaker, the result is inevitable.
In the language of the Chronicle, they “ show him the way out.**
From the earliest times the citizens are noted for their " free
spirit.** At the beginning of Russian history we have their tradi
tional revolt against the very Rurik they had just called in to found
the new Slav-Scandinavian people of Rus—" Our Land is great,
but there is no Order or Justice in it; come and . . . rule over us.**
A century later, Svyatoslav proposes to govern Novgorod by ordi
nary officials, but the city insists on a son of the Grand Prince.
" We know how to find another Knyaz.'* The menace is heeded
(964-72).
Yaroslav the Lawgiver (1016-54), one of the real statesmen of
Russian history, fully recognizes the power and value of Novgorod.
Above all his other favours, tradition singles out the Charters or
Privileges granted by him to the city—a Russian parallel to the
“ Good Laws of Edward the Confessor,** or the German Town
Charters of Charles the Great.4
As the old Russian Federation, under the Grand Princes of Kiev,
falls to pieces in the twelfth century, Novgorod republicanism de
velops. The sovereignty is treated as purely elective, and depo
sition becomes well-nigh parallel to election. A prince installed one
year may be " shown out ** the next.
Thus in 1136 (taking examples only from the time of Stephen
and Henry II of England) the men of Novgorod seize and imprison
Prince Vsyevolod in the Archbishop's palace “ with his wife and
children, and his mother-in-law,’* and finally expel him.
INTRODUCTION ix
The next prince reigns less than a year; his successor is driven out
after "twenty-one months." In 1141 the city "sat without a
prince ” nine months, and the man next chosen is put in the Arch
bishop’s Palace and " let go ” after a few weeks.
Again in 1154 Novgorod turns out its prince, and " fetches in "
another, who soon goes to reign at Kiev, leaving his son David in
his place. David is " shown the road ” before the close of this same
year (1154).
In 1157 David’s successor, despite the support of the Commercial
Quarter, has to fly under cover of night. The prince next appointed
(in 1158) is shown the way to Ladoga in 1160—only to be restored,
" with his full liberty,’’ after " a year less than a week,’* when his
rival and supplanter is " fetched away.’’ And in this way examples
might be tenfold multiplied.*
There is another side to the picture. In the changeful line of
Novgorod princes, we meet sometimes with men who rule. Yaro
slav the Lawgiver, in the eleventh century, is such a sovereign;
Alexander Nevsky, in the thirteenth, is another. From 1240,
when he gains his " eponymous ’’ triumph upon the Neva, till his
death in 1263, Alexander dominates Novgorod. He even makes
the Republic diplomatic. After the intoxicating victories of the
Neva over the Swedes (1240), and of Lake Chudskoe over the Ger
man Knights (1242), it was hard to submit to the Mongol tax-
Sitherer (as in 1259). But Alexander realizes that to defy the
orde is to complete the desolation of Russia. The hero of Nov
gorod at last persuades her of the humiliating truth. He rides out
with the Mongol emissaries, whom he had guarded day and night
from mob violence, and under his protection " the accursed ones ’*
go " through the streets, writing down the houses of the Christians.”
To save the Russian remnant, Alexander journeys repeatedly to the
Western Tartar army (or Golden Horde) upon the Volga—once
at least to the Great Khan in Mongolia (1246-50). Death overtakes
him on his way home from the Golden Horde in 1263. The news
reaches Novgorod as the Eucharist is finishing; turning to the people.
Archbishop Cyril tells the disaster—" The sun of the Russian land
has set, my children.” " Grant, Merciful Lord,” exclaims the
Chronicler, " that he may see Thy Face in the age to come, for he
has laboured for Novgorod, and for the whole Russian land.”7
Yet even this hero of the North, fresh from the victory of the
Neva, has for a time to leave Novgorod, " with his mother and his
wife. . . having quarrelled ” with the citizens. Better thoughts
X THE CHRONICLE OF NOVGOROD
come with reflection. At the beginning of the next year Alex
ander is recalled (1241).8
As time goes on, and Eastern and Western Christendom see the
growth of more powerful monarchical states, the Novgorod princedom
further declines, and at last we find the citizens doubting only whether
to become frankly Muscovite or disloyally Polish (1471).®
(ii) The crisis of 1471, ended by the victory of Moscow, brings into
relief the second person in the temporal polity of the Republic—in
" the accursed " Posadnitsa Martha, wife of the Posadnik, Gover
nor, or Burgomaster Simon Boretsky. This remarkable woman, a
Russian parallel to Elizabeth of England, Catherine de Medici, and
the rest of the brilliant female offspring of the Classical Renaissance,
almost succeeds in detaching Novgorod from Russia and the
Eastern Church, and is therefore not greatly flattered by the
Chronicle of the city, in a last section thoroughly pervaded by
Muscovite influence. The hatred of her opponents shows the
influence which one Posadnik at least is able to exercise. But
usually the Posadniks, like the princes, are creatures of the popular
will. They are set up and cast down almost as frequently, and their
fate is harder. Deposed princes are " shown the road," but deposed
or unpopular governors are often killed. Thus in 1134, 1146, 1156,
1161, 1171, 1172, 1175, 1189, 1205, 1219, we hear, within one cen
tury only, of Posadniks expelled or restored; in 1167 and 1209 of
Posadniks executed or proscribed.10
The Posadnik riots of 1209 give us a vivid picture of the city in
uproar. " The men of Novgorod held a Veche over Posadnik
Dmitri and his brethren . . . And they went to plunder their courts
[houses] and set fire to . . . [them], seizing their effects, and selling
their villages and servants . .. taking of their treasures a countless
quantity.*' Later Dmitri is brought in dead, and Novgorod would
have thrown the body from the bridge, “ but the archbishop forbade.'*
“ And they kissed the Cross that they would not keep Dmitri’s
children " in the city.11
Strong governors perhaps appear more often than strong princes.
And such governors play a leading part in home and foreign politics,
as in 1135,1214,1215,1264.”
At times, as in 1218, the Novgorod Democracy keeps a Posadnik
in office, in defiance of the Prince. “ He is blameless, and we will
not give in to this." Yet next year the fickle monster may displace
its favourite, only to replace him the same winter.10
