The evolution of authority and power within Novgorod proved to be even more significant than the interventions of the Novgorodians on behalf
of their favorite princes. While we know of a few earlier instances when Novgorod refused to accept the prince allotted to the city - in one case advising that the appointee should come only if he had two heads - it is with the famous expulsion of a ruler in 1136 that the Novgorodians embarked upon their peculiar political course. After that date the prince of Novgorod became in essence a hired official of the city with strictly circumscribed authority and prerogatives. His position resembled that of the podesta in Italian city-states, and it made some historians refer to Novgorod as a "commercial republic." In 1156 Novgorod obtained virtual independence in religious administration too by seizing the right to elect its own archbishop. To be exact, under the new system the Novgorodian veche selected three candidates for the position of archbishop; next, one of the three was chosen by lot to fill the high office; and, finally, he was elevated to his new ecclesiastical rank by the head of the Russian Church, the metropolitan.
The emergence of Novgorod as an independent principality formed a part of the general process of collapse of the Kievan state accompanied by the appearance of competing regional entities which were frequently mutually hostile. For Novgorod the great rivals were the potentates of the northeast, notably the princes of Suzdal, who controlled the upper reaches of the Volga and thus the Volga trade artery and who - the most important point - could cut the grain supply of Novgorod. Moreover, for centuries vast and distant lands in northeastern Russia remained in contention between the city of Novgorod and the princes of the northeast, at times owing allegiance to both. In 1216 the Novgorodians, led by the dashing prince Mstislav of Toropets, scored a decisive victory over their rivals at Lipitsa. But, although Novgorod also acquitted itself well in subsequent struggles, the troublesome issues remained to be resolved finally only with the destruction of the independence of Novgorod and its absorption into the Muscovite state.
Novgorod's defense of Russian lands from foreign invasions, stemming from its location in the northwestern corner of Russia, might well have had a greater historical significance than its wars against other Russian principalities. The most celebrated chapter of this defense is linked to the name of Prince Alexander, known as Alexander Nevskii, that is, of the Neva, for his victory over the Swedes on the banks of that river. Alexander became the prince of Novgorod and later the grand prince of Russia at a particularly difficult time in the history of his country. Born in 1219 and dying in 1263, Alexander had to face the Mongol invasion and the imposition of the Mongol yoke on Russia, and he also was forced to deal with major assaults on Russia from Europe. These assaults came from the Swedes and the Teutonic Knights, while neighboring Finnish and especially strong Lithuanian tribes applied additional pressure. The German attack
was the most ominous: it represented a continuation and extension of the long-term German drive eastward which had already resulted in the Ger-manization or extermination of many Baltic Slavic and western Lithuanian tribes and which had spread to the Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian neighbors of Russia. A forcible conversion of all these peoples to Roman Catholicism, as well as their subjugation and Germanization, constituted the aims of the Teutonic Knights who had begun as a crusading order in the Holy Land and later transferred their activities to the Baltic area.
In the year in which Kiev fell to the Mongols, 1240, Alexander seized the initiative and led the Novgorodians to a victory over the advancing Swedes on the banks of the Neva River. The chronicles tell us that Alexander himself wounded the Swedish commander Birger, who barely escaped capture. In the meantime the Teutonic Knights had begun their systematic attack on northwestern Russian lands in 1239, and they succeeded in 1241 in capturing Pskov. Having defeated the Swedes and settled some differences with the Novgorodians, Alexander Nevskii turned against the new invaders. In short order he managed to drive them back and free Pskov. What is more, he carried warfare into enemy territory. The crucial battle took place on April 5, 1242, on the ice of Lake Chud, or Peipus, in Estonia. It became known in Russian historical tradition as "the massacre on the ice" and has been celebrated in song and story - more recently in Prokofiev's music and Eisenstein's brilliant film Alexander Nevskii. The massed force of mailclad and heavily armed German knights and their Finnish allies struck like an enormous battering ram at the Russian lines; the lines sagged but held long enough for Alexander Nevskii to make an enveloping movement with a part of his troops and assail an enemy flank; a complete rout of the Teutonic Knights followed, the spring ice breaking under them to aid their destruction.
Alexander Nevskii's victories were important, but they represented only a single sequence in the continuous struggle of Novgorod against its western and northwestern foes. Two Soviet specialists have calculated that between 1142 and 1446 Novgorod fought the Swedes twenty-six times, the German knights eleven times, the Lithuanians fourteen times, and the Norwegians five times. The German knights then included the Livonian and the Teutonic orders, which merged in 1237.
Relations with the Mongols took a different turn. Although the Mongol invasion failed to reach Novgorod, the principality together with other Russian lands submitted to the khan. In fact, the great warrior Alexander Nevskii himself instituted this policy of co-operation with the Mongols, becoming a favorite of the khan and thus the grand prince of Russia from 1252 until his death in 1263. Alexander Nevskii acted as he did because of a simple and sound reason: he considered resistance to the Mongols hopeless. And it was especially because of his humble submission to the
khan and his consequent ability to preserve the principality of Novgorod as well as some other Russian lands from ruin that the Orthodox Church canonized Alexander Nevskii.
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.