Novgorod
▪ Russia
also called Velikiy Novgorod
city and administrative centre of Novgorod oblast (region), northwestern Russia, on the Volkhov River just below its outflow from Lake Ilmen. Novgorod is one of the oldest Russian cities, first mentioned in chronicles of 859. In 882 Oleg, prince of Novgorod, captured Kiev and moved his capital there. In 989, under Vladimir, Novgorod's inhabitants were forcibly baptized. In 1019 Prince Yaroslav I the Wise of Kiev granted the town a charter of self-government; the town assembly, or veche, elected their prince, chiefly as a military commander. After 1270 the veche elected only a burgomaster, and sovereignty resided in the town itself, which was styled Lord Novgorod the Great. The town was divided into five ends, each with its own assembly and each responsible for one-fifth of Novgorod's extensive territorial possessions. It flourished as one of the greatest trading centres of eastern Europe, with links by river routes to the Baltic, Byzantium, Central Asia, and all parts of European Russia. Trade with the Hanseatic League was considerable since Novgorod was the limit of Hanseatic trade into Russia. Prosperity was based upon furs obtained in the forests of northern Russia, much of which came under Novgorod's control. “Daughter” towns were founded by Novgorod in the 12th century at Vologda and Vyatka.
During the 12th century, Novgorod was engaged in prolonged struggles with the princes of Suzdal and gained victories in 1169 and 1216. Although the town avoided destruction in the great Tatar invasion of 1238–40, Tatar suzerainty was acknowledged. Under Alexander Nevsky, prince of Vladimir, Novgorod's defenders repulsed attacks by the Swedes on the Neva River in 1240 and by the Teutonic Knights on the ice of Lake Peipus in 1242. During the 14th and 15th centuries, Novgorod was involved in a long, bitter struggle for supremacy with Moscow and frequently sought help from Lithuania. Although the city survived Muscovite onslaughts in 1332 and again in 1386 by Dmitry Donskoy, it was defeated by Vasily II in 1456. It continued to oppose Moscow and again sought Lithuanian assistance, but in 1471 Ivan III the Great defeated Novgorod and annexed much of its northern territories, finally forcing the city to recognize Moscow's sovereignty in 1478. Opposition by its citizens to Moscow continued until Ivan IV the Terrible in 1570 massacred many of them and deported the survivors. In 1611 Novgorod was captured by the Swedes, who held it for eight years. From the reign (1682–1725) of Peter I the Great, the city declined in importance, although it was made a provincial seat in 1727.
During World War II, the city suffered heavy damage, but the many historic buildings were subsequently restored. These include the kremlin on the Volkhov left bank (the Sofiyskaya Storona). It was first built of wood in 1044, and its first stone walls date from the 14th century. Within the kremlin, the St. Sofia Cathedral, built in 1045–50 on the site of an earlier wooden church, is one of the finest examples of early Russian architecture, with magnificent bronze doors from the 12th century. From the 15th century date the Granite Palace (1433), the bell tower (1443), and the St. Sergey Chapel. The Chapel of St. Andrew Stratilata was built in the 17th century. Across the Volkhov (the Torgovaya Storona) stands the Cathedral of St. Nicholas, dating from 1113. In and around Novgorod are many other surviving churches, including the 12th-century cathedrals of the Nativity of Our Lady and of St. George, the 14th-century churches of the Transfiguration and of St. Theodore Stratilata, and the 17th-century Znamensky Cathedral. Novgorod's many medieval monuments and 14th-century frescoes were collectively designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1992.
Modern Novgorod is important as a tourist centre and as a major producer of chemical fertilizers. It also has metal and woodworking industries. Pop. (2006 est.) 217,706.
▪ oblast, Russia
oblast (region), northwestern Russia, extending across the morainic Valdai Hills, which rise to 971 ft (296 m); the lowland basins of Lake Ilmen lie to the west and of the upper Volga River to the east. Much of the oblast's terrain is in swamp of peat bog or reed and grass marsh, with innumerable small lakes. The remainder (about 60 percent) is mostly in mixed forest of spruce, oak, pine, and birch, and soils are usually infertile. Agriculture is poorly developed, with under one-tenth of the area plowed. Dairying, especially to supply the Leningrad market, is the principal activity, with some cultivation of flax, rye, oats, and potatoes. Since 1870, much swamp has been drained for pasture and improved forest. Much peat is cut for fuel. Machine-building, metalworking, chemical, and food-processing industries have been developed. Aside from Borovichi, Staraya Russa, and the oblast headquarters, Novgorod city, settlements are small and engaged in processing timber and flax. Area 21,400 square miles (55,300 square km). Pop. (2006 est.) 665,365.
veche
▪ medieval Russian assembly
popular assembly that was a characteristic institution in Russia from the 10th to the 15th century. The veche probably originated as a deliberative body among early Slavic tribes. As the tribes settled in permanent trading centres, which later became cities, the veche remained as an element of democratic rule, sharing power with a prince and an aristocratic council. Although its power varied from city to city, the veche generally could accept or reject the prince who “inherited” the city and, by controlling the town's militia, could veto a prince's plans for a military campaign.
In Novgorod, where the veche acquired its greatest power, it was able to choose the city's prince, to enter into a contract with him that specifically defined and limited his powers, and to dismiss him. It also elected the major military and civil officials subordinate to the prince. In most areas the veche ruled both a city and its dependent villages; the heads of families in the entire region were entitled to participate in its sessions, which could be convoked by the prince, the town officials, or the citizenry. (Usually only the townsmen attended the meetings and the veche thus became a representative of urban interests.) The veche met irregularly; it had no formal procedural rules, and decisions were reached when one side gave up.
During the 11th and 12th centuries the veche acquired its greatest power but gradually lost importance with the decline of the old trading cities in the central Dnieper River region. The political centre of Russia was shifting to the northeastern region, where newer cities lacked the strong urban classes capable of developing their own political organs and of successfully competing with the authority of the princes. After the Mongol invasion of Russia (1240), the veche was further weakened; it was suppressed by the Mongols, who wanted to control the townspeople, considered to be the greatest opponents of Mongol rule. The Russian princes also aided the Mongol suppression in order to curtail the power of the institution.
By the middle of the 14th century the veche in most Russian cities no longer functioned as an independent, permanent governing body, although it sporadically reappeared in times of crisis. In Novgorod the veche survived until 1478, when the Muscovite grand prince Ivan III conquered that city and abolished it; the Pskov veche was similarly dissolved in 1510.
Lithuania, grand duchy of
▪ historical state, Europe
state, incorporating Lithuania proper, Belorussia, and the western Ukraine, which became one of the most influential powers in eastern Europe (14th–16th century). Pressed by the crusading Teutonic and Livonian Knights, the Lithuanian tribes united under Mindaugas (d. 1263) and formed a strong, cohesive grand duchy during the reign of Gediminas (reigned 1316–41), who extended their frontiers across the upper Dvina River in the northeast to the Dnieper River in the southeast and to the Pripet Marshes in the south. After Gediminas' death, two of his sons succeeded him: Kęstutis ruled Lithuania proper, preventing territorial encroachments from the German knights and their allies, while Algirdas, the titular grand duke, continued his father's expansionist policies and, by conquering vast Russian and Tatar territories, stretched his domain from the Baltic to the Black Sea.