'The Chronicle of Novgorod'
From 862 - 1470 the history of European Russia is essentially the same as the history of Ukraine. Prestige and power moved north to Novgorod when the Golden Horde stormed in from Mongolia. Then moved eastwards to Vladimir-Suzdal (and eventually to the nearby Moscow).
As discussed in Kyiv 1 [1], the origin of Novgorod and Kyiv are closely intertwined. Novgorod was founded 862 by Swedish Varangians under the leadership of Rurik. Kyiv was taken over by Rurik's kinsmen in 880, and the two cities forming the binary foci of a successful polity that grew till it reached from the Black Sea to the White Sea. During the rule of the great princes (Sviatoslav, 943–972; Vladimir the Great, 980–1015; Yaroslav the Wise; 1019–1054) the cities co-operated, and shared in the benefits; thus they both adopted Byzantine Christianity and the Glagolitic script under Vladimir the Great, and the Book of Laws under Yaroslav the Wise. But under lesser leadership there was a rivalry, for example between princely descendants of Yaroslav, because the one who held Kyiv was traditionally awarded the title 'Great Prince' of the Kyiv-Rus federation. Much destructive internecine warfare ensued, (though there was a brief respite under Rostyslav Mstyslavych of Smolensk who achieved unity without warfare).
However, in 1169 a different type of coalition mustered to attack Kiev under the leadership of Andrey Bogolyubsky, for it was led by princes from further east than present-day Moscow, in fact from Vladimir-Suzdal, and contained non-Rus elements such as the Polovtsians. The collapse of Kyiv did not lead to the installation of a new Great Prince of Kyiv as was usual when the city was defeated, but instead to a three-day massacre and the pillaging of its most sacred relics. It was as though Kyiv fell to 'foreigners'. In 1169 Novgorod withstood attack by Andrey Bogolyubsky, and 4 years later Novgorod helped the Ukrainians to defeat a second attack by Andrey Bogolyubsky. However Kyiv was fated to fall again, even more drastically, to the Golden Horde in 1240.
Novgorod, (that is to say Novgorod the Great, 147 miles south of St. Petersburg, not Nizhney Novgorod, 260 miles east of Moscow), Novgorod managed to avoid a similar fate, realising when to humble itself and pay tribute. The story of Novgorod is told in a fascinating document called the "Chronicle of Novgorod" (available online in Robert Mitchell's 1914 translation into English [2]).
Novgorod in the 9th - 15th centuries developed as a very republican town. The Boyars and burgers were frequently asking their elected officers (Prince, burgomaster, bishop) to leave, often after less than a year in office, occasionally after 'a few weeks'.
In 1238 the 17 year old Alexander Nevsky, of royal descent, but younger son of a younger son, was asked to go to Novgorod to lead the army against Scandinavian attacks from the north. It happened thus. Yuri Vsevolodovich was Grand Prince of Vladimir-Suzdal, 600 miles to the east, which had replaced the defeated Kyiv as the 'high seat' of Kyivan-Rus. But in that same year Yuri was killed in battle with the Mongols, whereupon his younger brother (Yaroslav Vsevolodovich), paying due homage to the victorious Golden Horde, requested of their leader that he (Yaroslav) take his dead brother's place, and was granted it. As Grand Prince he assigned his younger son (Alexander) as prince of Novgorod.
In 1240 Alexander, tall and charismatic, scored a significant victory on the banks of the river Neva (hence the epithet 'Nevsky'). Whereupon, the Boyar aristocrats asked him to leave the city. The city requested the older brother Andrey as a replacement, but the citizens did not take to him and pressed (in 1241) for the return of Alexander to meet another challenge, this time from the west in the form of the Teutonic and Livonian Knights. The joint forces of the two brothers defeated the knights in April 1242 in the celebrated 'Battle on the ice'. (Filmed, in black and white, by Eisenstein in 1938.).
The Gran Kahn, in Karakorum (Mongolia), was quite happy to employ local leaders as long as they paid him homage, and tax. The ageing Yaroslav Vsevolodovich was asked in 1245 to make the 3,000 mile trip from Vladimir to Karakorum, but died en route. So, in 1248 the two brothers were summoned to Karakorum, to meet the Grand Kahn, and were assigned, Andrey to the high seat of Vladimir and Alexander to the erstwhile high seat of Kiev.
In 1251, on the death of Batu Kahn and the elevation of a new Kahn, all the Russian vassal princes were required to pay homage in person. Alexander complied but Andrey did not. However, that was a serious miscalculation; the Golden Horde was too powerful to flout in this way. Andrey had to flee to Sweden, whereupon Alexander was given the Grand Duchy of Vladimir, becoming head of all 'Russia'. He was constant in his loyalty to the Mongol overlords, and once had to lead an army against his own Novgorod to teach them to pay their taxes. Nevertheless, the Russian-Ukrainian people loved him and, after his death, his memory lived on and worked miracles; he was canonised in 1547.
Alexander Nevsky, as Grand Duke of Vladimir-Suzdal, founded the Dukedom of Moscow in 1263 for his son Daniel. Daniel's son Yuri married the sister of the Golden Horde's new Kahn, which greatly enhanced the status of the little town of Moscow. By 1320 it had outgrown its parent. Growth continued under the rule of 3 successive generations of Rurik princes :
● Ivan III ('the great', 1462 - 1505) who conquered Novgorod, and faced down the Golden Horde at the Great Stand in 1479.
● Vasili III (1505-1533) who re-took Smolensk off the Lithuanians, and expanded down to the Dnieper ,
● Ivan IV ('the terrible', 1533–1547, 1547-1588 as Tsar) who expanded Moscow's power into Siberia, but wrecked havoc in European Russia with his uncontrolled psychopathology.
The conquest of Novgorod
In 1471 Novgorod faced a dilemma resembling to some degree that of present day Ukraine [3]. Citizens recognised that survival required them to ally themselves either with the Grand Duchy of Moscow, their large neighbour to the east, or with the expanding Grand Duchy of Lithuania-Poland to their west. The ordinary citizens preferred the Orthodox and more familiar Moscow; the aristocratic Boyars preferred Catholic Lithuania. When Ivan III heard that the widow of a Novgorod Boyar (Marpha Boretskaya) had negotiated an agreement of protection with Kasimir IV of Lithuania-Poland he decided to attack. Kasimir IV faltered and the Novgorod home guard were totally destroyed just outside their city. The helpless citizens opened their gates to Ivan III. At first he merely fined the pro-Lithuanian Boyars, but over the next 8 years he dismantled the 'independence' of Novgorod, symbolically removing their 'parliamentary bell' and with it their ability to hold a parliament (or veche) and their cherished democracy [3].
Conclusions
The Swedish element, most strongly represented in democratic and republican Novgorod, lasted 750 years, but was defeated by the unitary and progressively autocratic power of Moscow.
The Mongol element in the form of the Golden Horde, came and went, surviving as the supreme military power only for 200 years (1260-1458). Originally a limb of the Grand Kahn, it became autonomous in 1260, adopted Islam in 1313, and was demoted to 'Great Horde' in 1458. Genetically their contribution may have lasted longer.
There are doubtless some lessons to learn concerning when to submit and when to resist, and about relying on dilatory allies. Also lessons about the efficacy (or otherwise) of icons and crosses. But these are subtle and complex matters, and each of us has to make their own assessment..
References:
[1] https://occidentis.blogspot.com/2023/03/kyiv-1.html
[2] http://faculty.washington.edu/dwaugh/rus/texts/MF1914.pdf
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