Novgorod Republic

• Main Author: Langer, Lawrence N.
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2016
• Subjects: Rus’; Novgorod Republic
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9781118455074.wbeoe040; http://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2F9781118455074.wbeoe040; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/9781118455074.wbeoe040

Abstract Novgorod was an important political and commercial city‐state in Rus'. Founded in the 10th century and until its annexation by Moscow in 1478, Novgorod created a vast territorial empire and controlled much of the fur trade with the west. The city was one of the factories of the Hanseatic League and Rus's major importer of silver. In the 12th century the city circumscribed the power of its prince and established a republican system of government. An assembly ( veche ) elected the city's major officials: prince, mayor ( posadnik ), whose numbers grew from one to thirty‐six, a lord mayor ( stepennyi posadnik ), chiliarchs, an archbishop, and an archimandrite. The class of nobles or boiars controlled the republican offices, dominated the assembly, and likely governed through an executive council.