The republic prospered as the easternmost trading post of the Hanseatic League, and its people were much influenced by the culture of the Byzantines,[3] with the Novgorod school of icon painting producing many fine works.

[35] In the same year, Yaroslav tried to militarily overrun the rebellious town of Pskov (possibly because its throne was vacant),[36] but the Pskovians closed their gates in time and denied him entry.

[35] Yaroslav retreated to Novgorod, claimed no ill will towards Pskov, but raised another army supposedly for the purpose of attacking Riga (a stronghold of the Livonian Brothers of the Sword).

[35] As they rejected support for his campaign against Riga, suspecting a ploy to seize Pskov along the way after the previous failed attempt, Yaroslav was forced to abandon his plans and disband his expensive army.

[38] Meanwhile, Yaroslav Vladimirovich, a son of the previous Pskovian prince Vladimir Mstislavich of Pskov [et] sought to leverage his family ties with the bishops Hermann of Dorpat and Albert of Riga (died 1229) to gain his father's throne.

[38] The famine in Novgorod continued, and in 1230, another popular revolt erupted against supporters of the brand new prince Michael of Chernigov, including tysiatskii Boris Negochevich.

[39] The desperate Novgorodian people asked for Yaroslav of Suzdal to return, which he did at the end of 1230, but the famine got even worse in spring 1231, until German merchants sailing from overseas were able to import sufficient amounts of grain and flour to relieve the Republic's hunger.

[42] The 1234 peace agreement was based on that of 1224; it did not involve any territorial issues, but only a prisoner exchange and Dorpat's promise to stop supporting factions in Pskov and Novgorod that opposed Yaroslav of Suzdal.

[44] Although the Northern Crusades were aimed at pagan Balts and Finns, rather than Orthodox Russians, several unsuccessful attempts were made to persuade Novgorod to convert to Catholicism after the capture of Tartu.

[citation needed] The city of Pskov, initially part of Novgorod Land, became de facto independent as early as the 13th century after opening a trading post for merchants of the Hanseatic League.

[58] The Pskovites sent a small detachment and took advantage of the situation by only agreeing to accompany the Novgorodian army on the condition that Pskov would be formally granted its independence.

[citation needed] Moscow began to gradually seize land in the northern territories that were formerly under Novgorod's control for the next decade and half due to a desire for luxury furs in the area.

The prospects of changing allegiance in favor of the allied Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania caused a major commotion among the commoners.

Janet Martin and Gail Lenhoff have recently argued that Boretskaya was scapegoated, probably by Archbishop Feofil (r. 1470–1480) in order to shift the blame from him for his betrayal of the terms of the Treaty of Yazhelbitsy, which forbade Novgorod from conducting foreign affairs without grand princely approval.

The army of Moscow won a decisive victory in the Battle of Shelon River in July 1471, which severely limited Novgorod's freedom to act thereafter, although the city maintained its formal independence.

With a great and overwhelming force did he occupy the entire territory of Novgorod from frontier to frontier, inflicting on every part of it the dread powers of his fire and sword.The city-state of Novgorod had developed procedures of governance that held a large measure of democratic participation far in advance of the rest of Europe,[75] but that share several similarities with the democratic traditions of Scandinavian peasant republics.

The Chronicle writer then goes on to describe a "town meeting" where these decisions would have been made, which included people from all social classes ranging from the posadniki (burgomaster), to the chernye liudi (lit.

[76][77] The precise constitution of the medieval Novgorodian republic is uncertain, although traditional histories have created the image of a highly institutionalized network of veches (public assemblies) and a government of posadniki (burgomaster), tysyatskys ("thousandmen"; originally the head of the town militia, but later a judicial and commercial official), other members of aristocratic families, and the archbishops of Novgorod.

The Council of Lords (Russian: Совет господ, romanized: Sovet gospod) was also formed, and boyar families from each district were represented, typically by former posadniki, with each posadnik beginning to hold office for only one year.

[92][93] Another important executive was the posadnik of Novgorod, who chaired the veche, co-chaired courts together with the prince, oversaw tax collection and managed current affairs of the city.

At least some of them signed a contract called a ryad (Russian: ряд), which protected the interests of Novgorodian boyars and laid out the prince's rights and responsibilities.

[101] The princes had two residences, one on the Marketplace (called Yaroslav's Court), and another in Rurikovo Gorodische (Рюриково городище) several miles south of the Trade Side of the city.

Countryside products, such as furs, beeswax, honey, fish, lard, flax, and hops, were sold on the market and exported to other Russian cities or abroad.

However, the Hanseatic League disputed the right of Novgorodian merchants to carry out sea trade independently and to deliver cargoes to Western European ports by their own ships.

There were also the so-called zhityi lyudi (житьи люди), who owned less land than the boyars, and unprivileged small votchina owners called svoyezemtsy (своеземцы, or private landowners).

Certain categories of feudally dependent peasants, such as davniye lyudi (давние люди), polovniki (половники), poruchniki (поручники), and dolzhniki (должники), were deprived of the right to leave their masters.

[109] Another sect, known as the Heresy of the Judaizers by its opponents, appeared in Novgorod in the second half of the 15th century and subsequently enjoyed support at the court in Moscow,[110][111] before ultimately they were persecuted and several councils of the Russian Church condemned them.

Not only would prominent boyar families commission the creation of icons, but artists also had the backing of wealthy merchants and members of the strong artisan class.

The wealthy (boyar families, artisans, and merchants) lived in large houses inside the city walls, and the poor used whatever space they could find.

In addition to the birch-bark texts, archeologists also found the oldest surviving Russian manuscript in Novgorod: three wax tablets with Psalms 67, 75, and 76, dating from the first quarter of the 11th century.