[1] The title originates sometime in the 9th century when,[3] according to tradition, the Varangian chieftain Rurik and his brothers were invited to rule over the East Slavic and Finnic tribes of northwest Russia,[4][5][6] but reliable information about it dates only to the late 10th century when Vladimir, the youngest son of Sviatoslav I, was made the prince of Novgorod.

After Novgorod was formally annexed by Moscow in 1478, Ivan assumed the title of sovereign of all Russia.

[10] That being said, the traditional view of the prince being invited in or dismissed at will is an oversimplification of a long and complex history of the office.

In fact, from the late 10th century until its formal annexation in 1478, the princes of Novgorod were dismissed and invited only about half the time, and the vast majority of these cases occurred between 1095 and 1293, and not consistently so during that period.

At times other princes, from Tver, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and elsewhere, also vied for the Novgorodian throne.

[27] There was fierce competition between the princes of Tver, Moscow, and Nizhny Novgorod-Suzdal for the title of Grand Prince of Vladimir, after 1400 increasingly granted by yarlik (patent) of the khan of the Golden Horde by winning his favour, which eventually the Daniilovichi of Moscow did.