RUSSIA NOVGOROD REPUBLIC DENGA PRINCE KNEELING RARE SILVER UNC CONDITION

Description

Russia.
Novgorod, Republic 1420- 1478.
Denga.
Novgorod.
Silver.
Av: Prince of Novgorod receiving homage from subject kneeling left.
Rev: Russian legend.
H&P-3004
var.
UNC.
NOVGOROD
was established in 859.
One of the oldest cities in Russia
!
It was first Russian city with democracy and government elected by people!
Veliky Novgorod (Russian:
Вели
́
кий
Но
́
вгород
) is the foremost historic city of North-Western Russia. Despite its name, Novgorod is among the most ancient cities among the Eastern Slavs. The Sofia First Chronicle first mentions it in 859; the Novgorodian First Chronicle mentions it first under the year 862 when it was allegedly already a major station on the trade route from the Baltics to Byzantium.
Princely state within Kievan Rus'
In 882, Rurik's successor, Oleg of Novgorod, captured Kiev and founded the state of Kievan Rus. Novgorod's size as well as its political, economic, and cultural influence made it the second city in Kievan Rus. According to a custom, the elder son and heir of the ruling Kievan monarch was sent to rule Novgorod even as a minor. When the ruling monarch had no such son, Novgorod was governed by posadniks, such as legendary Gostomysl, Dobrynya, Konstantin, and Ostromir.
In Norse sagas the city is mentioned as the capital of Gardariki (i.e., the East Slavic lands). Four Viking kings — Olaf I of Norway, Olaf II of Norway, Magnus I of Norway, and Harald Haardraade — sought refuge in Novgorod from enemies at home. No more than a few decades after the death and subsequent canonization of Olaf II of Norway, in 1028, the city's community had erected a church in his memory, Saint Olaf's Church in Novgorod.
Of all their princes, Novgorodians cherished most the memory of Yaroslav the Wise, who had sat as prince while his father, Vladimir the Great, was prince in Kiev. Yaroslav promulgated the first written code of laws (later incorporated into Russkaya Pravda) among the Eastern Slavs and is said to have granted the city a number of freedoms or privileges, which they often referred to in later centuries as precedents in their relations with other princes. His son, Vladimir, sponsored construction of the great St Sophia Cathedral, more accurately translated as The Cathedral of Holy Wisdom, which stands to this day.
His Majesty Lord Novgorod the Great
In 1136, the Novgorodians dismissed their prince Vsevolod Mstislavich. This date is seen as the traditional beginning of the Novgorod Republic. The city was able to invite and dismiss a number of princes over the next two centuries, but the princely office was never abolished and powerful princes, such as Alexander Nevsky, could assert their will in the city irrespective of the Novgorodians' wishes. The city state controlled most of Europe's North-East, from today's Estonia to the Ural Mountains, making it one of the largest states in medieval Europe, although much of the territory north and east of Lakes Ladoga and Onega were sparsely populated and never organized politically.
One of the most important local figures in Novgorod was the Posadnik or mayor, an official elected by the public assembly (called the Veche) from among the city's boyarstvo or aristocracy. The tysyatsky, or "thousandman," originally the head of the town militia but later a commercial and judicial official, was also elected by the veche. The Archbishop of Novgorod were also important local officials and shared power with the boyars. They were elected by the veche or by the drawing of lots; after their election, they were sent to the metropolitan for consecration.
While a basic outline of the various officials and the veche can be drawn up, the city-state's exact political constitution remains uncertain. The boyars and the archbishop ruled the city collectively, although where one officials power ended and another's began is uncertain. The prince, although reduced in power beginning in about the mid-twelfth century, was represented by his namestnik or lieutenant, and still played important roles as a military commander, legislator, and jurist. The exact composition of the veche, too, is uncertain, with some scholars such as Vasily Kliuchevksii claiming it was democratic in nature, while later scholars, such as Valentin Ianin and Alesandr Khoroshev, see it as a "sham democracy" controlled by the ruling elite.
In the 13th century, Novgorod, while not a member of the Hanseatic League, was the easternmost kontor, or entrepot, of the league, being the source of enormous quanties of luxury (sable, ermine, fox, marmot) and non-luxury furs (squirrel-pelts).
Throughout the Middle Ages, the city thrived culturally. A large number of birch bark letters have been unearthed in excavations, perhaps suggesting wide-spread literacy, although this is uncertain (some scholars suggest that a clerical or scribal elite wrote them on behalf of a largely illiterate populace). It was in Novgorod that the oldest Slavic book written north of Macedonia and the oldest inscription in a Finnic language were unearthed. Some of the most ancient Russian chronicles were written in the archbishops' scriptorium and the archbishops also promoted iconography and patronized church construction. The Novgorod merchant Sadko became a popular hero of Russian folklore.
Novgorod was never conquered by the Mongols during the Mongol invasion of Rus.
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