In the early 1290s a very important reform of the republican administration was implemented. In essence this amounted to the annual election ofthe head of state (the posadnik); the head of the merchantry and the free artisan population (the thousander); and the head of the black clergy (the archimandrite). It would be difficult to think of a better way of controlling the activity of the highest state leaders. With these new forms of state organisation in place, Novgorod entered the fourteenth century.[21]
In many respects the beginning of the fourteenth century was a watershed in the history of Rus' in general, and of Novgorod in particular. Novgorod's role in the strengthening of the Russian economy must be especially stressed. Having avoided military devastationby the Golden Horde, and having repulsed the aggression of the Swedes and the Teutonic knightly orders on its western borders, Novgorod remained the only region to acquire significant quantities of silver from Western Europe in exchange for the products of its agriculture, hunting, fishing and bee-keeping. The whole of Rus' needed silver, both for its own requirements and for the constant payment of tribute to the Golden Horde. The re-export of silver from Novgorod to Tver', Moscow, Suzdal' and other towns in central Rus' not only strengthened the Novgorodian economy, but it also inspired the aggressive envy ofits neighbours, provoking permanent military conflicts with Tver' and then with Moscow.
Incidentally, the constant flow of Western European silver into Novgorod around the beginning of the fourteenth century led to the introduction of a new monetary unit, the rouble, which remains the basis of the Russian coinage to the present day.
A very unusual system for the defence of the state boundaries of the Novgorod lands emerged in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Some of the frontier territories were placed under the dual control of rival factions. For example, the extensive district ofTorzhok, situated on the south-western frontiers of Novgorod, was the joint possession of the Novgorodian and the grand-princely authorities. The Novgorodian enclave of Volokolamsk, surrounded on all sides by the lands of the Moscow princes, was in the same position. Tver' made active attempts to detach Torzhok from Novgorod at the beginning of the fourteenth century and in the i370s, but they were resisted by the Novgorodians.
The system of dual subordination of its frontier territories provided Novgorod with a highly effective means of dealing with Lithuania, which posed a real military threat from the second half of the thirteenth century onwards. In the period from the mid-thirteenth to the first third of the fourteenth century the northern districts of the Smolensk principality which bordered on Novgorod fell into the hands of Lithuania as a result of Lithuanian aggression against Smolensk and Novgorod. After successful military action by Novgorod in 1326 a general peace was concluded amongst Novgorod, the Teutonic order, Smolensk, Polotsk and the grand duchy of Lithuania. The main achievement of this peace treaty was the creation of a long-lasting set of principles which governed border relationships between Lithuania and Novgorod. Lithuania accepted its obligation to observe strictly the sovereignty of Novgorod over the entire territory of its possessions, and in exchange it received the revenues ofthose Novgorod frontier lands which in iii7, according to the wishes of Mstislav, had been transferred to Novgorod from the Smolensk principality, as the domain of those Novgorod princes who were descendants of Mstislav. Having conquered the Smolensk territories, Lithuania thereby inherited the rights bestowed by the ancient relationships between Smolensk and Novgorod.[22]
In the years immediately following this action, the system of military and political co-operation between Novgorod and Lithuania was extended. The princes of the Lithuanian royal house received 'as feeding (kormlenie)' (as a source of revenue) some small Novgorodian towns on the border with Sweden and accepted the obligation to protect the Novgoro- dian territory there against possible Swedish expansion. Sometimes this system experienced periods of conflict, but in general it operated successfully right up until the loss of Novgorod's independence at the end of the fifteenth century.
Conflict with Moscow
Relations with Moscow turned out to be more difficult. Before the decisive victory of Rus' over the Golden Horde in 1380 at the Battle of Kulikovo, there was a struggle for the grand-princely title between representatives of various Russian centres - in particular, between Tver' and Moscow. The victory of i380 definitively secured that title for the Moscow princes. But at the same time this outcome meant that Novgorod in effect lost its traditional right to choose its prince, and this exacerbated its relations with Moscow and led to attempts to look to Moscow's opponents as an alternative.
In 1384 the Novgorodians declared that they were no longer under the jurisdiction of the Moscow metropolitan. Two years later the Moscow Prince Dmitrii launched a military campaign against Novgorod in revenge for an attack by the Novgorodians on his possessions. In 1397 Dmitrii's son Vasilii I broke the peace with the Novgorodians, forced the Dvina boyars to recognise his authority over the Dvina lands and also seized Volokolamsk, Torzhok, Vologda and Bezhetsk. The status quo was partially restored only in 1398. In 1419 the Novgorodians declared that their prince was the brother of the Moscow prince, Konstantin Dmitrievich, who had quarrelled with Vasilii I; this conflict was, however, quickly patched up.
The complexity of its relations with Moscow was an important reason for the extension of Novgorod's fortifications. In the 1380s a circle of external defensive structures was built - the Okol'nyi gorod (the 'outer town'), about 9 kilometres in length, and consisting of an earthen rampart topped with a wooden wall and with stone towers over the entrances.
The growing rivalry with Moscow at this time, in the reign of Dmitrii Donskoi, led Novgorod to adopt the proud name of 'Great' Novgorod, as a kind of equivalent to the title of Grand (literally 'great') Prince.
The loss of their traditional choice of a prince was one of the reasons for the consolidation of the Novgorod boyars. A second and equally serious reason for this process of consolidation was the growth of anti-boyar sentiments amongthe non-privileged mass ofthe population of Novgorod. The institution of boyar power was reorganised as early as the middle of the fourteenth century. Before the reform of 1354 each of the five Novgorod 'ends' elected its representative for life, and the posadnik was elected annually from among these representatives (and only from their number). Now all five representatives became posadniki, and in addition a chief ('stepennyi') posadnik was elected at the city veche.[23]
The new system led to the consolidation of the boyars. Previously they had obtained high state office as a result of conflicts with other boyar families which assumed the form of a competition among the 'ends' of Novgorod. At the same time the boyars largely lost the opportunity to engage in social demagogy. Previously a candidate who was standing for election as posadnik could try to persuade the ordinary people that their problems stemmed from the fact that it was his rival who was running the state, and canvass on his own behalf; but now the boyars as a whole accepted collective responsibility for their political actions.