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The Posadnichestvo of Pskov: Some Aspects of Urban Administration in Medieval Russia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2017

Lawrence N. Langer
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Extract

To the Memory of Arcadius Kahan, 1920–1982

Ever since the publication of V. L. Ianin's study of the Novgorodian mayors (posadniki) in 1962, the commonplace image of republican Novgorod with its political institutions grounded in the sovereignty of the veche—the “democratic” assembly of the city's free male population—has undergone considerable change. It is now generally conceded that Novgorod was essentially a boyar oligarchy, but controversy still surrounds Ianin's contention that the veche from its inception was primarily composed of boyars and other wealthy landowners, who in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries were known as the well-to-do (zhit'i liudi). Most scholars are willing to accept the view that in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the veche was dominated by a boyar oligarchy, but some, including Knud Rasmussen, Henrik Birnbaum, and Jörg Leuschner, believe that the composition of the veche in the twelfth century was more complex and that Novgorodian “democracy” was more evident, at least until the late thirteenth century, when the boyars working through the Council of Lords (Sovet gospod—first recorded in 1291) usurped the “rights” of the populace. Following the work of Klaus Zernack, Leuschner believes the veche was composed of all the free males including those from the subordinate towns (prigorody) outside Novgorod. But in the last two centuries of the republic's existence, certainly following the reforms of 1416 and 1417, Novgorod changed, in Birnbaum's words, “from a quasi-democratic form of government based on the veche to a purely oligarchic rule determined exclusively by the feudal lords.“ Having admitted that representation in the veche became limited to some forty “feudal” clans, Birnbaum accepts the contention of Carsten Goehrke that Pskov, the political and legal institutions of which are thought to have approximated those of Novgorod, retained its genuinely democratic veche throughout the fifteenth century. Thus Pskov is brought to the front lines to debunk the “extreme views” of Ianin, characterized by Goehrke as increasingly dogmatic and speculative, and is now caught in the controversy surrounding Novgorod.

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Articles
Information
Slavic Review , Volume 43 , Issue 1 , Spring 1984 , pp. 46 - 62
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies. 1984

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References

This is a revised version of a paper presented at the tenth annual meeting of the Midwest Slavic Conference held in Chicago in May 1982. I would like to thank Professor Richard Hellie for his helpful comments. This article is dedicated to Professor Arcadius Kahan, whose memory as a teacher and scholar I will always cherish.

1. The major works by lanin and his “school” are: V L. Ianin, Novgorodskie posadniki (Mos- cow, 1962); Ianin, , Aktovye pechati Drevnei Rusi X-XV vv., 2 vols. (Moscow, 1970)Google Scholar; “Problemy sotsial'noi organizatsii Novgorodskoi respubliki,” Istoriia SSSR, no. 1 (1970); 44-54; Ianin, Ocherki kompleksnogo istochnikovedeniia. Srednevekovyi Novgorod (Moscow, 1977); Ianin and M. Kh. Aleshkovskii, “Proiskhozhdenie Novgorod (k postanovke problemy),” Istoriia SSSR, no. 2 (1971): 32-61; Aleshkovskii and L. Ye. Krasnorech'ev, “O datirovke vala i rva Novgorodskogo Ostroga (V sviazi s voprosom o formirovanii gorodskoi territorii,” Sovetskaia Arkheologiia, no. 4 (1970): 54-73; Aleshkovskii, “Sotsial'nye osnovy formirovaniia territorii Novgoroda IX-XV vekov,” Sovetskaia Ar- kheologiia, no. 3 (1974): 100-11. Ianin's general views are drawn from the above and from my review article, “V. L. Ianin and . the History of Novgorod,” Slavic Review, 33, no. 1 (1974): 114-19.

2. Leuschne, Jȍrgr, Novgorod: Untersuchungen zu einigen Fragen seiner Verfassungs- und Be- vȍlkerungsstruktur (Osteuropastudien der Hochschulen des Landes Hessen, Series 1, vol. 107 [Berlin, 1980]), p. 53 Google Scholar. See also, Klaus, Zernack, Die burgstadtischen Volksversammlungen bei den Ost- und Westslaven (Osteuropastudien der Hochschulen des Landes Hessen, Series 1, vol. 33 [Wiesbaden, West Germany, 19671 Google Scholar).

3. Henrik Birnbaum, Lord Novgorod the Great. Part One: The Historical Back-ground (Co#\#\itt#\- bus, Ohio: Slavica, 1981), pp. 89-90, 96.

4. Ibid., p. 95; Carsten Goehrke, “Gross-Novgorod und Pskov/Pleskau,” in Hellmann, Manfred, Zernack, Klaus, and Schramm, G., eds., Handbuch der Geschichte Russlands, vol. 1 (Stuttgart, West Germany, 1976-1980), pp. 458, 462Google Scholar.

5. Goehrke, “Gross-Novgorod,” p. 461 and n. 6.

6. Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of the Scientific Revolution, 2nd ed. (Chicago, 1970).

7. Birnbaum, Lord Novgorod, p. 100.

8. Gramoty Velikogo Novgoroda i Pskova [hereafter cited as GVNiP] (Moscow, 1949; Slavica Reprint, no. 32 [Dusseldorf, West Germany, 1970]), nos. 1-3.

9. Birnbaum, Lord Novgorod, pp. 87, 99; Ianin, Aktovye pechati, 2: 86-87, 134-41; Ianin, , “Iz istorii vysshikh gosudarstvennykh dolzhnostei v Novgorode” in Ocherki kompleksnogo istochnikovedeniia, pp. 136–49Google Scholar.

10. Moss, H. St. L. B., The Birth of the Middle Ages, 395-814 (Oxford, 1964), pp. 40–41 Google Scholar; Petit-Dutaillis, Charles, The Feudal Monarchy in France and England, trans, by Hunt, E. D. (New York, 1964), pp. 40–41 Google Scholar; Kuza, A. V., “Novgorodskaia zemlia,” in Drevnerusskie kniazhestva XXIII vv. (Moscow, 1975), p. 165 Google Scholar.

11. B. A. Rybakov, “Deleniie Novgorodskoi zemli na sotni v XIII veke,” Istoricheskie zapiski, no. 2 (1938): 150.

12. For example, Dukhovnye i dogovornye gramoty velikikh i udel'nykh kniazei XIV-XV1 vv. [hereafter DDG] (Moscow-Leningrad, 1950), no. 2: 38.

13. Iu. V Bromlei, “K voprosu o sotne, kak obshchestvennoi iacheike u vostochnykh i iuzhnykh slavian v sredine veka,” in Istoriia, fol'klor, isskusstvo slavianskikh narodov (Soma, 1963), p. 78.

14. Robert Howes, The Testaments of the Grand Princes of Moscow (Ithaca, New York, 1967), pp. 86, 126. 209.

15. Akty sotsiai’ no-ekonomicheskoi istorii Severo-Vostochnoi Rusi kontsa XlV-nachala XVI v. [hereafter ASEI], 3 vols. (Moscow, 1952-64), 3, no. 7. article 10.

16. Ibid., 2, nos. 98, 103, 192, 297 (as a scribe).

17. Horace, Dewey, Muscovite Judicial Texts 1488-1556 (Ann Arbor: Michigan Slavic Materials, 1966)Google Scholar, Beloozero Charter, articles 4, 19; 1550 Sudebnik, article 72.

18. Ianin, Novgorodskie posadniki, p. 113.

19. Kliuchevskii, V. O., Sochineniia, 8 vols. (Moscow, 1957), 2: 56–57 Google Scholar; Rybakov, “Delenie,“ p. 132.

20. Shchapov, la. N., Drevnerusskie kniazheskie ustavy XI-XV vv. (Moscow, 1976), p. 149 Google Scholar; Ianin, Novgorodsksie posadniki, pp. 151-54; Ianin, , “Ustav kniazhia Iaroslava o mostekh” in Ocherki kompleksnogo istochnikovedeniia, pp. 112–13Google Scholar; Leuschner, Novgorod, pp. 58-60.

21. Novgorodskaia pervaia letopis’ starshego i mladshego izvodov [hereafter NPL] (Moscow- Leningrad, 1950), pp. 507-508; Shchapov, Drevnerusskie, pp. 149-52.

22. Rybakov, “Delenie,” pp. 132-52.

23. Ianin, “Ustav,” p. 109; Alekseev, Iu. G., Pskovskaia Sudnaia gramota i ee vremia (Leningrad, 1980), p. 36 Google Scholar; Nasonov, A. N., “Russkaia zemlia” i obrazovanie territorii drevnerusskogo gosu-darstva (Moscow, 1951), p. 124 Google Scholar.

24. See Tikhomirov, M. N., Drevnerusskie goroda, 2nd ed. (Moscow, 1956), pp. 127–37 Google Scholar; Srednevekovaia Moskva v XIV-XV vekakh (Moscow, 1957), pp. 104-105; L. V. Cherepnin, “O formakh ob“edinenii remeslennikov v Russkikh gorodakh,” Voprosy sotsial'no-ekonomicheskoi istorii i isto- chnikovedeniia perioda feodalizma v Rossii (Moscow, 1961), pp. 20-24.

25. Ianin, “Ustav,” p. 105.

26. NPL, pp. 558-60.

27. Ianin, Novgorodskie posadniki, pp. 172-75.

28. Leuschner, Novgorod, pp. 113, 117-18.

29. GVNiP, nos. 3, 6, 9; Kuza, “Novgorodskaia zemlia,” p. 167.

30. S. I. Kolotilova, “K voprosu o polozhenii Pskova v sostave Novgorodskoi feodal'noi respubliki,“ Istoriia SSSR, no. 2 (1975): 145-52.

31. For example, GVMP, no. 14.

32. Kolotilova, “K voprosu,” p. 151.

33. A. V Ekzempliarskii, Velikie i udel'nye kniazh'ia, 2 vols. (St. Petersburg, 1889 [The Hague: Reprint Series, 1966]), 1: 398.

34. The Bolotovskii agreement is recorded in Polnoe sobranie russkikh letopisei [hereafter PSRL], 35 vols. (Moscow, St. Petersburg-Leningrad, 1841-1980), 10: 220. The peace treaty of 1397 is in Pskovskie letopisi [hereafter PL], 2 vols. (Moscow-Leningrad, 1941-55), 1: 25-26. On the various judicial officers see Daniel, Kaiser, The Growth of Law in Medieval Russia (Princeton, 1980), pp. 101–14 Google Scholar.

35. PL, 1: 14.

36. Kafengauz, B. B., Drevnii Pskov (Moscow, 1969), pp. 38–42 Google Scholar.

37. PL, 1: 17.

38. Ibid., 2: 105. Ostaf'evich is again mentioned in 1380, but this is clearly a scribe's error as the same construction is again recorded (ibid., 1: 23).

39. Among the princes of Pskov in the 1340s and 1350s were Andrei Ol'gerdovich of Polotsk and Evstafii of Izborsk. Andrei was also prince of Pskov from 1376 to 1378 and with his son Ivan reigned as late as 1397. Evstafii of Izborsk appeared in Pskov in 1353-54, 1358, and 1359-1360, when he died of the Black Death. His son Grigorii Ostav'evich (Evstaf'evich) ruled in Pskov between 1397 and 1417, although in 1402 Grigorii apparently governed alone in 1404 and again in 1409, the year of his death (Ekzempliarskii, Velikie, 1: 398-412).

40. N. P., Likhachev, “Pechati Pskova” Sovetskaia arkheologiia, no. 3 (1960): 225–36Google Scholar; lanin, , “Vislye pechati Pskova” Sovetskaia arkheologiia, no. 3 (1960): 37–61Google Scholar.

41. lanin, “Sfragisticheskii kommentarii k Pskovskim chastnym aktam,” in Marasinova, L. M., Novye Pskovskie gramoty X1V-XV vekov (Moscow, 1966), pp. 163–78 Google Scholar.

42. A. L. Nikitskii, Ocherk vnutrennei istorii Pskova (St. Petersburg, 1873 [The Hague: Reprint Series, 1966]), pp. 147-50.

43. From Kafengauz's list it appears possible that the following were mayors in 1464: nos. 24, 31, 34, 35, 36, 37, 41, 43, 45, 58, and perhaps also 33, 38, 42, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, and 49. Kafengauz, Drevnii Pskov, pp. 38-42.

44. Ibid., p. 54.

45. Ibid., pp. 59-60.

46. A. V Artsikhovskii, “Gorodskie kontsy v drevnei Rusi,” Istoricheskie zapiski, no. 16 (1945): 9; Nikitskii, Ocherk, p. 87; Kliuchevskii, Sochineniia, 2: 93.

47. PL, 2: 165; Kliuchevskii, Sochineniia, 2: 93; PSRL, 4: 262, 270-71.

48. Nikitskii, Ocherk, pp. 220-21.

49. L. A. Fadeev, “Proiskhozhdenie i rol’ sistemy gorodskikh kontsov v razvitii drevneishikh russkikh gorodov,” in Russkii gorod (istoriko-metodologicheskii sbornik), vol. 1 (Moscow, 1976), p. 19.

50. PL, 1: 72; Tverskoi, A. M., Russkoe gradostoitelstvo do kontsa XVII veka (Moscow-Leningrad, 1953), pp. 37–38 Google Scholar.

51. Kliuchevskii, Sochineniia, 2: 56-57.

52. PL, 1: 62-64; 2: 193, 198-99.

53. Ibid., 1: 74, 83, 84.

54. Kafengauz, Drevnii Pskov, pp. 61-66.

55. Pskovskaia Sudnaia Gramota [hereafter PSG]. All references to the charter are taken from the edition in Pamiatniki Russkogo prava, vol. 2 (Moscow, 1953), pp. 282-301.

56. Ibid., pp. 282-85; Cherepnin, L. V., Russkie feodainye arkhivy XVI-VI vekov, 2 vols. (Moscow-Leningrad, 1948), 1: 439–42Google Scholar; Martysevich, I. D., Pskovskaia sudnaia gramota (Moscow, 1951), pp. 13–37 Google Scholar.

57. Martysevich, Pskovskaia sudnaia gramota, p. 31.

58. Nikitskii, Ocherk, pp. 159, 161.

59. Marasinova, Novye Pskovskie gramoty XIV-XV vekov, nos. 1, 32.

60. GVNiP, no. 332.

61. Alekseev, Pskovskaia Sudnaia gramota, p.37; Kafengauz, Drevnii Pskov, p. 41, no. 43.

62. GVNiP, nos. 336, 338.

63. Alekseev, Pskovskaia Sudnaia gramota, pp. 35-39.

64. Kafengauz, Drevnii Pskov, pp. 92-98.

65. V. T. Pashuto, “Cherty politicheskogo stroia drevnei Rusi,” in Drevnerusskoe gosudarstvo i ego mezhdunarodnoe znachenie (Moscow, 1965), pp. 24-34.

66. Birnbaum, Lord Novgorod, p. 90.

67. Knud Rasmussen, “300 zolotykh poiasov’ drevnego Novgoroda,” Scando-Slavica, 25 (1979): 93-103.

68. Iu. G. Alekseev, ‘“Chernye liudi’ Novgoroda i Pskova,” Istoricheskie zapiski, no. 103 (1979): 242-74.

69. PSRL, 4: 282, 288; PL, 1: 95; Nikitskii, Ocherk, p. 299; Kafengauz, Drevnii Pskov, p. 61. 70. PL, 1: 74.

71. GVNiP, no. 333; Marasinova, Novye pskovskie gramoty, no. 32.

72. PSG, article 3.

73. Ibid., article 4.

74. J. Prawer, “Crusader Cities,” in Miskimin, Harry et al., eds., The Medieval City (New Haven, Conn., 1977), pp. 197–98Google Scholar.