The Novgorod Republic (Russian: Новгородская республика, romanized: Novgorodskaya respublika) was a medieval state that existed from the 12th to 15th centuries in northern Russia, stretching from the Gulf of Finland in the west to the northern Ural Mountains in the east. Its capital was the city of Novgorod. The republic prospered as the easternmost trading post of the Hanseatic League, and its people were much influenced by the culture of the Byzantines, with the Novgorod school of icon painting producing many fine works.

Novgorod won its independence in 1136 after the Novgorodians deposed their prince and the Novgorod veche began to elect and dismiss princes at its own will. The veche also elected the posadnik, who was the chief executive of the city, and from 1156, the archbishop of Novgorod, subject to approval by the Russian metropolitan. The tysyatsky was also elected by the veche, who was originally the military commander, and served the interests of the common people. Novgorodian nobles known as boyars dominated the veche, and the offices of posadnik and tysyatsky remained in the hands of boyar families. The boyars also gave funding to the ushkuyniki, who contributed to the expansion of Novgorod's trade and colonies in the north of European Russia.

By the 14th century, the prince of Moscow (who was almost always the grand prince of Vladimir) was usually the prince of Novgorod as well. As Moscow grew in power in the 15th century, Novgorod began to lose its autonomy. In a 1471 peace treaty with Moscow following the Battle of Shelon, Novgorod pledged allegiance to Moscow, with its system of government temporarily left intact. The end of the republic and the veche came in 1478 when Ivan III once again invaded and seized the city as part of his campaign to annex all other Russian states.

The state was called Novgorod and Great Novgorod (Russian: Великий Новгород, romanized: Velikiy Novgorod) with the form Sovereign Lord Novgorod the Great (Russian: Государь Господин Великий Новгород, romanized: Gosudar' Gospodin Velikiy Novgorod) becoming common in the 15th century. Novgorod Land and Novgorod volost usually referred to the land belonging to Novgorod. Novgorod Republic (Russian: Новгородская республика, romanized: Novgorodskaya respublika) itself is a much later term, although the polity was described as a republic as early as in the beginning of the 16th century. Soviet historians frequently used the terms Novgorod Feudal Republic and Novgorod Boyar Republic.

The area of Novgorod was populated by various East Slavic tribes that were constantly at war with one another for supremacy. However, these tribes came together during the beginning of the 9th century to try to form a negotiated settlement to end military aggression amongst each other. According to the legendary calling of the Varangians (recorded in diverging variations in the Primary Chronicle and Novgorod First Chronicle), in the year 862, the Varangian brothers Rurik, Sineus and Truvor were each "invited" to reign in Novgorod, Beloozero, and Izborsk, respectively, in what is now in northwestern Russia. As a result, in Russian historiography, Novgorod is traditionally seen as the birthplace of the country's monarchy. The Primary Chronicle (PVL) states that when Oleg the Wise conquered Kiev (modern Kyiv) in 882, which marks the founding of Kievan Rus', he ordered Novgorod to pay the Varangian princes in Kiev 300 grivny a year. In 1014, the PVL mentions this tribute had increased: "When Yaroslav was in Novgorod, he paid two thousand grivny a year as tribute to Kiev, and another thousand was given to his garrison in Novgorod."

The "Russian–Scandinavian cultural symbiosis" became prevalent following the establishment of the Rus' state. The Novgorodians were the first to reach the regions between the Arctic Ocean and Lake Onega. Even though there is no definitive account of the precise timing of their arrival at the northern rivers that flowed into the Arctic, there are chronicles which mention that one expedition reached the Pechora River in 1032, and trading was established as early as 1096 with the Yugra tribes. The Chronicle mentions Novgorodians traveling "beyond the portage" as early as 1079. They also traveled to Pomorye, the "summer [southern] coast" of the "Cold [White] Sea" in search of furs as well as fish and salt. Historian George Lantzeff remarked that "in the beginning of Russian history, two Russian principalities, Novgorod and Rostov-Suzdal, were engaged in exploring, conquering, exploiting, and colonizing the area west of the Ural Mountains". From the late 11th century, the Novgorodians asserted greater control over the determination of their rules, and rejected a politically dependent relationship to Kiev. The PVL claims that Novgorod ceased paying tribute to the Varangians at the death of Yaroslav the Wise (1054).

Chronicles state that the Novgorodians paid tribute to the grand prince of Kiev by 1113. Some time after this, the administration of the principality seemed to have matured. The Novgorodian tysyatsky and posadniki appointed boyars from the cities and collected revenues for administration in the territories it held. A charter from the 1130s mentioned 30 administrative posts in the territory of Novgorod, where revenues were collected regularly and sent as a tithe to the Novgorod bishop. Throughout the 12th century, Novgorod utilized the Baltic-Volga-Caspian trade route, not only for trading but also for bringing food from the fertile Oka region to their city.

In 1136, the Novgorodians revolted and dismissed [ru] their prince Vsevolod Mstislavich, and over the next century and half, were able to invite in and dismiss a number of princes. However, these invitations or dismissals were often based on who was the dominant prince in Rus' at the time, and not on any independent thinking on the part of Novgorod.

Rostov-Suzdal comprised the territory of the important Oka region and lands along the vital Sheksna River. This river lay in the Northern Volga tributary region. Whoever controlled the river was able to block food supplies causing a famine in Novgorod. Perhaps due to these fears, Novgorod led a failed invasion of Suzdal in 1134. They tried again and succeeded in 1149. Alternatively, Novgorod, in a bid to appease Suzdal, accepted some Suzdalians as rulers of Novgorod. Despite these events, Suzdal still blocked off trade to Novgorod twice and intercepted Novgorod's tributes.

In 1228, there was a failed Novgorodian campaign against the Tavastians in present-day southern Finland, as reported in the Novgorod First Chronicle (NPL). The Novgorodian troops were disaffected by prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, a quarrel broke out within the army and the troops refused to fight. In the same year, Yaroslav tried to militarily overrun the rebellious town of Pskov (possibly because its throne was vacant), but the Pskovians closed their gates in time and denied him entry. 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). But the Pskovians distrusted him and allied with Riga instead, while the troop raising caused food prices in Novgorod to spike, stoking civil discontent against prince Yaroslav as well; opposition to the Suzdalian dynasty's power grew amongst citizens of both Pskov and Novgorod. 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. When a bad harvest exacerbated the famine,the Novogorodians rose in revolt against the prince, who fled with his family and supporters to Pereslavl-Zalessky. With the Suzdalian princely threat gone, the Pskovians sent the Livonian auxiliaries home, while the veche elected Michael of Chernigov as Novgorod's new knyaz in 1230. The NPL notes that in subsequent years, Pskov remained allied with Riga and the Rigans, and later Dorpat (modern Tartu) and Odenpäh (modern Otepää). 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.

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. 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. In autumn 1231, Yaroslav took Novgorodian troops on a campaign to Chernigov against his rival Michael. In 1232, there were anti-Yaroslav rebellions in Novgorod and Pskov, but only the latter was successful in chasing the Suzdalians out of town.

In 1233, Boris Negochevich and other Novgorodian nobles joined forces with Yaroslav Vladimirovich (pretender-prince of Pskov) and some Sword Brothers, occupying Izborsk in 1233, but they were soon expelled by the Pskovian army, while the pretender was captured, handed over to Yaroslav of Suzdal and imprisoned in Pereslavl-Zalessky. In 1234, Yaroslav of Suzdal campaigned against the bishopric of Dorpat. 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. Yaroslav went to Kiev in 1235, leaving his 15- or 16-year-old son Aleksandr Yaroslavich behind in Novgorod.

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. Novgorod also fought against the Crusaders for economic reasons, to protect their monopoly of the Karelian fur trade. In Livonia, although the missionaries and Crusaders had attempted to establish peaceful relations with Novgorod, Livonian missionary and Crusade activity in Estonia caused conflicts with Novgorod, which had also attempted to subjugate, raid and convert the pagan Estonians. The Estonians would also sometimes ally with the Russians against the Crusaders, since the eastern Baltic missions also constituted a threat to Russian interests and the tributary peoples.

According to Russian sources, during the Northern Crusades, the Novgorodian prince Alexander Yaroslavich defeated the Swedes at the Battle of the Neva in July 1240, from which he received the sobriquet Nevsky ("of the Neva"). Alexander then defeated German crusaders at the Battle on the Ice in 1242, after the forces of the exiled prince of Pskov and men from the Bishopric of Dorpat attacked Pskov Land and Votia, a tributary of Novgorod. This later led to him being depicted as an ideal ruler in chronicles such as the Life of Alexander Nevsky. Novgorod was also spared by the Mongol armies during the Mongol invasions after Alexander Nevsky agreed to pay tribute. Historians such as J. L. I. Fennell have called the proportions of Nevsky's victories as having been overblown; he also argued that there was no existence of a unified Western scheme of aggression against Russia and that Nevsky appeased the Mongols, while many Russian historians have argued that Nevsky was being wise, with cooperation with the Mongols being the only sensible option at the time which averted further tragedy.

Tver, Moscow and Lithuania fought over control of Novgorod and its enormous wealth from the 14th century. Upon receiving the jarlig for grand prince of Vladimir in 1304, Mikhail Yaroslavich of Tver sent his governors to Novgorod. A series of disagreements with Mikhail pushed Novgorod towards closer ties with Moscow during the reign of Yury. In part, Tver's proximity (the Tver principality was contiguous with Novgorod Land) threatened Novgorod. It was feared that a Tverian prince would annex Novgorod's territory, and thus weaken the republic. At the time, though, Moscow did not border Novgorod, and since the Muscovite princes were further afield, they were more acceptable as princes of Novgorod. They could come to Novgorod's aid when needed but would be too far away to meddle too much in the republic's affairs.

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. Several princes such as Vsevolod Mstislavich (d. 1138) and Dovmont (d. 1299) reigned in Pskov without any deference to, or consultation with, the prince or other officials in Novgorod. Pskov won its formal independence in August 1348 after Magnus IV of Sweden captured the key fortress of Orekhov. 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. Novgorod sent an allied force to lay siege to the fortress and signed the Treaty of Bolotovo (1348) on the way to Orekhov. As per the terms of the treaty, the posadniki of Novgorod no longer had any administrative or judicial function in Pskov and the law-courts of the archbishop of Novgorod would only be run by representatives chosen by the Pskovites. However, the archbishop of Novgorod continued to head the church in Pskov and kept the title of archbishop of Novgorod the Great and Pskov until 1589.

As Moscow grew in strength, however, the Muscovite princes became a serious threat to Novgorod. Ivan I, Simeon, and other princes sought to limit Novgorod's independence. In 1397, a critical conflict took place between Moscow and Novgorod, when Moscow annexed the Dvina Lands along the course of the Northern Dvina. These lands were crucial to Novgorod's well-being since much of the city's furs came from there. This territory was returned to Novgorod the following year.

In the 12th to 15th centuries, the Novgorod Republic expanded east and northeast. The Novgorodians explored the areas around Lake Onega, along the Northern Dvina, and coastlines of the White Sea. At the beginning of the 14th century, the Novgorodians explored the Arctic Ocean, the Barents Sea, the Kara Sea, and the West-Siberian river Ob. The lands to the north of the city, rich with fur, sea fauna and salt among others were of great economic importance to the Novgorodians, who fought a protracted series of wars with Moscow beginning in the late 14th century in order to keep these lands. Losing them meant economic and cultural decline for the city and its inhabitants. The ultimate failure of the Novgorodians to win these wars led to the downfall of the Novgorod Republic.

Novgorod supported Dmitry Shemyaka against Vasily Vasilievich in the Muscovite War of Succession (1425–1453). After Vasily II returned to throne, a war between Moscow and Novgorod took place, which ended after the Treaty of Yazhelbitsy was signed in 1456. The treaty marked the beginning of the fall of Novgorod's independence as it lost certain freedoms. 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. This led to a struggle with Novgorod for the Russian fur trade, and thus, an economic rivalry for fur, land and trade ports.

Some Novgorodian boyars were opposed to Moscow as a result, while others pursued a pro-Muscovite policy in the hopes that good relations with Moscow would reduce disruption in Novgorod's trade; Novgorod was also dependent on the Russian lands to its southwest for important imports such as grain. Some Novgorodians were also attracted to Moscow due to it being the center of Russian Orthodoxy as opposed to Lithuania, where Catholicism was dominant and its culture was being increasingly polonized, though some Novgorodian clergy adopted a pro-Lithuanian policy for political reasons due to fears that embracing the grand prince of Moscow would eventually lead to the end of Novgorod's independence. Most Novgorodian boyars had hoped to maintain the republic's independence since if Novgorod were to be conquered, the boyars' wealth would flow to the grand prince and Muscovite boyars, and the Novgorodians would fall into decline; most of them also did not earn enough to pay for war.

By 1470, with the pro-Lithuanian faction being dominant, the Novgorodian boyars questioned Ivan's sovereignty over Novgorod as their prince. Novgorod negotiated with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania for a new prince to be sent over. This led to Mikhailo Olelkovich, a cousin of Ivan III, to be accepted. According to tradition, Marfa Boretskaya, the wife of the posadnik Isak Boretsky, was the main proponent of an alliance with Poland–Lithuania to save the republic. According to this legend, Boretskaya invited the Lithuanian princeling Mikhailo Olelkovich and asked him to become her husband and the ruler of Novgorod. She also concluded an alliance with Casimir, the king of Poland and grand duke of Lithuania. 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. While the extent of Boretskaya's role in the Lithuanian party is probably exaggerated, Novgorod did indeed try to turn to the king of Poland. A draft treaty, allegedly found among the loot after the Battle of Shelon River, was drawn up between Casimir and the Novgorodians.

The Muscovite authorities saw Novgorod's behavior as a repudiation of the Treaty of Yazhelbitsy (1456), and went to war against the city. 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. For the next six years, pro-Moscow and anti-Moscow factions in Novgorod competed with one another. Ivan III visited Novgorod several times during this period, persecuting a number of pro-Lithuanian boyars and confiscating their lands. In 1478, Ivan III sent his army to take direct control of the city. He destroyed the veche, tore down the veche bell, the ancient symbol of participatory governance, civil society, and legal rights, and destroyed the library and archives, thus ending the independence of Novgorod. After the takeover, Ivan took more than four-fifths of Novgorod's land: half for himself and the rest for his allies. The formal annexation of Novgorod marked a major step in the unification of Russia around Moscow, with Ivan III later adopting the title of sovereign of all Russia. The Novgorod Chronicle which had been critical of Ivan III before the fall of Novgorod thus described the conquest in its aftermath, justifying it on the grounds of purported conversion of Novgorodians to the Catholic faith:

Thus did Great Prince Ivan advance with all his host against his domain of Novgorod because of the rebellious spirit of its people, their pride and conversion to Latinism. 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, but that share several similarities with the democratic traditions of Scandinavian peasant republics. The people had the power to elect city officials and they even had the power to elect and remove the prince. 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. 'black folks') or the lowest free class. 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 veche tradition convinced Novgorodians that they had the right to be consulted on important issues, though in practice, the posadniki came from a few rich merchant families. In the early years of the republic, the prince and posadnik shared power until the prince's power was gradually restricted, while the archbishop of Novgorod increasingly played the role of head of state, particularly during times of feuds. Just before 1300, a series of reforms further curtailed the prince's powers within the local administration while those of the archbishop rose. 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. As feuds continued to grow, the structure was again changed so that each district had its own posadnik, with the number of posadniki increasing to 24 in 1423, though this failed to achieve stability, and feuds continued until the last days of independence.

The Novgorod Judicial Charter, inherited from the earlier Russkaya Pravda, served as the legal code of the Novgorod Republic from 1440. The latest version was supplemented in 1471 under the auspices of Ivan III and his son Ivan Ivanovich. The Novgorod Judicial Charter, along with the Pskov Judicial Charter, were later used for Ivan III's Sudebnik of 1497 which served as the legal code for the entire Russian state.

Novgorod was called a republic by Sigismund von Herberstein in his Notes on Muscovite Affairs written at least half a century after the conquest of Novgorod. Soviet-era Marxist scholarship frequently described the political system of Novgorod as a "feudal republic", placing it within the Marxist historiographic periodization (slavery – feudalism – capitalism – socialism – communism). Many scholars today, however, question whether Russia ever really had a feudal political system parallel to that of the medieval West. Historians have also described Novgorod's political system as an oligarchy due to the dominance of rich merchant families in politics.

Some scholars argue that the archbishop was the head of the executive branch of the government, although it is difficult to determine the exact competence of the various officials. It is possible that there was a Council of Lords (Russian: Совет Господ) that was headed by the archbishop and met in the archiepiscopal palace (and in the Chamber of Facets after 1433).

The executives of Novgorod, at least nominally, were always the princes of Novgorod, invited by Novgorodians from neighboring states, even though their power waned in the 13th and early 14th centuries. It is unclear if the archbishop of Novgorod was the true head of state or chief executive of the Novgorod Republic, but in any case, he remained an important town official. In addition to overseeing the church in Novgorod, he headed embassies, oversaw certain court cases of a secular nature, and carried out other secular tasks. However, the archbishops appear to have worked with the boyars to reach a consensus and almost never acted alone. The archbishop was not appointed, but elected by Novgorodians, and approved by the metropolitan bishop of Russia. The archbishops were probably the richest single land-owners in Novgorod, and they also made money off court fees, fees for the use of weights and measures in the marketplace, and through other means.

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. Most of the prince's major decisions had to be approved by the posadnik. In the mid-14th century, instead of one posadnik, the veche began electing six. These six posadniks kept their status for their lifetimes, and each year elected among themselves a stepennoy posadnik. Posadniks were almost invariably boyars – the city's highest aristocracy. The precise makeup of the veche is also uncertain, although it appears to have comprised members of the urban population, as well as of the free rural population. Whether it was a democratic institution or one controlled by the boyars has been hotly debated. The posadniks, tysiatskys, and even the bishops and archbishops of Novgorod, were often elected or at least approved by the veche.

Tradespeople and craftsmen also participated in the political affairs of Novgorod. Traditional scholarship argues that they were organized into five kontsy ("ends" in Russian) – i.e., the boroughs of the city they lived in; each end was then organized by the streets in which they lived. The ends and streets often bore names indicating that certain trades were concentrated in certain parts of the city (there was a Carpenter's End and a Potters' End, for example). The merchants were organised into associations, of which the most famous were those of wax traders (called Ivan's Hundred) and of the merchants engaged in overseas trade.

Like much of the rest of Novgorod's medieval history, the precise composition of these organizations is uncertain. It is quite possible that the "ends" and "streets" were simply neighborhood administrative groups rather than guilds or "unions". Street organizations were known to build churches in their neighborhoods and to have buried the dead of their neighborhoods during outbreaks of the plague, but beyond that their activities are uncertain.

"Streets" and "ends" may have taken part in political decision-making in Novgorod in support of certain boyar factions or to protect their interests. Merchant "elders" are also noted in treaties and other charters, but only about a hundred of these charters exist. A half dozen date from the 12th century, while most are from after 1262. Thus it is difficult to determine Novgorod's political structure due to the paucity of sources.

The prince, while his status in Novgorod was not inheritable and his power was much reduced, remained an important figure in Novgorodian life. Of around 100 princes of Novgorod, many, if not most, were invited in or dismissed by the Novgorodians. 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. The ryads that have been preserved in archives describe the relationship of Novgorod with twelve invited princes: five of them from Tver, four from Moscow, and three from Lithuania.

First and foremost among the prince's functions, he was a military leader. He also patronized churches in the city and held court, although it was often presided over by his namestnik or lieutenant when he was personally absent from the city. The posadnik had always to be present in the court and no court decision could be made without his approval. Also, without the posadnik's approval the prince could neither give out Novgorod lands nor issue laws. Besides, the prince could not own land in Novgorod and could not himself collect taxes from the territory of Novgorod. He lived from money given to him by the city.

According to several ryads, the prince could not extradite or prosecute a Novgorodian outside of Novgorod Land. 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.

The administrative division of Novgorod Republic is not definitely known; the country was divided into several tysyachi (Russian: тысячи, lit. 'thousands') in the core lands of the country, and volosti (Russian: волости) in lands in the east and north that were being colonized or just paid tribute. The city of Novgorod and its vicinity, as well as a few other towns, were not part of any of those. Pskov achieved autonomy from Novgorod in the 13th century; its independence was confirmed by the Treaty of Bolotovo in 1348. Several other towns had special status as they were owned jointly by Novgorod and one of the neighbouring states.

The Novgorod Republic was the largest of the Russian states in terms of area until it was surpassed by Moscow following its annexation of other independent principalities in the 15th century. The Novgorod Republic occupied the northwest and north of European Russia, as well as the eastern part of Finland. To the east, it was bordered by the Principality of Tver and to the west, it was bordered by Lithuania as well as various Baltic powers, including the Teutonic Order and the bishoprics of Dorpat and Courland as well as the Hanseatic cities of Riga and Reval.

The economy of the Novgorod Republic included farming and animal husbandry (e.g., the archbishops of Novgorod and others raised horses for the Novgorodian army), while hunting, beekeeping, and fishing were also widespread. In most of the regions of the republic, these different "industries" were combined with farming. Iron was mined on the coast of the Gulf of Finland. Staraya Russa and other localities were known for their saltworks. Flax and hop cultivation were also of significant importance. 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.

The real wealth of Novgorod, however, came from the fur trade. Hanseatic merchants were particularly attracted to the Russian trade due to its vast resources of furs and beeswax, with Novgorod being the leading supplier of furs. The city was the main entrepôt for trade between Rus' and northwestern Europe as it was located at the eastern end of the Baltic trade network established by the Hanseatic League. From Novgorod's northeastern lands ("The Lands Beyond the Portages" as they were called in the chronicles), the area stretching north of Lakes Ladoga and Onega up to the White Sea and east to the Ural Mountains had so much fur that medieval travel accounts tell of furry animals raining from the sky. The Novgorodian merchants traded with Swedish, German, and Danish cities. In early years, the Novgorodians sailed the Baltic themselves (several incidents involving Novgorodian merchants in Gotland and Denmark are reported in the Novgorodian First Chronicle). Orthodox churches for Novgorodian merchants have been excavated on Gotland. Likewise, merchants from Gotland had their own St. Olaf church and trading house in Novgorod. 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. Silver, cloth, wine and herring were imported from Western Europe.

The amount of fur, especially squirrel and other relatively cheap furs, that Novgorod supplied to Hanseatic merchants was considerable. The Lübeck company of Wittenborg exported between 200,000 and 500,000 Lübeck marks from Novgorod to Livonia in the 1350s. Anna Khoroshkevich assumed that exports increased throughout the 14th century and was at its height in the beginning of the 15th century, but by the second half of the century, Novgorod suffered from the effects of exhaustion of its resources with hunting grounds moving considerably further north and Muscovite merchants accruing the main profit of the shift.

In spite of unfavorable natural conditions, Novgorod's rural population was dependent upon agriculture and stock-rearing, while hunting and fishing were also important. The agricultural basis was also insecure, as the land passed almost fully into the hands of ruling boyars and clergy, with only a small area belonging to merchants. The peasants of Novgorod also paid dues to their lords in the products of agriculture, fishing, forestry, and stock-rearing.

Foreign coins and silver were used as a currency before Novgorod started minting its own novgorodka coins in 1420.

More than half of all privately owned lands in Novgorod had been concentrated in the hands of some 30–40 noble boyar families by the 14th and 15th centuries. These vast estates served as material resources, which secured political supremacy of the boyars. The Cathedral of St. Sophia – the main ecclesiastic establishment of Novgorod – was their chief rival in terms of landownership. Its votchinas were located in the most economically developed regions of Novgorod Land. The Yuriev Monastery, Arkazhsky Monastery, Antoniev Monastery and some other privileged monasteries are known to have been big landowners. 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). The most common form of labor exploitation – the system of metayage – was typical for the afore-mentioned categories of landowners. Their household economies were mostly serviced by slaves (kholops), whose number had been constantly decreasing. Along with the metayage, monetary payments also gained significant importance by the second half of the 15th century.

Some scholars argue that the feudal lords tried to legally tie down the peasants to their land. 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. The boyars and monasteries also tried to restrict other categories of peasants from switching their feudal lords. However, until the late 16th century peasants could leave their land in the weeks preceding and coming after George's Day in Autumn.

Marxist scholars such as Aleksandr Khoroshev often spoke of a class struggle in Novgorod. There were some 80 major uprisings in the republic, which often turned into armed rebellions. The most notable among these took place in 1136, 1207, 1228–1229, 1270, 1418, and 1446–1447. The extent to which these were based on "class struggle" is unclear. Many were between various boyar factions or, if a revolt did involve the peasants or tradesmen against the boyars, it did not consist of the peasants wanting to overthrow the existing social order, but was more often than not a demand for better rule on the part of the ruling class. There did not seem to be a sense that the office of prince should be abolished or that the peasants should be allowed to run the city.

Throughout the republican period, the archbishop of Novgorod was the head of the Orthodox church in the city. The Finnic population of Novgorod Land underwent Christianization. The sect of the strigolniki spread to Novgorod from Pskov in the middle of the 14th century, with its members renouncing ecclesiastic hierarchy, monasticism and sacraments of priesthood, communion, repentance and baptism, before they disappeared by the early 15th century. 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, before ultimately they were persecuted and several councils of the Russian Church condemned them.

Like other Russian states, the military of Novgorod consisted of a levy and the prince's retinue (druzhina). While potentially all free Novgorodians could be mobilised, in reality the number of recruits depended on the level of danger faced by Novgorod. The professional formations included the retinues of the archbishop and prominent boyars, as well as the garrisons of fortresses. Firearms were first mentioned in 1394, and in the 15th century, fortress artillery was used, and cannons were installed on ships.

During the era of Kievan Rus', Novgorod was a trade hub at the northern end of both the Volga trade route and the route from the Varangians to the Greeks along the Dnieper River system. A vast array of goods were transported along these routes and exchanged with local Novgorod merchants and other traders. The merchants of Gotland retained the Gothic Court trading house well into the 12th century. Later, German merchantmen also established trading houses in Novgorod. Scandinavian royalty would intermarry with Russian princes and princesses.

After the East–West Schism, Novgorod struggled from the beginning of the 13th century against Swedish, Danish, and German crusaders. During the Swedish–Novgorodian Wars, the Swedes invaded lands where some of the population had earlier paid tribute to Novgorod. The Germans had been trying to conquer the Baltic region since the late 12th century. Novgorod went to war 26 times with Sweden and 11 times with the Livonian Brothers of the Sword. The German knights, along with Danish and Swedish feudal lords, launched a series of uncoordinated attacks in 1240–1242. Russian sources mention that a Swedish army was defeated in the Battle of the Neva in 1240. The Baltic German campaigns ended in failure after the Battle on the Ice in 1242. After the foundation of the castle of Vyborg in 1293 the Swedes gained a foothold in Karelia. On August 12, 1323, Sweden and Novgorod signed the Treaty of Nöteborg, regulating their border for the first time.

The Novgorod Republic was saved from the direct impact of the Mongol invasions as it was not conquered by the Mongols. In 1259, Mongol tax-collectors and census-takers arrived in the city, leading to political disturbances and forcing Alexander Nevsky to punish a number of town officials (by cutting off their noses) for defying him as the grand prince of Vladimir (soon to be the khan's tax-collector in Russia) and his Mongol overlords.

The Republic of Novgorod was famous for its high level of culture in relation to other Russian duchies like Suzdal. A great majority of the most important Eastern artwork of the period came from this city. Novgorodians produced large quantities of art, more specifically, religious icons. This high level of artistic production was due to the flourishing economy. 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. Icons became so prominent in Novgorod that by the end of the 13th century, a citizen did not have to be particularly rich to buy one; in fact, icons were often produced as exports as well as for churches and homes. However, scholars today have managed to find and preserve only a small, random assortment of icons made from the 12th century to the 14th century in Novgorod.

The icons that do remain show a mixture of a traditional Russian style, Palaeologus-Byzantine style (prominent previously in Kiev), and European Romanesque and Gothic style. The artists of Novgorod, and their audience, favored saints who provided protection mostly related to the economy. The Prophet Elijah was the lord of thunder who provided rain for the peasants' fields. Saint George, Saint Blaise, and Saints Florus and Laurus all provided some manner of protection over the fields or the animals and herds of the peasants. Saint Paraskeva Pyatnitsa and Saint Anastasia both protected trade and merchants. Saint Nicholas was the patron of carpenters and protected travelers and the suffering. Both Saint Nicholas and the Prophet Elijah also offer protection from fires. Fires were commonplace in the fields and on the streets of the city. Depictions of these saints retained popularity throughout the entire reign of the republic. But in the beginning of the 14th century another icon became prominent in the city: the Virgin of Mercy. This icon commemorates the appearance of the Virgin Mary to Andrew the Fool. During this appearance, Mary prays for humankind.

Novgorod lost not only its political authority after 1478 but also its artistic authority, resulting in a more uniform method for iconography being established throughout Russia. The Novgorod school of icon painting, derived from the Byzantine school, served as the basis for future Russian art with the Moscow school, which emerged in the 16th century and was later succeeded by the Stroganov school.

The Volkhov River divided the Republic of Novgorod into two-halves. The commercial side of the city, which contained the main market, rested on one side of the Volkhov. The Cathedral of St. Sophia and the ancient kremlin rested on the other side of the river. The cathedral and kremlin were surrounded by a solid ring of city walls, which included a bell tower. Novgorod was filled with and surrounded by churches and monasteries. The city was overcrowded because of its large population of 30,000 people. The wealthy (boyar families, artisans, and merchants) lived in large houses inside the city walls, and the poor used whatever space they could find. The streets were paved with wood and were accompanied by a wooden water-pipe system, a Byzantine invention to protect against fire.

The Byzantine style (famous for large domes) and the European Romanesque style influenced the architecture of Novgorod. A number of rich families commissioned churches and monasteries in the city. About 83 churches, almost all of which were built in stone, operated during this period. Two prominent styles of churches existed in the Republic of Novgorod. The first style consisted of a single apse with a slanted (lopastnyi) roof. This style was standard throughout Russia during this period. The second style, the Novgorodian style, consisted of three apses and had roofs with arched gables. This second style was prominent in the early years of the Republic of Novgorod and also in the last years of the Republic, when this style was revitalized to make a statement against the rising power of Moscow. The inside of the churches contained icons, woodcarvings, and church plates. The first known one-day votive church was built in Novgorod in 1390 to ward off a pandemic, several others were built in the city until the mid-16th century. As they were built in one day, they were made of wood, small in size and simple in design.

Chronicles are the earliest kind of literature known to originate in Novgorod, the oldest one being the Novgorod First Chronicle. Other genres appear in the 14th and 15th centuries: travel diaries (such as the account of Stephen of Novgorod's travel to Constantinople for trade purposes), legends about local posadniks, saints and Novgorod's wars and victories. The events of many bylinas – traditional Russian oral epic poems – take place in Novgorod. Their protagonists include a merchant and adventurer Sadko and daredevil Vasily Buslayev.

Scholars generally believe that the Republic of Novgorod had an unusually high level of literacy for the time period. Archeologists found over one thousand birch-bark texts, all dating from the 11th to the 15th centuries, in towns dating back to early Rus'. Roughly 950 of these texts were from Novgorod. Archeologists and scholars estimate that as much as 20,000 similar texts still remain in the ground and many more burned down during numerous fires.

Novgorodian citizens from all class levels, from boyars to peasants and artisans to merchants, participated in writing these texts. Even women wrote a significant amount of the manuscripts. This collection of birch-bark texts consists of religious documents, writings from the city's archbishops, business messages from all classes, and travelogues, especially of religious pilgrimages. The citizens of Novgorod wrote in a realistic and businesslike fashion. 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.

• List of wars involving the Novgorod Republic

• Novgorod First Chronicle (NPL; oldest copies from c. 13th–15th centuries)
  • Izbornyk (1950). "Новгородская Первая Летопись Старшего Извода (синодальный Список)" [Novgorod First Chronicle of the Older Edition (Synodal Scroll).]. Izbornyk (in Church Slavic). Moscow / Leningrad: Nauka. Retrieved 19 July 2024.
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• Primary Chronicle (PVL; oldest copies from c. 14th–15th centuries).
  • Izbornyk (1908). Лѣтопись По Ипатьевскому Списку [The Chronicle according to the Hypatian Codex]. Complete Collection of Russian Chronicles (PSRL). Volume 2. 3rd Edition. Col. 15. Saint Petersburg: Typography of Edward Prats.
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