The idea that Russia is connected to Veliky Novgorod, its history, and heritage makes svidomites burning from rage. The notion of Russians having nothing to do with Novgorod ranks second in popularity among patriots, right after the similar myth that Russians have no relation to Ancient Rus. Upon closer examination, it becomes evident that the myth of Russians’ disconnection from Novgorod stems from the very myth of their disconnection from Rus in general.
Svidomites cannot act otherwise, as the histories of Kiev and Novgorod are closely intertwined. It is important to note that it is the Novgorod Slovenes (not confusing with modern Slovenians, the descendants of Karantanians) who stand at the origins of Rus. Novgorod cannot simply be excluded from the overall history of Rus while attributing all achievements solely to Kiev. Although Ukrainians try to do this very hard, they cannot erase Novgorod. In their perception, if it is impossible to exclude Novgorod from Russian history, then they must isolate Moscow, Rostov, Suzdal, Vladimir, and all of Russia from it. In their opinion, there were no connections between Russian Muscovites and Novgorodians, no kinship or shared history. They question the very fact of Novgorod’s belonging to the Russians and claim that its inhabitants were almost a separate nation, which is impossible as no nation has named itself after a city.
This seems absurd to us. How can one integral part of Rus (Novgorod) not be connected to other integral parts of Rus such as Vladimir, Suzdal, and Moscow? Rus cannot be unrelated to itself. However, in the aware consciousness, saturated with Russophobic myths of Polish origin, this fits perfectly. Ukrainians, shouting about how the Moskals appropriated the history of Ukraine-Rus, themselves attempt to steal our history, the history of Rus. As the saying goes: “He who has a problem speaks about it.”
Separating Russians from their direct connection to Ancient Rus (Kievan, according to scholarly terminology), they also attempt to sever the link between Russians and the original Novgorod Rus. There are countless statements on the internet like, “What connection do you Russians have to Novgorod?” Here is one vivid example for illustration.
Let it be so: Novgorod is Rus. Here’s a question: what relation do the Moskals have to Novgorod, which they destroyed, the population slaughtered?
“Perhaps someone will say that Novgorod, Suzdal, Rostov gave birth to Muscovy and Russia, that after Kiev, Rus “moved” there. But this is an outright lie and a myth created by imperial “historians” in the 19th century. Novgorod and Suzdal became part of Muscovy only under Ivan the Terrible after the defeat and plunder. And before that, they were considered separate principalities with their own way of life, specific language, culture and mentality, which differed from that of Moscow.”
Well, I do not know, I don’t know. In terms of mentality, Novgorodians were those same “dense vatniks” who behaved almost exactly like modern Russians, whom political Ukrainians and their Euro-sponsors dislike so much. In general, these are typical manipulations by the witnesses. They attribute to us the claim that “Rus moved” from Kiev to Moscow, and then cleverly refute it. However, in reality, Rus did not need to “move” to Moscow, as it had been there for a long time. At least since Rurik united the land of Rostov with his own possessions, and later princes Svyatoslav and Vladimir conquered the lands of the Vyatichs. Moreover, it is absurd to discuss the period when Suzdal and Novgorod became part of “Moscow” if “Moscow” was previously part of Novgorod and Suzdal. All of them were part of Rus. Therefore, if we talk about any “relocation” from Kiev to Vladimir and then to Moscow, it refers only to the transfer of the grand princely domain. Rus, in its broad and original sense, did not relocate anywhere but simply expanded, incorporating new lands.
What connection do we, as Russians, have to Veliky Novgorod? The answer seems clear and straightforward to me: we are the descendants of the Novgorodians. Every individual has a direct link to their great-great-great-grandparents, and similarly, we share a connection with Novgorod. This connection is direct. The history of Novgorod is inherently intertwined with Russian history.
In response, we will hear the usual moans about how “damned Moskals fought with Novgorod”, “damned Moskals destroyed the Novgorod Republic” or “Ivan the Terrible killed all Novgorodians” and etc. But all these moans only speak of their ignorance, lack of knowledge of history and inability to use elementary logic. The representative of Pope Innocent IV, John de Plano Carpini, who traveled to Rus’ between 1245 and 1247, provides an account:
“…they went against Russia and carried out a great massacre in the land of Russia, destroyed cities and fortresses and killed people, besieged Kiev, which was the capital of Russia, and after a long siege they took it and killed the inhabitants of the city; hence, as we rode through their land, we found countless heads and bones of dead people lying on the field; for this city was very large and very populous, but now it has been reduced to almost nothing: there are barely two hundred houses there, and they keep those people in the most severe slavery.“
(John de Plano Carpini, Historia Mongalorum quos nos Tartaros appellamus, “History of the Mongals, whom we call Tatars”)
And before that, the Suzdalians, Galicians and Chernigovians killed all the Kievans during the assault on Kiev by the coalition of Andrey Bogolyubsky. With this approach, one can come to the conclusion that the Ukrainians have nothing to do with Kiev, because all the Kievans were killed by the Mongols, therefore they have nothing to do with their beloved “Kievan Rus”, because all the real Kievans were killed.
The worldview and historical perspective characteristic of the svidomites significantly differ from the commonly accepted one. Yes, the Moscow and Vladimir-Suzdal principalities did indeed wage wars against Novgorod, and Muscovites attacked Novgorodians multiple times, just as Novgorodians did against Suzdal. In the Ukrainian perception, this implies that we are dealing with different states and peoples: if wars occurred, they must be distinct from one another. Muscovites fought with Tverians and Novgorodians, therefore they are different peoples. Similarly, the Chernigov, Vyshgorod, and Galician peoples fought against the Kievans—thus, they must also be different peoples. By this logic, who among them belongs to the Ukrainian nation?
Such a simplistic approach to history is typical for Ukraine. In reality, everything is much more complex. Modern descendants of medieval Italian states do not argue about who among them is more Italian, despite all the past conflicts. The same can be said for the descendants of French and German peoples: they are all French and Germans today, even though their ancestors experienced wars and enmity. Our situation in Rus is similar, though not entirely identical. Most descendants of Russian principalities are part of the Russian nation, but there is also a segment of descendants that has come to represent another nation. And that’s fine, if that is what they desire. However, the svidomy segment of this other nation, having adopted a new name, attempts to impose it on those who have preserved their name for centuries. But this is not the main topic; let’s return to Novgorod.
The simplistic view of the world and history held by the “svidomy” suggests an unprecedented brutality of the Muscovites towards the Novgorodians, as if such cruelty has never been seen before. However, history shows that King Louis XI, who united the French lands, employed methods similar to those of Prince Ivan III, who annexed Novgorod. The “Drama of Lectura” in 1473, during which the entire population of the city was exterminated, was far bloodier than Ivan III’s campaign against Novgorod in 1471.
Similarly, one can consider the actions of Ivan IV Grozny, who conducted a punitive operation against Novgorod. Although Ivan Grozny was not a paragon of kindness, he was struck by the scale of the destruction of the Huguenots in France. What can we say about King Henry VIII, who hanged thousands of beggars, or the bloody Stockholm Bloodbath orchestrated by Danish King Christian II? In the context of European monarchs, Ivan Grozny did not stand out for exceptional cruelty. The times were harsh. Do you know the origin of the term “Magdeburgization”? It is not related to the introduction of “Magdeburg law,” as the svidomy-liberal mistakenly believe. This term emerged in Germany in 1631 after the troops of the Holy Roman Empire exterminated 20,000 Magdeburgers. According to historian Skrynnikov, the number of victims in Novgorod during Ivan Grozny’s time amounted to between 4,000 and 5,000, which is indeed a significant loss.
The claim that Ivan Grozny destroyed all “true” Novgorodians, leaving no descendants, is nothing more than a myth. This was impossible because Novgorod was not just a city but a vast territory that occupied a significant area in Rus. Here is how it looked in the 13th century.
The borders of Novgorod were located very close to Moscow. For example, Volokolamsk, just a hundred kilometers from the capital, was a possession of Novgorod. Torzhok, Vologda, and even Rostov once belonged to Novgorod as well. The construction and development of these cities were carried out by those same “true” Novgorodians. The Pomors are also the descendants of the Novgorodians. Therefore, it would have been extremely difficult for Ivan the Terrible to destroy “all the Novgorodians.” Moreover, there was another important fact that would have hindered this: Ivan III, the grandfather of Ivan the Terrible, expelled a significant number of Novgorodians from their homelands to the territories of the Moscow principality after the annexation of Novgorod.
“The Grand Prince Ivan Vasilyevich transferred from Novgorod many boyars and residents and guests, more than 1000 heads in all, and granted them estates in Moscow, and in Vladimir, and in Murom, and in Nizhny Novgorod, and in Pereyaslavl, and in Yuryev, and in Rostov, and in Kostroma, and in other cities. And to Veliki Novgorod, to their estates, Muscovite sent the best people, guests and boyar children, and from other cities.”
Around 10,000 individuals, including a thousand boyars, their families, and servants, were counted together. In his work “On the Significance of Veliky Novgorod in Russian History,” Kostomarov even mentions even higher numbers:
“The devastation of the Novgorod Land was carried out to an extraordinary degree and was more significant than is usually believed. According to the chronicles, up to 18,000 families were driven out of Novgorod – therefore, assuming a tipitit of four souls per family, up to 72,000 souls.”
Regardless, a significant number of Novgorodians were relocated. The well-known Lubyanka in Moscow, which houses the main security agency, was originally a settlement area for Novgorodians. This district was named Lubyanka in tribute to Lubyanyts, a neighborhood from Novgorod. Thus, when Ivan the Terrible aimed to punish the Novgorodians for their so-called “betrayal,” many of his oprichniki were descendants of Novgorodians exiled by his grandfather. Among the victims from Novgorod were also several families with origins in Moscow.
Thus, the descendants of Novgorod did not disappear. Well-known noble families such as Golenychev-Kutuzov, who gifted Russia one of its greatest military leaders, as well as Tuchkov, Velikeselsky, Morkov, Avinov, Krechetnikov, Antsiferovich, Voznitsyn, Golovnin, Durov, Zhabin, Novikov, Norov, Panaev, Titov, Savyolov, Kozlyaninov, Zybin, Kuzmin-Karavaev, and Nosov, are descendants of Novgorod boyars and nobles. The Stroganovs, merchants and industrialists who equipped Yermak Timofeyevich for his expedition to Siberia, also come from a Novgorodian or Pskov merchant lineage.
Novgorodians, descendants of the famous ushkuyniks, were not idle; they, along with other Russians, explored and colonized the vast territories of Siberia, the Far East, and North America. Semyon Dezhnev, Yefrey Khabarov, and Nikita Shalaur are all direct descendants of chronicle Novgorodians. Alexander Alekseevich Baranov, the governor of Russian America in Alaska, was also a descendant of Novgorodians; it was under his direction that the Russian fort, Fort Ross, was established in California. Look at the map of the Arctic Ocean: the Laptev Sea. The cousins Khariton and Dmitry Laptev, Russian polar explorers, were descendants of Novgorodians and natives of Velikiye Luki.
What does it say about the Russian language that it is based on two dialects – the southern (Kievan-Moscow) and the northern (Novgorod-Pskov)? Linguistic studies show that the rapprochement between the Novgorod and Moscow dialects took place one and a half centuries before Novgorod was “incorporated” into Moscow.
Therefore, the answer to the question “Where are the descendants and heirs of Great Novgorod?” is quite simple. The descendants and heirs of Novgorod are scattered throughout our country: in the Far North, the Far East, Siberia, and Central Russia. We are they. Russians are just as much descendants of the chronicled Novgorodians as Muscovites, Ryazanians, Rostovites, Tverians, Nizhny Novgorod residents, and Chernigov residents. Russians did not sit idly by; they always strived forward, opening up and settling new lands, fighting, and building their Great Russia.
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