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Novgorod is situated on the river Volkhov, 6 km from lake Ilmen, 531 km from Moscow, 189 km from St.-Petersburg. 31 deg. 17' 04" of east longitude 58 deg. 31' 36" of northern lassitude Hight above sea level : minimum (river Volkhov) - 18 m
A history of Novgorod a World Heritage City.
Novgorod the Great: a name steeped in antiquity, and evocative of the remotest past. In the course of its eleven - centuries - long history, Novgorod shared in every major cultural event in the life of the Russian people, and mementos of bygone years are plentiful both in and around it.
This ancient city on the Volkhov river was at one time one of the largest cities in Europe and the largest state in Europe at that time, the Republic of Novgorod. ( Novgorod means new fortified city in Russian. ) The story of Novgorod is the story of big business during the middle ages. Novgorod was founded in the 10th century two kilometers up stream from and an enlargement of Gorodishe ( called Holmgard in the Viking Sagas) the first capital of the country we know today as Russia. Gorodishe was was founded sometime in the 8th century when Gotlanders, Frisians and Danes came here to trade The Gotlanders brought their families and then slowly built colonies in the area, all these traders were called Varangians by the local residents. The Danish traders built a wooden castle and trading post with earthen ramparts and a moat around both here. The main purpose of the fortress was to make the upper part of the north south trade route to Constantinople via the Dnepr river safe for commerce and to control the trade route. A wooden castle with earthen ramparts was also built on an island in nearby Lake Ladoga before the fortress at Gorodishe. The castle on lake Ladoga could monitor both the east west Volga river trading route to the Caspian Sea, Black Sea via the Don River and India and China via the Caspian Sea route and the north south Dnepr River route from northern Europe to Constantinople. Swedish armed merchants ( Called the "Rus" who mostly traded down the Volga river system with the Khazar empire), also came to Gorodishe to trade. These merchants speak Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Greek, the language of the Franks, Germans, and Slavs. They journey from west to east, from east to west, partly on land, partly by sea. They transport from the west eunuchs, female and male slaves, amber, marten, sable and other furs, beeswax, honey and swords. On their return they carry back silver coins, silk, wine, jewelry, musk, aloes, camphor, cinnamon, and other products of the Eastern countries Some make sail for Constantinople to sell their goods to the Greeks; others go to Birka and Dorestad to sell their goods. There was a huge amount (multi millions of dollars in todays money) of money involved in this trade.
The wooden castle on Lake Ladoga was replaced later by this stone castle and church.
The Danish Varangians also used the fortress at Gorodishe to levy tribute on the tribes of Balts, Finns, Estonians and Slavs that lived in the surrounding area. Eventually the Balts, Finns, Estonians and Slavs decided they were tired of paying tribute to the Danish Varangians rulers and they took Gorodishe, drove the Danes out and installed their own prince (duke) in Gorodishe to rule the surrounding area.The Danes ended their eastward trading and turned to western raiding, this was the beginning of the Viking age in Europe. These raids on northwest Europe drained money, and there was a general and catastrophic breakdown in trade. Every seaport between Hamburg and Bordeaux was burned and looted, some several times over. The Frisian trade from Dorestad was completely destroyed. Dorestad itself was sacked in 834, and raided seven times in the next 24 years by Danish pirates. Most of the Gotlander colonists and Frisian traders stuck around and got along fairly well with the locals because they were more interested in making money than ruling. Around 800 the Avar wars closed the Constantinople Dnepr trade route. The Magyars (Hungarians) had already extended their domination toward the north in the 9th century. Around 840, under their duke, Olom (Almus), they occupied Sambat, an Avar City on the Dnepr river and renamed it Kiev ( Turkish for river bank settlement ), probably in agreement with their Khazar overlords. Kiev was an important city on the trade route because there is a great falls on the river here and all boats and cargo had to be unloaded and carried around the falls. This made it important to have a castle and fortified city here on the high bank of the river. The Rus merchants who traded down the Volga with the Khazar empire were still in business but this was slowing down because the Khazars were coming west to Birka in person to trade. In 859 a German prince, Roderick Halfdanson the Margrave of Frisia, arrived at Gorodishe with his men at arms and their families and his fleet, they were fleeing the Viking raids on Dorestad. The Russian chronicles state that Roderick was invited here to rule. I believe they are wrong and he came here to see if he could become the ruler of Gorodishe. Other legends say that the local ruler (Gostomysl) died without an heir and had chosen one of the sons (Vadim the Brave) of the king of Finland to succeed him and this had caused great trouble and almost civil war. There were Slavs, Finns, Balts, Estonians Gotlanders and Frisians living in the area.To make a long story shorter the city council elected Vadim to be duke, but they choose Roderick to be military commander at Ladoga and the Ladoga Castle. In the next ten years, the council fired Vadim and elected Roderick and back and forth a couple of times. In 870 Roderick was elected duke again, Vadim died two years later and Roderick was undisputed prince in Gorodishe. Roderick's chief man at arms was Oleg Orvarddi (the famous Oklogslander), Roderick at some point in time married Oleg's sister, Alfrind. Oleg was military commander of Pskov. A brief word about Oleg and Roderick, beside the fact that Roderick was prince of Frisia they were also business partners. Roderick and Oleg had run a large trading company in Dorestad they had a fleet (their flag was a trident on a blue background) that sailed between Dorestad, Birka in Sweden, London in England, Hedeby in Denmark, Visby on Gotland and Gorodishe in Russia. They were involved with the eastward trade in Frankish swords, slaves and other items.
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