C H A P . 3T.
Novogorod.— Its antiquity, power, grandeur, independence,
decline, fubjeclion, and downfal.— Its prefent Jlate.— Cathedral
of St. Sophia.— Early introduBion o f painting into
Ruffia.— Price o f provijions at Novogorod.— Incidents o f
the Journey to Peteriburgh.
b o o k . \ T Bronitza we croffed the Mafta upon a raft compofed
.X j L 0f feven or eight trees rudely joined together, and
which fcarcely afforded room for the carriage and two horfes.
We then continued our route, through a level country, to
the banks of theVolkovetz or Little Volkof, which we palièd
in a ferry ; and, after mounting a gentle rife, defcended into
the open marihy plain of pafture, which reaches, without
interruption, to the walls of Novogorod : that place, at a
fmall diftance, exhibited a moft magnificent appearance ;
and if we might judge from the great number of churches
arid convents, which on every fide prefented themfelves to
our view, announced our approach to a confiderabie city ;
but upon our entrance our expectations were by no means
realized.
No place ever filled me with more melancholy ideas of
fallen grandeur than the town of Novogorod. It is one of
the moft antient cities in Ruilia ; and was formerly called
Great Novogorod, to diftinguiih it from other Ruffian towns
of a fimilar appellation % According to Neftor, the earlieft
* Niihnei Novogorod and Novogorod Severlkoi.
O f the Ruffian hiftorians, it was built at the fame time with CHAP-
Kiof, namely, in the middle o f the fifth century, by a Scla-
vonian horde, who, according to Procopius, iffued from the
banks o f the Volga. Its antiquity is clearly proved by a
paffage in the Gothick hiftorian, Jornandes, in which it is
Called Civitas Nova, or New T ow n *. We have little infight
into its hiftory before the ninth century, when Ruric
the firft great-duke o f Ruffia reduced it, and made it the
metropolis of his vaft dominions. The year fubfequent to
his death, which happened in 879, the feat of government
was removed, under his fon Igor then an infant, to Kiof;
and Novogorod continued, for above a century, under the
jurifdi&ion of governors nominated by the great-dukes
until, in 970, Svatoflaf, the fon of Igor, created his third fon
Vladimir duke of Novogorod : the latter, fucceeding his father
in the throne of Ruffia, ceded the town to his fon
Yaroflaf, who, in 1036, granted to the inhabitants very confiderabie
privileges, that laid the foundation of that extraordinary
degree of liberty which they afterwards gradually
obtained. From this period Novogorod was for a long time
governed by its own dukes : thefe fovereigns were at firft
lubordinate to the great-dukes, who refided at Kiof and Volo-
dimir; but afterwards, as the town increafed in population
and wealth, they gradually ufurped an abfolute independency.
But while they thus fhook off the yoke of a diftant lord,
they were unable to maintain their authority over their own
fubjeCts. Although the fucceffion was allowed to continue
in the fame family; yet, as the dukes were eleCted by the in-
I Sclavini a Civitate Nova ct Sclavino Civitas Nova, Novogorod. S. R. G . vol V .
Jvumunenfe, et lacu qui appellatur Mufi-' p. 383.
anus, &c. This lake is the Ilmen, and the f S. R. G . vol. V . p. 397.