book habitants, they gradually bartered away, as the price of their
. ; nomination, all their moft valuable prerogatives. They were
too fo frequently depofed, that, for near two centuries, the
lift of the dukes refembles more a calendar of annual ma-
giftrates, than a regular line of hereditary princes : and, in
effect, Novogorod was a republick under the jurifdi&ion
of a nominal foyereign.
The privileges enjoyed by the inhabitants, however unfavourable
to the power of the dukes, greatly befriended the
real interefts of the town : it became the great mart of trade
between Ruffia and theHanfeatick cities; and made the moft
rapid advances in opulence and population. At this period
its dominions were fo extenfive *, its power fo great, and its
fituation fo impregnable, as to give rife to a proverb, guis
contra Deos et Magnam Novogardiam ? Who can relift the
Gods and Great Novogorod ?
It continued in this flourilhing ftate until the middle of
the 15th century, when the great-dukes of Ruffia, whofe an-
ceftors had reigned over this town, and who ftill retained the
title of dukes of Novogorod, having transferred their refi-
dence from Kiof to Volodimir and afterwards to Mofcow,
laid claim to its feudal fovereignty, a demand which the
inhabitants fometimes put off by compofition, fometimes by
refiftance, but were fometimes compelled to acknowledge.
At length, in 14 7 1 , Ivan Vaffilievitch I. having fecured his
dominions againft the inroads of the Tartars, and having
extended his empire by the conqueft of the neighbouring
principalities, ventured to affert his right to the fovereignty
of Novogorod, and enforced his pretenfions by a formidable
* Its territory extended to th e North as 'Archangel, and ai large diitria beyond the
far as the frontiers o f Livonia and Finland, north-weftern limits o f Siberia,
trod comprifed great part o f the province o f
army:
army: he vanquifhed the troops of the republick oppofed chap.
to him in the field; and, having forced the citizens to ac- . . j
knowledge his claims, appointed a governor, who was permitted
to refide in the town, and to exercife the authority
formerly veiled in their own dukes *. This power, however,
being exceedingly limited, left them in the entire poffeffion
of their moft Valuable immunities : they retained their own
laws ; chofe their own magiftrates ; and the governor never
interfered in publick affairs except by appeal.
Ivan, however, by no means contented with this limited
fpecies of government, watched a favourable opportunity
of extending his authority; and, as a pretence is never
wanting to a powerful aggreffor, he, in 14 7 7 , laid fiege
to the town. His defigns being abetted by the internal
feuds and diffentions which had long prevailed in this independent
republick, the inhabitants were conftrained to
fubfcribe to all the conditions impofed by the haughty conqueror.
The gates were thrown open ; the great-duke entered
the place in the character of fovereign ; and the whole
body of people, tendering the oath of allegiance, delivered
into his hands the charter of their liberties, which unanimity
would ftill have preferved inviolate.
One circumftance, recorded by hiftoriahs as a proof of the
unconditional fubjeftion of the town, was the,removal of
an enormous bell from Novogorod to Mofcow, denominated
by the inhabitants eternal, and revered as the fymbol of their
liberty and the palladium of their privileges. It was fuf-
fpended in the market-place ; its facred found drew the
people inftantly from the moft remote parts, and tolled the
* Its government was limilar to that o f under the jurifdi&ion o f their own magif-
the German republicks, who acknowledge trates.
the emperor as their liege* lord, but are
4 fignal