Ivan III’s Conquest of Novgorod in 1471

From: Basil Dmytryshyn, Medieval Russia: A Source Book, 850-1700. Minor changes in translation, transliteration and in spelling have been made. For use by Fall 2002 HY438 students only.

A.D. 1471. [from The Chronicle of Novgorod, edited later by Ivan IV {the Terrible}] The Grand Prince Ioan Vasilievich marched with a force against Novgorod the Great because of its wrong doing and lapsing into Latinism.

Concerning these [people of Novgorod] this is a copy of the introductory words to the narrative of the first taking [of Novgorod] by the Grand Prince Ioan Vasilievich of all Russia [Ivan III], the grandfather of the Grand Prince Ioan Vasilievich [Ivan the Terrible] of all Russia, when there were dissensions in Great Novgorod.

King of kings, and Lord of lords, God supreme and ruling and strong, Owner and Creator of all, our Lord Jesus Christ, keep everlasting kingdom, having neither beginning nor end. That one only is all powerful whom the Creator of Heaven and earth and all else may create of His own will; power and glory he is pleased to give to him, the scepters of empire. He entrusts him with, and by His mercifulness establishes all virtue, and pours His grace on all who fear him. It is written in the old books as it was said: "A country wishing to be ruled in the face of God sets up a prince who is pious and just, regardful of his kingdom and of the governing the land, and loving justice and truth.” Of those, it is said, who in goodness build earthly [kingdoms] receive also a heavenly one. Truly has the Lord God of His unspeakable mercy with His lifebearing right hand raised a chief over the God-loved Russian Land, who maintains it in truth and piety, whose honorable head is filled with wisdom, who has organized it like to a lamp of illumination of piety, a promoter of truth, a guardian of godly law, a strong champion of Orthodoxy, the honorable, pious and trusty Grand Prince Ioan Vasillevich [Ivan III] of all Russia. The Lord God and the most pure Mother of God by their unspeakable mercy have committed to him the prosperity and the strengthening of all; extending their godly mercy through shedding the light of religion over Russian Lands.

Likewise it is written. Length of days, and long life and peace shall be added to thee, and he found favor and was beloved for his righteous acts, the Grand Prince of all Russia, Ioan Vasilievich; yet the deceitful people would not submit to him; stirred by a savage pride, the men of Novgorod would not obey their sovereign Grand Prince, until they were reminded of the great piety of old times told to them. For that reason did their fame abate, and their face was covered with shame: by reason of the men of Novgorod leaving the light and giving themselves over in their pride to the darkness of ignorance, saying that they would draw away and attach themselves to the Latins.

Thus have these inclined away from their sovereign the Grand Prince, wishing to give themselves over to the Latin king, bringing evil to all Orthodoxy. The pious sovereign and Grand Prince of all Russia, Ioan Vasilievich, has frequently sent his messengers to them, calling on them to keep his patrimony from all harm, to improve themselves in all things within his ancestral estates, and to live according to old custom. He suffered much in these things from their vexatious ways and contumacy within his paternal domains, while he expected from them a thorough amendment of their conduct towards himself and a respectful submission.

And again when the Novgorod Posadnik Vasili Ananin came as envoy from Great Novgorod, the patrimony of the Grand Prince, laying before him all the affairs of Novgorod, he did not say a single word of the ill-behavior of the men of Novgorod and of their failure to amend their ways, but in reply to the boyars of the Grand Prince Vasili he said: "Under that head I have no instructions from Great Novgorod, and I have no orders to speak." The sovereign Grand Prince was sorely aggrieved by their churlishness, who, while sending to him men from his patrimonial domains to implore favors, bear themselves with insolence and are unmindful of their misbehavior. There has the Grand Prince laid his anger upon them, upon the land of his inheritance, upon Great Novgorod, and he has commanded Vasili, the Novgorod envoy, to tell Great Novgorod: "Mend your ways towards me, my patrimony, and recognize us; encroach not on my lands and my waters, and keep my name of Grand Prince in strictness and in honor as of old; and send to me, the Grand Prince, representatives to do homage and to make settlement. I desire to keep you, my patrimony, in good favor, on the old conditions." With that he dismissed him, informing his patrimony that his power of endurance was exhausted, and that he would not suffer their misbehavior and contumacy any longer.

The Grand Prince sent also to Pskov, his patrimony, repeating the same words and with commands to acquaint Pskov with the opposition to him of his patrimony Great Novgorod, and to say: "If you send to me, the Grand Prince, with due homage, then I will hold them in my favor; but if my patrimony, Great Novgorod, fails in so doing, then must you be ready to act against them with me." And after this the Bishop Ioan of Great Novgorod and of Pskov died amongst them, and the men of Novgorod chose the monk Feofil [Theophilus] as their father to occupy his place, without reference to the Grand Prince Ivan Vasilievich of all Russia. And it was after this selection that they sent their Boyar, Nikita Savin, to the Grand Prince Ivan Vasilievich of all Russia to ask on behalf of Great Novgorod, the patrimony of the Grand Prince, for letters of safe conduct; and Nikita in the name also of all Great Novgorod prayed Filip the Metropolitan of all Russia and the spiritual father of the Grand Prince, as well as the Princess Marya, the mother of the Grand Prince, to intercede for them with the Grand Prince, in obtaining guarantee of security in submitting their petition for Feofil whom the men of Novgorod had nominated, for the Posadniks and Tysiatskis and Boyars who would come to Moscow to do homage to the Grand Prince and to obtain confirmation of Feofil as Bishop of Novgorod the Great and of Pskov, with the white hood, that they might all depart again in freedom. The Grand Prince acceding to the solicitations of his spiritual father the Metropolitan and of his mother the Princess Marya, granted letters of security and withdrew his displeasure from his patrimony Great Novgorod. Yet the men of Novgorod, gone mentally astray, and forgetful of this, went not in fear of God's words spoken to the whole congregation of the children of Israel.

Those ancient Israelites hearkened not to the words of God, and they did not obey his commandments; they were therefore deprived of the promised land and were scattered over many countries. Thus also the people of Novgorod, enraged by the pride in them, followed in the ways of the old desertion and have been false to their sovereign the Grand Prince, choosing to have a Latin ruler as their sovereign, and having before that accepted from him in Great Novgorod the Prince Mikhail Alexandrovich of Kiev, keeping him a long time in Novgorod, doing offense in this wise to their sovereign Ivan Vasilievich the Grand Prince of all Russia. By their artful devices they won over evilly inclined men, who were thus caught in the nets of the snarer and destroyer of the soul of man, the many-headed beast and cunning enemy, the devil; like a living hell has he devoured them by his evil counsel.

That tempter the devil entered in their midst into the wily Marfa Boretskaya, widow of Isaak Boretski, and that accursed [woman] entangled herself in words of guile with the Lithuanian Prince Mikhail. On his persuasion she intended to marry a Lithuanian Boyar, to become Queen, meaning to bring him to Great Novgorod and to rule with him under the suzerainty of the King over the whole of the Novgorod region.

This accursed Marfa like to them beguiled the people, diverting them from the right way to Latinism, for the dark deceits of Latinism blinded her soul's eyes through the wiles of the cunning devil and the wicked imaginings of the Lithuanian Prince. And being of one mind with her, prompted to evil by the proud devil Satan, Pimin the monk and the almoner of the old Bishop, the cunning [man], engaged with her in secret whispering and helped her in every wickedness, seeking to take the place of his lord as Bishop of Great Novgorod during his life, having suffered much punishment for his rogueries; his desire had not been gratified, inasmuch as the Lord God had not favored him in the drawing of the lot, and he was not, therefore, accepted by the people for the high office. That wicked man is like Peter the Stammerer, the first perverter of the faith, or like the ancient Farmos, those originators of the Latin heresies; and they were followed in our time by the apostate Metropolitan Isidor who attended the eighth Veche of Rome at Florence [i.e., Council of Florence, 1438-1439], tempted by the Pope's gold and coveting a cardinalship, seceding to Latinism. Among these is also Grigori, his apostate pupil who is now in Kiev called Metropolitan; but he is not received into our great Orthodox church of the Russian Land, but excluded.

This cunning monk Pimin sought his appointment by the apostate Grigori, spreading it among the people that he should be sent to Kiev where he would receive his confirmation, being unmindful of the words in the Holy Gospels spoken by the lips of our Lord: "He that entereth not by the door into the sheep-fold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber." Now this cunning man not only sought like a wolf to climb over the fence into the sheep-fold of the house of Israel, but to scatter and to destroy God's church; and he in this wise ruined the whole of the Novgorod land, the accursed one. According to the Prophet: "He made not God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches and strengthened himself in his wickedness." This Pimin did similarly trust in the abundance of his riches, giving of them also to the crafty woman Marfa, and ordering many people to give money to her to buy over the people to their will; and this accursed wicked serpent fearing not God and having no shame before man, has spread destruction throughout all the Novgorod land and destroyed many souls.

The most venerable priest-monk Feofil, their spiritual father, nominated to the Bishop-ship, exhorted them to refrain from their wicked ways, but they would not hearken to him, and he tried many times to withdraw to his cell in his own monastery, but they would not let him go, while they persevered in their wicked design.

The Grand Prince Ioan Vasilievich, hearing of what was doing in his patrimony, Novgorod the Great, of the uncurbed outrages of his people who were like the waves of the sea, bethought him of these occurrences in the goodness of his heart, yet he did not hasten to show his wrath, but quieted his most honest soul with a goodly patience, filled, like the Apostle, with the fear of God, and in remembrance of the holy light of the righteous Son, of Christ's merciful long-suffering, when the word of God came down from heaven and humbling himself, he descended to the earth, taking the form of a servant for the salvation of mankind; the Grand Prince allowed them sufficient time, saying to himself: "Thou art just, 0 Lord, and Thy judgments are correct; and as the Lord is just, so may I, loving justice, be just in His sight." Thinking thus, being favorably inclined towards his patrimony, and not being desirous of witnessing the shedding of Christian blood, he said to himself: "Even as the waves dash into foam against the rocks and come to naught, so also our people the men of Novgorod have more than once acted treasonably towards us, and the Lord God will subdue them." With this view he commanded his [spiritual] father Filip, the Metropolitan of all Russia, to write to them in his name, admonishing them, and instructing them not to draw away from the light of piety, to abandon their evil designs, and to withstand the darkness of the Latin allurements. The Metropolitan of all Russia did repeatedly write to Novgorod the Great, sending his blessing and writing instructions from the sacred Book: "It has come to my hearing, my sons, that some among you are endeavoring to cause a great rebellion and to produce dissent in God's holy church, to renounce the Orthodox Christian faith, and to pass over to the Latins. You must disadvise those wicked people among you from their evil inclinations, for, my sons, theirs is false and godless work; for by abandoning the light of piety they will unwittingly bring down upon themselves the future judgment of God and many eternal torments; let them be guided by a godly wisdom and by God's commandments. Stand in fear of the wrath of God, and in dread of the awful scythe which was seen by the great prophet Zachariah descending from heaven upon the unruly; you must punish those who make tumult and sow dissension among you, and teach them to walk in the old ways of their fathers and to dwell in the former ways of peace and piety. Cruel and irremediable will be the effects of these beginnings, if you neglect the new law of piety and salvation of the testament of the living God, and adhere to Latinism. The Lord God will call to account all the godless perverters of the faithful, so that you must restrain the evildoers according to the words: 'Fly from sin as from a foe; fly from deceit as from the face of a serpent, that it may not sting thy soul with the barb of eternal perdition.' You know, my sons, how many cities, countries and places of mighty kingdoms have been ruined and desolated in former times for breaking the law and for disobeying the Prophets and for not following the teachings of the Apostles and the holy Fathers; that countries and cities which did not submit to God and to their sovereign were destroyed. The once pious and great Imperial city of Constantinople perished because of that same Latinism; is fell through impiety, and is now possessed by the heathen Turk. Fear the wrath of God, ye sons of God's world, it is not only one or two among you who are working to depart from the truth and to turn from the right way, forgetting your past greatness and the laws of your fore-fathers; but the whole multitude of your people are in commotion. Submit yourselves, my sons, to him under whose strong arm God has placed you and the God-serving land of Russia, the Grand Prince Ioan Vasilievich our hereditary ruler, according to the direction of Christ's Apostle Paul the teacher of the universe, who said: 'Whosoever submits to the power of God, obeys His ordinances, but whosoever resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God'; and again: 'Fear God and obey the king.' The minister of God beareth not the sword in vain as an avenger, but also in defense of the godly. Ponder, therefore, my children, over these things, and humble yourselves, and may the God of peace be with you."

They remained, however, not only implacable, but also stone-hearted, and gave no attention to the above writing, and were as deaf as adders, closing their ears to the voice, as it were, of the charmers. So these men of Novgorod giving no heed to the writing, nor accepting the benediction, and continuing in their evil courses, could not be compacted [in the right]. The pious sovereign and Grand Prince of all Russia Ioan Vasilievich being still gracious to them, sent to Great Novgorod, his patrimony, his servant Ioan Fedorovich Tovarkov with fair words, saying: "His patrimony should not abandon the Orthodox faith, but cast the evil thought from off their hearts, and should not adhere to Latinism; that the great sovereign holds the men of Novgorod in favor and in his regards as of old." But the wicked people minded him not, and clung to the intention of abandoning Orthodoxy and giving themselves over to the king. We will state the accusation against them.

The Grand Prince being informed of the unceasing evil doings of the men of Novgorod, dispatched to Novgorod the Great a challenge in writing exposing the malpractices of the people and their treason, and announcing that he was himself marching with a force against them. The Grand Prince had first sent his Voevodas Vasili Fedorovich Obrazets and Boris Matveyevich Tyushtev with his men of Ustyug, of Vyatka, and of the Vologda district, to the Dvina and the country beyond the Volok, and into all the territories of Novgorod in those parts. In advance of his own force the Grand Prince sent an army under his Voevodas, Prince Danilo Dmitrievich Kholmski and his Boyar Fedor Davidovich, accompanied by many others of his court; they were ordered to scour the country around Novgorod, towards Russa beyond the Ilmen lake and to burn all places of habitation. To his patrimony Pskov the Grand Prince sent to say that the men of Pskov should release themselves from their engagement on oath to Great Novgorod, and take to horse in his service against Novgorod which had abjured Orthodoxy and was giving itself to the Latin king. They issued forth at once with all the men of the country of Pskov, and at the instance of the Grand Prince they revoked their oath on the Cross to Novgorod the Great.

The pious sovereign and Grand Prince Ioan Vasilievich prayed to God and to the most pure Mother of God, shedding many tears before them, beseeching their mercy for the pacification of the world, and for the well-being of God's holy churches and the Orthodox faith. His heart filled with sorrow, he said to himself. "It is known to Thee, Almighty God and everlasting King, who knowest the secrets of all men's hearts, it is not of my own desire and will that I dare to do this which may cause much shedding of Christian blood upon this earth. I stand by the godly laws of the holy Apostles and holy Fathers and for the true Orthodox faith of the Russian Land, also for my patrimony and against their renunciation of the true faith and adoption of Latinism." And praying thus, the pious worker invoked to his aid the great defender and speedy helper in war, the Voevoda of the celestial forces, the Archistrategos Mikhail, and the great unconquerable sufferers for Christ, Dmitri of Selun [Salonika], Georgi the Brave and Feodor Stratilat [Theodore Stratelates], also his saintly and Orthodox ancestors St. Vladimir and his two sons Boris and Gleb; and putting his trust in the prayers of the Saints, of the great sanctifier Ioan Zlatoust [John Chrysostom], the Bishop of Tsargrad [Constantinople], the miracle-worker Nikola, Peter the Russian Metropolitan, Alexis the miracle-worker and Russian Metropolitan, St. Leonti the miracle-worker and Bishop of Rostov, and the Saints and miracle-workers Sergei, Varlam, and Kiril, and Nikita the almoner of the miracle-worker of Pereyaslavl. By their prayers might he be strengthened and established for many years by the Lord God with His help from on high.

And so putting his trust in God, the Grand Prince mounted his horse; and in the house of the Most Pure Mother of God and of the great Sanctifier Peter the miracle-worker, he left his son the faithful and pious Grand Prince Ioan Ioanovich to sit in his throne in Moscow in guard of his patrimony and to govern the land of Russia; he left his younger brother Prince Andrei Vasilievich with him, and he commanded his son to retain by him the Tsarevich Murtasa, the son of Tsar Mustafa, with his Princes and Kazaks [Bodyguard], to serve him on any emergency.

The Grand Prince took along with him his younger brother Prince Yuri Vasilievich and his youngest brothers Andrei and Boris Vasilievich, also Prince Mikhail Andreyevich with his son Vasili, with a large number of other Princes in his service, and Boyars and Voevodas; he took with him also the son of Tsar Aldayaras Kasimovich of the Meshcher country with his Kazaks and retinue. The men of Pskov joined their forces from the borders of their country.

Thus did the Grand Prince advance with all his host against his patrimonial domain Novgorod the Great because of the of the rebellious spirit of the people, their pride and their conversion to Latinism. With a numerous and overpowering force he occupied the entire Novgorod country from border to border, visiting every part of it with the dread powers of his fire and sword. As in ancient times Jeremiah prophesied of Nebuchadnezzar, King of Jerusalem: "From the rumbling and thunder of his chariots and from the neighing of his horses the earth shall tremble"; and so by the mercy and aid of God, shall the same prophecy be fulfilled in our time over the wicked men of the Novgorod country, through the pious sovereign Grand Prince Ioan Vasilievich of all Russia, for their abjuration of the faith and for their wrong-doing.

The Novgorod country is filled with lakes and swamps, for which reason mounted forces were never employed against Novgorod by former Grand Princes and the wicked people in their wonted contumacy dwelled in security during the summer after, following their own evil ways from the autumn to the winter, and even up to spring time, by reason of the inundation of the lands.

By the beneficence of God, vouchsafed by God from on high to the Grand Prince Ioan Vasilievich of all Russia to the detriment of the Novgorod land, not a drop of rain had fallen during the summer. From the month of May to the month of September the land was dry and the heart of the sun had dried up all the swamps. The troops of the Grand Prince found no impediments and could ride in every direction over the country, driving the cattle over dried ground; thus did the Lord God through this desiccation punish the men of Novgorod for their evildoing and subject them to the strong hand of the pious sovereign and Grand Prince Ioan Vasilievich of all Russia. When the men of Novgorod heard that the Grand Prince was marching upon them with a large army, those cunning men sent to him professions of duty and again asked for guarantees of security while proceeding with their evildoing. At the same time they sent forces from Novgorod the Great by the Ilmen lake in boats against the advancing columns of the Grand Prince, and fought them; but God aided the Voevodas of the Grand Prince, and 500 men of Novgorod were killed and others were captured or drowned, while others fled back to the town informing the townsmen that they had been defeated by the Voevodas of the Grand Prince. Thrown into great agitation, the men of Novgorod, after deliberation, dispatched another messenger to the Grand Prince, Posadnik Luka Klementievich, doing homage and again asking for guarantee of security and ignoring the defeated force which had passed down in boats, declared that as yet no men from the town had fought with those of the Grand Prince.

Without waiting for the return of their venturesome envoy the crafty people conceived a great wicked design; the rebel Posadniks and Tysiatskis, the Boyars, well-to-do-men, the merchants and the whole of Great Novgorod collected together, forming a fighting body of fully 30,000 men, being unaware that the sword of God was sharpened against them, and mounting their horses, rode quickly out of the town to fall upon the advance force of the Grand Prince, which was led by Prince Danilo Dmitrievich and by Fedor Davidovich. Here befell what was said by David the Prophet: "By the morning shall all the wicked of the earth be slain; I shall destroy all the lawless of the city. " When the watchers and the scouts informed the Voevodas that a large force of mounted men was advancing from Novgorod, and that an auxiliary force was coming in boats into the Shelon river, then the Voevodas of the Grand Prince began to acknowledge the justice of the Prince's cause and the perfidy of the men of Novgorod and, praying to the Lord God and to the most pure Mother of God, and reposing their trust in God, they said to their company: "It is our duty, brothers, to serve our sovereign the Grand Prince Ioan Vasilievich of all Russia, and were they 300,000 strong we should all the same lay down our lives in fighting for the cause of our sovereign Grand Prince; and God and the holy Mother of God know that the cause of the Grand Prince is a just cause."

Early on the morning of July 14, the day of the Apostle St. Kuld, the entire force of the men of Novgorod was ranged on the Shelon river, and the opposing armies faced each other across the river.

When they saw the forces of the men of Novgorod the troops of the Grand Prince precipitated themselves into the river on their horses, not one of their horses stumbling in descending the steep bank, nor floundering in the water, and closing up they rushed upon the whole body of the men of Novgorod and they joined in battle. And here was fulfilled what was said by the Prophet: "Like drunken men did they stagger and fall into confusion, and all their understanding was swallowed up"; and again: "As in drowsiness they mounted their horses, terrible art Thou, 0 Lord; who can stand against Thee?"

Thus was God's favor bestowed on the troops of the Grand Prince, maintaining his just cause; even as God helped Gideon against the Midianites, and Abraham against the King Hodologomor of Sodom, so did he aid the Voevodas of the Grand Prince against these unrighteous backsliders, the men of Novgorod. Although they rebelled and arrayed themselves against the troops of the Grand Prince, yet they could not raise strong hands against them, but themselves fell into confusion from the stretching of their arrowed bows, and from the weapons of their hands. Thus likewise did God in his goodness turn their faces in an hour's time, as they threw down their arms and fled back whence they had come; they ran in disgrace, casting away their armor to relieve their horses of weight, and a great number of them fell dead, for their lawlessness and for their rebellion against their sovereign the Grand Prince. It did not appear to them that they were stricken by men's hands, but by the invisible power of the Living God and by the aid of the great Archistrategos Mikhail, the leader of the heavenly forces. All were in great terror and many fell dead with their faces to the earth, while others throwing themselves off their horses ran into the forests, where they strayed like cattle in their separate ways--being there were no married men amongst them--but hearing on all sides the shout of "Moskva" [Moscow] from the troops of the Grand Prince.

So did the Lord fill their wicked souls with dread that they strayed in the forests not knowing their own country. The troops of the righteous sovereign and Grand Prince triumphing over them by God's mercy, chased the wicked men of Novgorod twenty poprishche [about twenty versts] killing many and taking others alive, while others were drowned in their boats in the Shelon river.

The troops on the field of battle proclaimed their victory by trumpet sound and kissed the sacred images, glorifying God for their victory over their presumptuous enemies.

And searching in the transport they found a writing which was the draft of an agreement between Novgorod and the king [of Poland]. This was a surprise, and it caused astonishment, and the papers were forthwith sent to the Grand Prince Ioan Vasilievich by the hand of the Boyar Ivan Vasilievich Zamyatin; he was to report that a large army of Novgorod men had advanced against them with banners with the best men among them, and had fought desperately, but that God had aided the Voevodas of the Grand Prince, that the great Novgorod army was completely defeated, that many Novgorod men had fallen, and many had been captured, to the number of 1700; that here were the copies of a treaty with the King of Poland, and with these they sent a prisoner, the man who had written out the draft, to serve the Grand Prince in his accusation of the crafty men of Novgorod.

The pious Grand Prince was gladdened by the unspeakable mercy of God in the aid given to him from on high against his cunning enemies. Praising God and the most pure Mother of God for having frustrated their wicked design of corrupting the sacred churches of God, of causing agitations and of producing hostilities between great sovereigns to the utter discomfiture of all Orthodoxy. He found among the documents the draft of a treaty with the king, by the terms of which the men of Novgorod agreed to surrender all the towns and districts of the Grand Prince, with his lands and waters and with all the taxes of Novgorod the Great, setting forth the names of the envoys to be sent to the king--Panfili Selifontov and Kurila Ivanov, son of Makar--and naming him "our honorable king and sovereign." It is written, that their sickness shall turn upon their heads and their untruth shall descend upon them. So may it be with them for their craftiness and evil counsels.

The pious Grand Prince of all Russia Ioan Vasilievich, having prayed to God and to the most pure Mother of God, went forward in his great work to Novgorod the Great, with his younger brothers Prince Yuri Vasilievich and Prince Boris Vasilievich, with the [Tatar] Tsarevich with all his Princes and Voevodas and with all the people of his lands, hastening to his Voevodas and to his advance army.

When the men of Novgorod were brought before the Grand Prince, he, the pious one, with a godly wisdom accused the crafty men of their cunning and dishonorable proceedings, of departing from the light of true worship and giving themselves up to Latinism, of surrendering themselves to the Latin king while being the patrimony of him the Grand Prince; and of surrendering to the Latin king according to the draft of a treaty with him all the towns, districts, lands, and waters which belonged to him the Grand Prince of Moscow, together with the taxes. Having found them guilty of all this, and being thus stirred against the men of Novgorod, he ordered them to execution by the sword, the chief Posadniks, among whom was Dmitri the eldest son of the charming Marfa, the town Posadnik; and she was also to lose her life by decapitation: together with these Vasili Seleznev Guba, Kiprian Arzubiev, and Iremia were also beheaded for their conspiracy and crime in seeking to take to Latinism. Many other Posadniks, Tysiatskis, Boyars, and men of substance of Novgorod were sent away to various towns or thrown into prisons, while others were retained in the fortress under charge to bide their time.

When God's aid came down from on high, with the leader of the heavenly host, the great Archistrategos Mikhail, in that hour Great Novgorod trembled before the wrath of God, and the Posadniks, the Tysiatskis, the men of substance, the Boyars, the merchants, and all the land of Novgorod turned their hearts towards good.

So did those men of Novgorod come unanimously to one decision; taking with them the priest-hermit Feofil, nominated Bishop of Novgorod the Great and of Pskov, the Archimandrites, and Igumens, the worthy fathers and hermits, the priests from all the seven cathedral churches, and a great number of the best men of the town, they went to the pious sovereign and Grand Prince of all Russia Ioan Vasilievich, and all of them prostrating themselves before him, they repented them with tears and in great sorrow of their crimes, praying: "Merciful lord and Grand Prince of all Russia Ioan Vasilievich, for the Lord's sake pardon us guilty men of Novgorod the Great your patrimony; grant us, Lord, your favor, withdraw your anger, hold back your sword and extinguish your fires, silence your thunders, spare the land from ruin, be merciful and let your irresponsible people see the light."

And they all came on many days to his brothers, Prince Yuri Vasilievich, Prince Andrei Vasilievich, and to Prince Boris Vasilievich, humbling themselves before them and praying them to plead for them to their elder brother, the Grand Prince Ioan Vasilievich; and on many days they likewise visited the Boyars, the Princes, and Voevodas, beseeching them because of the sorrows of all Great Novgorod to plead for them, before the Grand Prince. The gracious brothers of the Grand Prince, Prince Yuri Vasilievich , Prince Andrei Vasilievich, and Prince Boris Vasilievich, favored them as of their patrimony, and compassionating them, and together with all the Princes and Boyars, did plead for them before their brother the Grand Prince of all Russia, praying him to have regard for them of his patrimony and to lay aside the wrath in his heart. The gracious and intelligent sovereign Grand Prince of all Russia, Ioan Vasilievich, seeing before him such a multitude of penitent people, and among them his own priests, the hermit priest Feofil, the Bishop-elect of Novgorod the Great and of Pskov, who had grieved sore many days, as also his brothers and the Boyars and Princes in supplication before him, and the righteous Grand Prince, being also mindful of the writing he had received from his spiritual father Filip, Metropolitan of all Russia in which as pastor and teacher of Christ's flock the Metropolitan entreated the Grand Prince, with his blessing, to be merciful to the people of his patrimony, those many Orthodox Christians for whose souls he grieved, and for the sake of Christian peace to accept their petitions, and remembering also the words which came from the mouth of our Lord: "Be merciful even as our Father in heaven, forgive man's trespasses as your Father will forgive yours," and again: "Blessed is the merciful," so because of these words spoken by God, and of all these intercessions, the Grand Prince granted grace to his patrimony, to Feofil the Bishop-elect of Novgorod the Great and of Pskov, to the Posadniks, Tysiatskis, merchants and to the whole of Novgorod the Great: he withdrew from them the anger of his heart, withheld his sword and his menace over the land, and commanded that all the captives should be freed without ransom. He put a termination to the war and to plunder; and as to taxes and tribute, he settled them all in writing, on oath, after which the Grand Prince withdrew from his patrimonial domains of Novgorod peacefully with his brothers, his Boyars, with the Princes and Voevodas and with all his armed forces.

From his Voevodas operating on the Dvina the Grand Prince received communications to the effect that they had defeated Prince Vasili Shuiski, the servant of Great Novgorod, who with men from the country beyond the Volok, from the Dvina country and from the Korel region had advanced in large numbers and had fought with them great battles from morning to night on land and on water, but that God had aided the forces of the Grand Prince under Voevoda Vasili Fedorovich and his comrades, that a large number of the men of Novgorod were slain and others captured; so were the men of Novgorod overcome with fatigue and staggered in battle that they could not move their hands or turn their heads; that their Prince was wounded by an arrow and was taken away in a boat by his men, being barely alive, and that the towns on the Dvina had been burned and demolished. Thus did God's grace and mercy descend from on high in aid of the right of our sovereign the righteous and pious Grand Prince Ioan Vasilievich of all Russia. On receipt of this intelligence the pious Grand Prince gave praise to God and to the most pure Mother of God for those great mercies, and returned to his throne in the God-protected city of Moscow on the first day of September of the new year 6980 (1472).

Having received their liberty from their sovereign Ioan Vasilievich the Grand Prince of all Russia, the men of Novgorod at once dispersed from out of the town to their several homes. A large number of people proceeded to Russa in big vessels, and to the Volkhov river with their wives and children and possessions; their cattle and with their movable houses, going to the places of their residence by the Ilmen Lake, or by way of Russa Lake, the breadth from shore to shore on all sides being sixty poprishche [about forty miles]. When their numerous big vessels reached the middle of the lake, a storm with a hurricane of wind broke suddenly upon them, and tore their sails; there was terrible thunder and heavy rain with hail, and waves of mountain height, and dreadful, broke up their barges and all their big vessels in the middle of that frightful lake. There was in that hour an overwhelming terror and a raging storm, with shrieking and crying, many people clinging to each other, bitterly bewailing their peril, and in their agony tearing their clothes; mothers embracing their infants, fathers their sons, while shedding many tears and praying: "Lord save us, in the hour of our destruction and of our separation from the evils of this world. " Sadness and woe to those who take to evil! This was not within sight of their friends, and they got no help from them; unless it came from on high, because of the straits of the great city and the angry spirit pervading it; the while that the big vessels were being shattered and wrecked, and all the men and women with their children were perishing in the deep waters separating from each other and tumbling about at the will of the waves which left nothing living in the waters, but all drowned and put to death. It was heard afterwards that the number of drowned in the lake was 7000. Thus did God punish his people of the Novgorod country for their wicked imaginings, those evil-minded men, even for relinquishing their faith and inclining to Latinism. When it came to the ears of Great Novgorod that on the Dvina the Voevodas of the Grand Prince had beaten Prince Vasili Shuiski and the Novgorod men, while a large multitude had been drowned in the lake, then tears were added to tears, and wailings to wailings, realizing that the whole of the Novgorod country was by the wrath of the Grand Prince of all Russia, Ioan Vasilievich, burned and laid waste by war, with its best men driven out, which had never happened to them before. But all this evil and ruin they had brought upon themselves by their cunning and faithlessness and for their going to Latinism, having allowed themselves to be misled by cunning people and rebels; and that civic disaster and human blood shall they be made to account for by the Almighty God, according to the writing: "Lord! destroy the provokers of strife; and let the consequences fall on the heads of the traitors and on their souls in this world and in the next, amen. "