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Title: The Chronicle of Novgorod, 1016-1471 (Camden Third Series, V. 25) by Robert Michell, Mitchell, Nevill Forbes ISBN: 0-404-04799-8 Publisher: AMS Press Pub. Date: December, 1988 Format: Hardcover List Price(USD): $16.75

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Average Customer Rating: 3 (1 review)

Rating: 3
Summary: Interesting but only for true medieval Russian fanatic
Comment: "The Chronicle of Novgorod, 1016-1471" is exactly what it sounds like: a medieval chronicle of the Russian city of Novgorod. The entries are short, usually about a paragraph long, and deal mostly with the machinations of princes and warriors. Human interest is short. (The only reference to the author[s] of the chronicle is found under the entry for 1144: "The same year the holy Bishop Nifont appointed me priest.") The translation, originally done in 1914, is very good, but the book could have done with a little more information. The rival princes and grand princes and so forth all had the same names, and when the chronicler only refers to, say, "Prince Yaroslav," it is difficult to know which Yaroslav he is referring to.

I found the Chronicle most interesting in the notes about Novgorod life on the lower levels of the social strata, as when the author notes the price of bread, or when some renegade nobles burn down a village elder's home outside the city, or when things like the following are noted: "There was a fire, and it went from Borkova Street up to the [stream] Gzen, and on the other side of the river... eight wooden churches were completely and three stone churches partially burnt, and fourteen men, women and children perished on June 5".

Not being an expert in Russian medieval history, I found the longer and more detailed accounts of princes' raids, battles, and power grabs interesting, but the briefer ones ("Prince Yaroslav came to Novgorod and all the men of Novgorod were glad.") frustrated me, since no more detailed explanation of the identities of the people discussed is given, and the chronicler obviously assumed his readers would know whom he was speaking about.