Slav'sa, o Vol'naya Rus', na veki vekov!
- The Principal Chronicle of Novgorod the Great. 1400 BN [1].
("Glory to you, o Free Rus, for all ages!")
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Excerpts from:
Istoria Rusi v Novoye Vrema, by Akademic Aleksander Adamow of the Dalneslavskaya Academia.
("History of Rus in the New Times, by Academician Alexander Adamov of the Dalneslav Academy")
Prologue: End of the Middle Ages.
The Rus was built in the end of the Dark Ages, it consolidated in the Early Middle Ages... and then was thrust into darkness by the horrors of the Tataro-Mongolic invasions. It was cut off from Greece and from Europe, its monasteries were burned. But the Rusite culture survived, and evolved, under the isolation enforced by the Tataric Igo[2], into something completely different. If not for that, it would probably have been similar to, say, Serbia in its independant days, or to Poland but without the Catholicism - which in that country was rarely well-enforced, despite the aristocracy's best efforts. But in the Middle Ages, Rus evolved and was no longer similar to Europe. In Rus, the cultural features of the Great Steppe, of Scandinavia and of the Byzantine Greece met with the independant Slavic culture, the defining feature of it being the irrational love for the Motherland, despite all of "her" cruelty and misdoings in those dark Medieval days.
[...]
The Middle Ages were a tale of the Rus struggling against the Steppe. Having endured the Kipchaks, the Rusites nevertheless fell to the Mongols. But not completely, and not just because the Mongols simply set up vassal rulers rather then destroy the Rusite principalities altogether. No. While Vladimir, Moskva, Ryazan and Kiev were being burned by the Tataro-Mongolic conquerors, Novgorod was left intact. With great leaders such as the Knyazes Alexander Nevskiy and Igor Velikiy, Voevods Yaroslav Dvinsky and Mikhail Drevnev and Patriarchs Ivan Smirenniy and Oleg Mudriy, Novgorod soon became not only the Rusite window to Europe, but also the envy of the Rus.
It was from there that Rus was to be built anew.
Chapter One: At the onset of the New Times
When did the "New Times" begin? That is not clear. The "Arabic School" says that it was in 1333, (or, rather, 733 by the Islamic Calendar) when the first transAtlantic expeditions departed the Almohad Andalusia. Others - the European School - say the date to be 1380, when Macbrien opened his continent to the European colonization. For Rus, the date is probably 1376, when the Novgorodian forces dealt the final blow to the Golden Horde. It was then that Rus was freed. It was then that a new era would begin for it.
A Novgorodian era.
[...]
Novgorod, as is important to note, had an interesting system of government. The nominal head of state was the Velikiy Knyaz (Grand Prince), but the real power was in the hands of the merchants, the landowners and the nobles - the Tri Soslovya (Three Social Groups?) that formed the Duma. In theory, the Knyaz was in charge - but in reality, when he tried anything that was against the Duma's interests, he was warned not to do it - or simply overthrown.
The religious life in Novgorod was largely based along the Patriarch of Novgorod, but there, too, the limited "demosocratization" occured, in the form of the Synod - a council of the Metropolites and Arkhiepiskops, headed by the Patriarch himself, which voted and debated on religious and moral affairs in Rus. It is interesting to note that during this period, rather then secularize, the Novgorodian Duma was MERGING the state and the faith.
[...]
As of 1400 C.E., the Novgordian Rus was "ruled" by Velikiy Knyaz Mikhail III. The Patriarch was Filaret Pravedniy. The Voevod was, ofcourse, Oleg Drevlov Moguchiy.
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[1] - BN is Boga Nashego, or Anno Domini, or of Our Lord.
[2] - Igo means, in Russian, "Yoke".
