Monograph review: Goehrke, Carsten. Under the shadow of divine wisdom. History and life worlds of Veliky Novgorod City-State (Zürich: Chronos Verlag, 2020. 550 p.)

Abstract

The article contains a review of a recently published monograph by Carsten Goehrke, a former professor at the University of Zürich, which is devoted to the history and culture of Veliky Novgorod and is currently the most complete work on this topic in foreign historiography. The author characterizes Novgorod as a city-state that united the entire Russian North, which had a specific political organization that combined democratic, oligarchic, and theocratic elements. Prior to its entry into the Muscovy State, Novgorod represented an alternative version of social development within Rus, the stages of which are demonstrated in detail in the monograph by C. Goehrke. As one of the most important trading partners of the Hansa, Novgorod had a solid economic base and played the role of a link between Russia and Western Europe.