The Grand Duke was going on a campaign: the “hungry” campaign of Mikhail of Tver against Novgorod in 1316 and the Novgorod-Tver confrontation of the beginning of the 14th century

Abstract

The beginning of the 14^th century in the history of North-Eastern Rus' was a turning point and the beginning of a new era in interstate and interprincely relations. With the departure from the scene of the sons of Alexander Nevsky, new characters came to the fore, namely, such as the Tver prince Mikhail Yaroslavich and the ambitious Moscow prince Yuri Daniilovich. The political alignments in the Horde were also changing — a long turmoil at the end of the 13^th century ended with the victory of Tokhta Khan over commander (temnik) Nogai, and this victory had a serious impact on interprincely relations in Rus'. Yuri Moskovsky tried to seize the label for a great reign from Mikhail of Tver, and this attempt of his marked the beginning of a long rivalry between the Moscow and Tver princely powers for dominance in North-Eastern Rus'. The outcome of this struggle largely depended on whose side "the bank" of Northern Rus', Novgorod, would be. The Novgorod elite saw in the confrontation between the princes of Moscow and Tver a chance to reshape in their favor the system of relations that had developed before that with the great princes of Vladimir. The article deals with one of the episodes of this political intrigue — the "hungry" campaign of Prince Mikhail Yaroslavich on Novgorod in the summer-autumn of 1316. The history of this campaign is placed in a wide historical context, which allows us to take a fresh look at the seemingly well-known and studied pages of relations between Moscow, Tver, Novgorod and the Horde in the first decades of the 14^th century.