350 Rus view these towns and their hinterlands as their patrimonies absolutely independent from Kiev To promote their legitimacy, the rulers of these towns built stone churches and palaces modeled after those in Kiev They sponsored the foundation of monasteries and commissioned the monks to write detailed chronicles of their family’s branch of the Riurikid dynasty and the history of their town In addition to master builders they imported master craftsmen from Kiev, who established workshops in their new towns specializing in the manufacture of glass bracelets, jewelry, textiles, and other Kievan-Byzantine luxuries In this way Kievan-Byzantine culture came to dominate throughout much of the Rus principalities, homogenizing the Eastern Slavic lands by spreading an elite culture through its cities Local cultural forms developed as well during this period, with icon painting schools emerging in Pskov, Novgorod, and Vladimir-Suzdal An alternative to the pattern of centralized princely rule established in Kiev and followed by the independent principalities was the city-state of Novgorod Founded in the mid-10th century, Novgorod was the second largest city of Kievan Rus, and possibly wealthier, because of its importance as medieval Europe’s key source of furs Because of its wealth and status, the Kievan princes treated Novgorod in a special manner, appointing their eldest sons or close associates to rule the town In 1136 Novgorod’s population expelled their prince and claimed the right to choose from any branch of the Riurikid clan The prince protected the town and received revenues from its trade but had to reside beyond the town walls The town assembly (veche), governor (posadnik), and archbishop became major determinants in Novgorod’s administration These principal actors in Novgorodian politics had the power to remove the prince Because it was located so far to the northwest, Novgorod was one of the few towns not touched by the Mongol invasion In the 14th and 15th centuries Novgorod became one of the most powerful states in Europe, serving as one of the Hanseatic kontor In 1478 the grand prince of Moscow annexed Novgorod and cut one of the main sources of its revenue when, in 1494, he closed Peterhof Although Kievan Rus comes to its official close in 1237–39 with the Mongol invasion, there were signs of weakening beforehand Already in the early 12th century, the Swedish kingdom began militarily driven efforts to convert the Eastern Slavs in the Novgorod lands to Latin Christianity Crusading campaigns fought by German knights gained momentum during the 13th century under the organization of the Teutonic Order in Livonia Although not in danger from the northern crusades, Kiev became the victim of the southern crusades when, in 1204, an army of crusaders seized and sacked Constantinople, holding the Byzantine capital until 1261 Heavily dependent on trade with Constantinople, Kiev entered upon a long period of economic depression, which contributed to its weakened defenses, which were ill equipped to organize a resistance the Mongol army in 1238 In 1223 several Rus princes fought a small Mongol army, which turned out to be a scouting party, on the river Kalka While the Russian sources attribute the Rus princes’ inability to defend Rus in the late 1230s to political infighting and lack of Christian brotherhood, it is doubtful that even an army united under all of the surviving Riurikids could have defeated Batu Khan’s army of more than 150,000 horsemen See also Byzantine Empire: political history; Mongol rule of Russia; Vikings: Russia Further reading: Cross, Samuel Hazzard, and Olgerd P Herbowitz-Wetzor, trans and eds The Russian Primary Chronicle Cambridge: MA: Medieval Academy of America, 1953; Franklin, Simon, and Jonathan Shepard The Emergence of Rus 750–1200 London: Longman, 1996; Kliuchevsky, V O A History of Russia Trans C J Hogarth New York: Russell & Russell, 1960; Martin, Janet Medieval Russia 980–1584 Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995; Noonan, Thomas S “The Flourishing of Kiev’s International and Domestic Trade, ca 1000–ca 1240.” In Ukrainian Economic History: Interpretive Essays Ed I S Koropeckyj Cambridge: MA: Ukrainian Research Institute, 1991; Vernadsky, George Kievan Russia New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1948 Heidi M Sherman