Novgorod in the context of Yuriev Monastery

The Varangians (/vəˈrændʒiənz/ və-RAN-jee-ənz; Old Norse: Væringjar; Medieval Greek: Βάραγγοι, romanized: Várangoi; Old East Slavic: варяже, romanized: varyazhe, or варяги, varyagi) were Viking warriors, traders and settlers, mostly from present-day Sweden, who settled in the territories of present-day Belarus, Russia and Ukraine from the 8th and 9th centuries and established the state of Kievan Rus' as well as the principalities of Polotsk and Turov. They also formed the Byzantine Varangian Guard.

According to the 12th-century Primary Chronicle, a group of Varangians known as the Rus' settled in Novgorod in 862 under the leadership of Rurik. Before Rurik, the Rus' might have ruled an earlier hypothetical polity known as the Rus' Khaganate. Rurik's relative Oleg conquered Kiev in 882 and established the state of Kievan Rus', which was later ruled by Rurik's descendants.

The Rurik dynasty, also known as the Rurikid or Riurikid dynasty, as well as simply Rurikids or Riurikids, was a noble lineage allegedly founded by the Varangian prince Rurik, who, according to tradition, established himself at Novgorod in the year 862. The Rurikids were the ruling dynasty of Kievan Rus' and its principalities following its disintegration.

The Romanovichi ruled the southwestern territories, which were unified by Roman the Great and his son Daniel, who was in 1253 crowned by Pope Innocent IV as the king of Ruthenia. Galicia–Volhynia was eventually annexed by Poland and Lithuania. The northern and northeastern territories were unified by the Daniilovichi of Moscow; by the 15th century, Ivan III threw off the control of the Golden Horde and assumed the title of sovereign of all Russia. Ivan IV was crowned as the tsar of all Russia, where the Rurik line ruled until 1598, following which they were eventually succeeded by the House of Romanov.

The history of the Russian Orthodox Church begins with the Christianization of Kievan Rus' in 988 during the reign of Vladimir the Great. In the following centuries, Kiev and later other cities, including Novgorod, Pskov, Rostov, Suzdal and Vladimir, became important regional centers of Christian spirituality and culture. Following the Mongol invasions of the 13th century, the seat of the metropolitan was moved to Vladimir in 1299, and then to Moscow in 1325, which would become the spiritual center of Russian Orthodoxy.

The metropolitans of the Russian Church supported the rise of the Moscow principality and his presence increased the Muscovite prince's authority and ambition to unify the lands. In turn, the metropolitans were able to increase the stability of the Church and to inspire unity among the divided Russian principalities. By the mid-15th century, Moscow was both the political and religious center of the country. The Russian Church declared autocephaly in 1448, shortly before the fall of Constantinople, owing to its protest over the Council of Florence. At the behest of the grand prince of Moscow, a council of Russian bishops elected a local bishop without the approval of Constantinople.

58°31′16.05″N 31°16′30.87″E / 58.5211250°N 31.2752417°E / 58.5211250; 31.2752417

The Millennium of Russia (Russian: Тысячелетие России, romanized: Tysyacheletiye Rossii) is a bronze monument in the Novgorod Kremlin. It was erected in 1862 to celebrate the millennium of Rurik's arrival to Novgorod, an event sometimes taken as a starting point of the history of Russian statehood.

Taibuga (Siberian Tatar: Тайбоға қан, romanized: Tayboğa qan), the first khan of the Khanate of Sibir, came to power in the 13th century as a result of the power vacuum caused by the breakup of the Mongol Empire. Some legendary accounts identify him as a noble from Bukhara and associate him with the conversion of Sibir to Islam.

The facts of his reign remain relatively unclear, but it appears he was a shamanist. Taibuga drove the forces of Novgorod from his land. He was claimed as the founding ancestor by the Taibuga clan of Sibir.

Finnish literature refers to literature written in Finland. During the European early Middle Ages, the earliest text in a Finnic language is the unique thirteenth-century Birch bark letter no. 292 from Novgorod. The text was written in Cyrillic and represented a dialect of Finnic language spoken in Russian Olonets region. The earliest texts in Finland were written in Swedish or Latin during the Finnish Middle Age [fi] (c. 1200–1523). Finnish-language literature slowly developed from the sixteenth century onwards, after written Finnish was established by the bishop and Finnish Lutheran reformer Mikael Agricola (1510–1557). He translated the New Testament into Finnish in 1548.

After becoming a part of the Russian Empire in the early nineteenth century the rise in education and nationalism promoted public interest in folklore in Finland and resulted in an increase of literary activity in Finnish. Most of the significant works of the era, written in Swedish or increasingly in Finnish, revolved around achieving or maintaining a strong Finnish identity (see Karelianism). Thousands of folk poems in what came to be called Kalevala meter were collected in Suomen kansan vanhat runot (The ancient poems of the Finnish people). The most famous poetry collection is the Kalevala, published in 1835. The first novel published in Finnish was Seven Brothers (1870) by Aleksis Kivi (1834–1872). The book Meek Heritage [fi] (1919) by Frans Eemil Sillanpää (1888–1964) made him the first Finnish Nobel Prize winner. Another notable author is Väinö Linna.

Architecture in Kievan Rus' comes from the medieval state of Kievan Rus' which incorporated parts of modern Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus, and was centered on Kyiv and Novgorod. Kievan Rus' architecture is the earliest period of both Russian and Ukrainian architecture, using the foundations of Byzantine culture but with use of innovations and architectural features. Most surviving architecture from this period consists of Russian Orthodox churches, or parts of the gates and fortifications of cities.

After the disintegration of Kievan Rus' and the Mongol invasion in the first half of the 13th century, the architectural tradition of Kievan Rus' architecture continued in the principalities of Novgorod, Vladimir-Suzdal, and Galicia-Volhynia. It had a direct influence on later Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian architecturural styles.

Daumantas (c. 1221/1240 – 20 May 1299) was a Lithuanian nobleman who reigned as Prince of Pskov from 1266 until he died in 1299. Originally a Duke of Nalšia in the Kingdom of Lithuania, Daumantas fled internal political conflict and sought refuge in Pskov, eventually becoming its ruler. Under his leadership, Pskov asserted greater political autonomy and achieved de facto independence from Novgorod.

Daumantas was later canonized by the Eastern Orthodox Church for his righteous rule and defense of the city. He is venerated as a local saint, with his feast day commemorated on 20 May.

Andrey III Alexandrovich (ca. 1255 – 27 July 1304), a Rus’ prince, son of Alexander Nevsky, received from his father the town of Gorodets on the Volga. In 1276 he added Kostroma to his possessions and joined the struggle for the Grand Duchy of Vladimir-Suzdal.

In 1281, joining the Mongol army, Andrey expelled his elder brother Dmitri from Vladimir. After some feasting with Mongols in Vladimir, Andrey went to Novgorod, where the populace made him heartily welcome. Meanwhile, his brother allied himself with the powerful Mongol general Nogai Khan, who reinstated Dmitry as Grand Duke of Vladimir in 1283.

Theophanes the Greek (Russian: Феофан Грек, romanized: Feofan Grek; Greek: Θεοφάνης; c. 1330/1340 – c. 1410) was a Byzantine Greek artist, active mainly in Russia.

He greatly influenced the style of painting in Novgorod and Moscow in the 15th century. He is also known as being the teacher and mentor of Andrei Rublev, the greatest Russian icon painter of his time.

Lubyanskaya Square (Russian: Лубянская площадь, Lubyanskaya ploshchad'), or simply Lubyanka in Moscow lies about 900 metres (980 yd) north-east of Red Square. History first records its name in 1480, when Grand Prince Ivan III of Moscow, who had conquered Novgorod in 1471, settled many Novgorodians in the area. They built the church of St Sophia, modelled after St Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod, and called the area Lubyanka after the Lubyanitsa street of their native city.

The Thingmen (Old English: Þingalið) was a unit (or a body of men) in the service of the Kings of England during the period 1013–1051. The unit was financed by direct taxation which had its origins in the tribute known as Danegeld. It consisted mostly of men of Scandinavian descent and it had an initial strength of 3,000 housecarls and a fleet of 40 ships, which was subsequently reduced. The last remnant of a Thingmen was disbanded by Edward the Confessor in 1051.

In the 11th century, three courts outside Scandinavia were particularly prominent in recruiting Scandinavian troops: Novgorod-Kiev (Kievan Rus') c. 980–1060, Constantinople (the Varangian Guard) 988–1204, and England 1018–1051. Scandinavia was however also a recruiting area for attacks against England and this is why a defence needed to be organized by the Danish king Cnut the Great. The Thingmen attracted Swedish mercenaries, and probably some Norwegian as well.

Mstislav Valerianovich Dobuzhinsky or Dobujinsky (Russian: Мстислав Валерианович Добужинский, Lithuanian: Mstislavas Dobužinskis; August 14, 1875, Novgorod – November 20, 1957, New York City) was a Russian-Lithuanian artist noted for his cityscapes conveying the explosive growth and decay of the early 20th-century city.

Yury Dmitrievich (Russian: Юрий Дмитриевич; 1374 – 1434), also known as George II of Moscow, Yury of Zvenigorod and Jurij Zwenihorodski (Russian: Юрий Звенигородский), was the second son of Dmitry Donskoy. He was the Duke of Zvenigorod and Galich from 1389 until his death. During the reign of his brother Vasily I, he took part in the campaigns against Torzhok (1392), Zhukotin (1414), and Novgorod (1417). He was the chief orchestrator of the Muscovite Civil War against his nephew, Vasily II, in the course of which he twice took Moscow, in 1433 and 1434.