Yaroslav's Court & the Novgorod Torg

1 · POSITION

At Novgorod, on the right bank of the Volkhov at a corner of the market, foreign merchants kept their own walled courts — first the Gothic Court of the Gotland traders, from 1117, then the German Court, the Peterhof, from about 1192 or 1200. The Peterhof was the easternmost of the Hanseatic League’s kontors. The register holds the quarter as the place where the arriving foreign merchant traded, lodged and worshipped in one enclosure. [1, 2]

2 · A COURT WITH ITS OWN LAW

The Peterhof had its own code, the Schra — the oldest attested code of any kontor — read to the merchants once a year. An elected alderman with four assistants governed it; merchants drew lots for their quarters and paid rent; fines punished even public cursing. A merchant could stay for the winter or the summer, not both. [1, 2]

3 · THE CHURCH OF ST PETER

The court took its name from its church of St Peter, which also held its archive and goods under guard; priests travelled with the twice-yearly caravans. In the winter of 1336–37 the two courts held about 160 residents, and in 1439 about 200. [2]

4 · CLOSED BY MOSCOW

In 1494 Ivan III closed the kontor and deported its merchants to Moscow. It reopened some twenty years later but never regained its importance. [1, 2]

5 · ⚑ CANDOUR

⚑ The Peterhof is dated about 1200 by one source and about 1192 by another. Yaroslav’s Court itself — the princely court and market quarter — is named by the register; the sources read describe the foreign courts beside it, not the court itself. [1–2]