1240 Izborsk and Pskov campaign

Izborsk and Pskov campaign

The Novgorod First Chronicle (NPL) reports that, after the Battle of the Neva (dated to July 1240), "the Nemtsy ("Germans") with the men of Medvezhya [Golova] (Odenpäh / Otepää), of Yurev (Dorpat / Tartu), and of Velyad (Fellin / Viljandi) with Knyaz Yaroslav Volodimirich took Izborsk." It is unknown who exactly led the Izborsk campaign; although the LRC associates the operation with Hermann Balk, he had already fled to Germany in 1238 and died in March 1239/1240. He was succeeded by Dietrich von Grüningen and Andreas von Felben, but whether they personally participated in the campaign against Izborsk and Pskov, or the later battle of Lake Peipus, is unknown. The army was allied with Yaroslav Vladimirovich of Pskov, son of the former prince of Pskov, who was in exile amongst the Livonians. The campaign intended to secure Pskov for Yaroslav and the Catholic Church and their first target was the Pskovian fortress of Izborsk.

Capture of Izborsk

The Livonian army with Yaroslav's troops took the fortress. The Livonian Rhymed Chronicle relates the capture thus:

"...he [bishop Hermann of Dorpat] called on the Brothers for help. The Master came to him straightaway with many noble heroes, outstanding and bold, and the king's men also came with a fine force. Bishop Herman was well-pleased. With this army they went happily into the Rus' land [in der Rûʒen lant], and everything went well for them. They came to a castle there, named Isborg [Îsburc], and their arrival dismayed the garrison. They took the castle by storm and let none of the Rus' escape [der Rûʒen kan keinen lieʒ], killing or capturing all those who resisted [welcher sich zû were bôt]. Cries and shouts and a mighty lament arose throughout the land."

— Livonian Rhymed Chronicle, lines 2077–2098

Pskovian counter-attack

A 600-man force from Pskov continuously tried to recapture the fort, yet was defeated by the Livonian army. The Livonian Rhymed Chronicle recalls the failed Pskovian counter-attack:

"Those from Pskov [Plezcowe] were unhappy about the news [of Izborsk's capture]. This is the name of a neighboring town in Rus' [in Rûʒen lant] whose inhabitants were extremely evil. None of them stayed behind but rather all participated in the expedition and grimly stormed [toward Isborg], with many bright cuirasses and helmets shining like glass. There were many crossbowmen among them. When they came upon the [Livonian] Brothers' army they attacked, and the Brothers and the king's men boldly charged toward them. [Bishop Herman was there as a hero with his army]. A vicious battle arose. The Germans [dûtschen] hacked great wounds and the Rus' [Rûʒen] suffered terribly. Eight hundred of them fell on the battlefield, which was near Isborg [Îsburc]. The others took to flight and were pursued relentlessly...."

— Livonian Rhymed Chronicle, lines 2099–2124

Encirclement and surrender of Pskov

The Livonian army then marched on Pskov, which was left defenceless. The Livonians camped outside of Pskov for a week, burning villages and Orthodox monasteries, including their books and icons. With a reduced defence and a defeat at Izborsk, the mayor of Pskov, Tverdilo Ivankovich, opened the city gates and surrendered the city to the Livonians and Yaroslav Vladimirovich.

Aftermath

New division of powers

The political faction in Pskov supporting Aleksandr Yaroslavich was overthrown. Yaroslav Vladimirovich, who may well have been Gêrpolt mentioned in the LRC, as well as Prince Ghereslawus in a 1248 charter, finally seems to have assumed the throne of Pskov of his late father, although his real authority likely remained dependent on mayor Tverdilo Ivankovich, as well as the Bishopric of Dorpat and the Order. They would jointly control Pskov for the next two years until a force of Novgorodians commanded by Aleksandr Yaroslavich recaptured the city in spring 1242.

It is unknown what happened to Yaroslav afterwards; he is last mentioned in historical sources in 1245, and presumably died before 1248. The 1248 charter claims that Prince Ghereslawus had donated his possession of Pskov to the Bishopric of Dorpat, and in 1248, the Bishopric ceded the rights of half the fiefs in the principality of Pskov to the Teutonic Order. Similarly, the LRC narrates that Prince Gêrpolt donated the city and land of Pskov to the Teutonic Order in 1239/1240, and later comments that "many knights and squires / deserved their right to a fief" during the siege of Pskov. Finally, while Yaroslav treated Pskov as a hereditary possession that he could pass on within his family or donate to whom he pleased, the Pskovian citizens sought to either make or keep the prince of Pskov an elective office (similar to the prince of Novgorod in the Novgorod Republic), in service of the people rather than vice versa. It is thus unlikely that the Pskovian veche would have accepted Yaroslav "donating" the Pskov Land to the Bishopric of Dorpat, let alone the cession of half of Pskov to the Teutonic Order in 1248. This suggests a complex division of powers and interests after the allies thus captured Izborsk and Pskov from the forces aligned with the Suzdalian dynasty, and when they lost it again two years later.

Novgorodian recapture

Even though some of the pro-Suzdalian Pskovians fled with their wives and children to Novgorod after the Dorpat–Livonian–Vladimirovich capture of Pskov in late 1240, there was no immediate Novgorodian response in its aftermath. In fact, the NPL narrates that the citizens of Novgorod drove out Aleksandr of Suzdal as well: "In the winter in the same year Knyaz Olexander went out from Novgorod with his mother and his wife and all his court, to his father in Pereyaslavl [=Pereslavl-Zalessky], having quarrelled with the men of Novgorod." Selart concluded that 'no great threat was felt in Novgorod' at the time. Likewise, the Livonian Order seemed comfortable in Pskov, not expecting a Novgorodian counter-attack; the LRC wrote that the Order's army left Pskov at the campaign's end, stationing only "two Brothers and a small force of Germans there to guard the land. This proved disastrous for them and their rule was of short duration." The Chronicon of Hermann von Wartberge confirms that only two Livonian Brothers were tasked to defend Pskov with a small garrison.

In the winter of 1240/1241, troops from the Bishopric of Ösel–Wiek and the Teutonic Order invaded and occupied Votia. After, the Teutonic knights constructed the fortress of Koporye, where they kept all their supplies, and according to the NPL also took the Novgorodian town of Tesov, pillaging its merchants and ravaging the surrounding area. The Novgorodians, fearing a fate similar to that of Pskov, sent envoys to Prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich of Suzdal. Yaroslav initially sent Aleksandr's younger brother Andrey Yaroslavich as a knyaz, but Novgorod insisted on Aleksandr. Aleksandr returned to Novgorod and commanded a coalition of Novgorodians, Ladogans, Karelians and Ingrians to capture the fortress Koporye in spring 1241. In March 1242, Novgorodians led by Aleksandr and his brother Andrey recaptured Pskov. After this victory, Aleksandr decided to continue his campaign into "the land of the Chud'". This eventually led to the Battle of Lake Peipus (the so-called "battle on the Ice") took place at or on Lake Peipus, in which an allied Novgorodian–Suzdalian force defeated a coalition of the Livonian Order and the Bishopric of Dorpat.

Interpretation

In later centuries, Alexander "Nevsky" Yaroslavich had become venerated as a saint (canonised by Macarius, Metropolitan of Moscow in 1547), and the idea emerged that there was a coordinated attempt by crusaders to subjugate and convert all Rus'. Estonian historian Anti Selart has pointed out that the papal bulls from 1240 to 1243 do not mention warfare against "Rus'" (or "Russians"), but against non-Christians. Selart also argues that the crusades were not an attempt to conquer Rus', but still constituted an attack on the territory of Novgorod and its interests. The two opposing alliances included Catholic and Orthodox powers on both sides. Lake Peipus 'did become the dividing line between Catholic and Orthodox worlds, but the place given to the Battle of the Ice as a significant event in world history is based purely on ideological concerns rather than historical evidence.'