r with the boyars.They were elected by the Veche or by the drawing of lots; after their election, they were sent to the metropolitan for consecration.
While a basic outline of the various officials and the Veche can be drawn up, the city-state's exact political constitution remains unknown. The boyars and the archbishop ruled the city together, although where one official's power ended and another's began is uncertain. The prince, although his power was reduced from around the middle of the 12th century, was represented by his namestnik, or lieutenant, and still played important roles as a military commander, legislator, and jurist. The exact composition of the Veche, too, is uncertain, with some scholars such as Vasily Klyuchevsky claiming it was democratic in nature, while later scholars, such as Valentin Ianin and Alexander Khoroshev, see it as a "sham democracy" controlled by the ruling elite.
In the 13th century, Novgorod, while not a member of the Hanseatic League, was the easternmost kontor, or entrepot, of the league, being the source of enormous quantities of luxury (sable, ermine, fox, marmot) and non-luxury furs (squirrel pelts).[20]
Throughout the Middle Ages, the city thrived culturally. A large number of birch bark letters have been unearthed in excavations, perhaps suggesting widespread literacy, although this is uncertain (some scholars[who?] suggest that a clerical or scribal elite wrote them on behalf of a largely illiterate populace[citation needed]). It was in Novgorod that the oldest Slavic book, written north of Macedonia, and theoldest inscription in a Finnic language were unearthed. Some of the most ancient Russian chronicles were written in the archbishops' scriptorium and the archbishops also promoted iconography and patronized church construction. The Novgorod merchant Sadko became a popular hero of Russian folklore.
Novgorod was never conquered by the Mongols during the Mongol invasion of Rus. The Mongol army
