The salt town of Novgorod, on the Polist near the south shore of Lake Ilmen, where brine springs are boiled for salt: the largest salt works of the Novgorod land (en.wikipedia).
Rusa is named on birch bark of the 11th century. Its igumen Martirii built a wooden church of the Transfiguration on the island in 1192, which became a monastery, and as archbishop built the stone church there between 21 May and 31 July 1198, consecrating it on the Assumption; it was painted in 1199. Rusa burned in the fires of 1194. The chronicle says under the year ending February 1200 that 'the town of Rusa was walled', and a wooden fort was built there in 1201 or 1202.
Who holds it
- Name
- governor not named
- Title
- the town under Novgorod
- Confidence
- low
Novgorod chronicle under 6700-6709.
Lord in 1200
Novgorod (governor not named); the archbishop's monastery of the Transfiguration stands on the island.
How things stand that morning
Novgorod's salt town, newly walled.
Council
Not recorded.
Communities
Russians.
Fairs and markets
None recorded.
Militia
The townsmen.
Walls and castle
Walled in 1199 (season not pinned, before February 1200); a wooden fort added in 1201-1202.
Trade and crafts
Salt boiling; fishing; the river route by the Lovat and the Polist.
What the year holds
What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.
- 1201-1202 (after this year)A wooden fort is built at Rusa.Depends on: Novgorod's building plans. Stopped by: War or fire.
Places of note
- Monastery of the Transfiguration: the archbishop's foundation of 1192, stone church 1198
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Chronicle notices of building; salt from later evidence.
On the map: Rusa's district with the lower Lovat.
Primary sources for Novgorod
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- The Chronicle of Novgorod (kept year by year; the Synodal manuscript written in the 13th and 14th centuries). Novgorod's own record, kept at St Sophia. Read online
- The Laurentian Chronicle (the Suzdal continuation kept in the late 12th and 13th centuries; manuscript 1377). The court record of Vsevolod III of Vladimir. Read online
- The Livonian Chronicle of Henry, Henry of Livonia (1225 to 1227). The chief source for the Baltic mission. Read online
- The birch-bark letters (11th to 15th centuries). Excavated letters and notes on birch bark, dated by the layer they lie in. Read online
- The law of the Gotlanders; The saga of the Gotlanders (Guta lag about 1220, Guta saga about 1220 to 1275; manuscript of about 1350). The law and the short history of the self-governing island. Read online
Sources and studies
- The Chronicle of Novgorod 1016-1471 (Novgorod First Chronicle), tr. R. Michell and N. Forbes (1914): entries for 1164-1215 read through the archive.org full-text search (scan pp. 76-106)
- Wikipedia (en): Staraya Russa
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.