The
Battle of the Neva was fought between the
Novgorod RepublicThe Novgorod Republic was a large mediæval Russian state which stretched from the Baltic Sea to the Ural Mountains between the 12th and 15th centuries, centred on the city of Novgorod...
and
SwedishSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe...
armies on the
Neva RiverThe Neva is a river in northwestern Russia flowing from Lake Ladoga through the western part of Leningrad Oblast and the city of Saint Petersburg to the Neva Bay of the Gulf of Finland...
, near the settlement of
Ust-IzhoraUst-Izhora is a settlement situated at the confluence of River Izhora into River Neva, and is roughly equidistant to Saint Petersburg and Schlisselburg, Russia, some 30 km from both the Gulf of Finland in the west and Lake Ladoga in the north-east. Administratively, it is a municipal...
, on July 15, 1240. The purpose of the Swedish
invasionAn invasion is a military offensive consisting of all, or large parts of the armed forces of one geopolitical entity aggressively entering territory controlled by another such entity, generally with the objective of either conquering, liberating or re-establishing control or authority over a...
was probably to gain control over the mouth of the Neva and the city of
LadogaStaraya Ladoga , or the Aldeigjuborg of Norse sagas, is a village in the Volkhovsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the Volkhov River near Lake Ladoga. The village used to be a prosperous trading outpost in the 8th and 9th centuries...
and, hence, seize the most important part of the
Trade Route from the Varangians to the GreeksThe trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks was a trade route that connected Scandinavia, Kievan Rus' and the Byzantine Empire. The route allowed traders along the route to establish a direct prosperous trade with Byzantium, and prompted some of them to settle in the territories of...
, which had been under Novgorod's control for more than hundred years. The battle was part of the medieval
Swedish-Novgorodian WarsIn the Swedish–Novgorodian Wars, the Republic of Novgorod and medieval Sweden were engaged in conflicts for control of the Gulf of Finland, an area vital to the Hanseatic League and part of the Varangian-Byzantine trade route...
.
Existence of the battle is only known from Russian sources.
The
Battle of the Neva was fought between the
Novgorod RepublicThe Novgorod Republic was a large mediæval Russian state which stretched from the Baltic Sea to the Ural Mountains between the 12th and 15th centuries, centred on the city of Novgorod...
and
SwedishSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe...
armies on the
Neva RiverThe Neva is a river in northwestern Russia flowing from Lake Ladoga through the western part of Leningrad Oblast and the city of Saint Petersburg to the Neva Bay of the Gulf of Finland...
, near the settlement of
Ust-IzhoraUst-Izhora is a settlement situated at the confluence of River Izhora into River Neva, and is roughly equidistant to Saint Petersburg and Schlisselburg, Russia, some 30 km from both the Gulf of Finland in the west and Lake Ladoga in the north-east. Administratively, it is a municipal...
, on July 15, 1240. The purpose of the Swedish
invasionAn invasion is a military offensive consisting of all, or large parts of the armed forces of one geopolitical entity aggressively entering territory controlled by another such entity, generally with the objective of either conquering, liberating or re-establishing control or authority over a...
was probably to gain control over the mouth of the Neva and the city of
LadogaStaraya Ladoga , or the Aldeigjuborg of Norse sagas, is a village in the Volkhovsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the Volkhov River near Lake Ladoga. The village used to be a prosperous trading outpost in the 8th and 9th centuries...
and, hence, seize the most important part of the
Trade Route from the Varangians to the GreeksThe trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks was a trade route that connected Scandinavia, Kievan Rus' and the Byzantine Empire. The route allowed traders along the route to establish a direct prosperous trade with Byzantium, and prompted some of them to settle in the territories of...
, which had been under Novgorod's control for more than hundred years. The battle was part of the medieval
Swedish-Novgorodian WarsIn the Swedish–Novgorodian Wars, the Republic of Novgorod and medieval Sweden were engaged in conflicts for control of the Gulf of Finland, an area vital to the Hanseatic League and part of the Varangian-Byzantine trade route...
.
Russian sources
Existence of the battle is only known from Russian sources. First to mention the battle is the
Novgorod First ChronicleThe Novgorod First Chronicle or The Chronicle of Novgorod, 1016-1471 is the most ancient extant chronicle of the Novgorod Republic. It reflects a tradition different from the Kievan Primary Chronicle...
from the 14th century. According to the chronicle, on receiving the news of the advancing Swedish fleet, the 20-year-old
PrincePrince, from French "Prince" , is a general term for a monarch, for a member of a monarchs' or former monarch's family, and is a hereditary title in some members of Europe's highest nobility...
Alexander Yaroslavich of Novgorod quickly moved his small army to face the enemy before they had reached
Lake LadogaLake Ladoga is a freshwater lake located in Republic of Karelia and Leningrad Oblast in northwestern Russia, not far from Saint Petersburg. It is the largest lake in Europe, and the 14th largest lake by area in the world.-Geography:The lake's area is 17,891 km²...
. The chronicle described the battle as follows:
"Swedes came with a great army, and Norwegians and FinnsFinland Proper or Southwest Finland , is a region in south-western Finland now designated the Province of Western Finland. It borders the regions of Satakunta, Tavastia Proper and Uusimaa.- Historical Provinces :...
and TavastiansTavastia, Tavastland or Häme, Russian Emi or Yemi, is a historical province in the south of Finland. It borders Finland Proper, Satakunta, Ostrobothnia, Savonia and Nylandia.- Administration :...
with ships in great numbers, Swedes with their prince and bishops, and they stayed on the NevaThe Neva is a river in northwestern Russia flowing from Lake Ladoga through the western part of Leningrad Oblast and the city of Saint Petersburg to the Neva Bay of the Gulf of Finland...
, at the mouth of the IzhoraThe Izhora , also known as Inger River, is a left tributary of the Neva River on its run through Ingria in northwestern Russia from Lake Ladoga to Gulf of Finland. A settlement of Ust-Izhora is situated at the confluence of Izhora and Neva, halfway between Saint Petersburg and Schlisselburg. The...
, willing to take LadogaStaraya Ladoga , or the Aldeigjuborg of Norse sagas, is a village in the Volkhovsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the Volkhov River near Lake Ladoga. The village used to be a prosperous trading outpost in the 8th and 9th centuries...
, and to put it short, Novgorod and all of its lands. But still protected the merciful, man-loving God us and sheltered us from the foreign people, and the word came to Novgorod that Swedes were sailing to Ladoga; but prince Alexander did not hesitate at all, but went against them with Novgorodians and people of Ladoga and overcame them with the help of Saint Sophia and through prayers of our lady, the Mother of God and Virgin Mary, July 15, in the memory of Kirik and Ulita, on Sunday, (the same day that) the 630 holy fathers held a meeting in ChalcedonChalcedon was an ancient maritime town of Bithynia, in Asia Minor, almost directly opposite Byzantium, south of Scutari . Today, in modern Turkish, Chalcedon is called Kadıköy, and is a district of Istanbul, Turkey...
; and there was a great gathering of the Swedes; and their leader called Spiridon was killed there; but some claimed that even the bishop was slain; and a great number of them fell; and when they had loaded two ships with the bodies of high-born men, they let them sail to the sea; but the others, that were unnumbered, they cast to a pit, that they buried, and many others were wounded; and that same night they fled, without waiting for the Monday light, with shame. Of Novgorodians there fell: Konstantin Lugotinitch, Yuryata Pinyashchinich, Namest Drochilo, Nesdylov son of Kozhevnik, but including the people of Ladoga 20 men or less, God knows. But prince Alexander came back home with Novgorodians and people of Ladoga, all well, protected by God and Saint SophiaHoly Wisdom, also called Divine Wisdom is the theological idea that perfect Wisdom is to be found in God alone....
and all the prayers of the holy men."
A 16th-century version of the battle gave plenty of additional details, expanding the conflict to biblical proportions, but otherwise following the earlier described developments.
Later, Prince Alexander Yaroslavich was
nicknameA nickname is a descriptive name given in place of or in addition to the official name of a person, place or thing. It can also be the familiar or truncated form of the proper name, which may sometimes be used simply for convenience A nickname (also spelled "nick name") is a descriptive name...
d "Nevsky" (of Neva) for his first significant victory. Two years later, Alexander stalled an invasion of the Livonian Knights during the Battle on the Ice. Despite the victories, there were no Novgorodian advances further west to
FinlandFinland , officially the Republic of Finland
, is a Nordic country and democracy situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland...
or
EstoniaEstonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by the Russian Federation...
.
Swedish sources
All references to the battle of the Neva are famously missing from the Swedish sources. This can be presumed to have resulted from Sweden's utter defeat, but the reasons may be more complicated than that.
Situation in Sweden
Since the untimely death of King
JohnJohan Sverkersson was a Swedish king elected in 1216. He was crowned in 1219, and remained king till his death in 1222. He was the son of Sverker Karlsson....
in 1222, Sweden was in a
de facto state of civil war until 1248 when
Birger Jarl, born Birger Magnusson , was a Swedish statesman, a member of the House of Bjelbo, who played a pivotal role in the consolidation of Sweden while a jarl from 1248 until his death...
managed to seize the power in the kingdom. Unrest was due to the struggle between those who wanted to keep the old tribal structure, the
folkungIn modern Swedish, Folkung has two meanings, which appear to be opposites:# The medieval House of Bjelbo in Sweden, which produced several Swedish statesmen and kings....
party, and the king, who was assisted by the church. Folkungs were mainly from
UpplandUppland is a historical province or landskap on the eastern coast of Sweden, just north of Stockholm, the capital. It borders Södermanland, Västmanland and Gästrikland. It is also bounded by lake Mälaren and the Baltic sea...
, heavily resisting centralization of power, taxation of the
Swedes of UpplandThe Swedes were an ancient North Germanic tribe in Scandinavia...
, and church privileges. They had temporarily succeeded in deposing the king in 1229, but were forced to give in five years later, however far from defeated yet. Uppland remained largely independent from the king, and its northern areas continued to be in the folkung hands. An uneasy truce continued until 1247, when the folkung rebellion was put to an end at the
Battle of SparrsätraThe Battle of Sparrsätra was a battle which took place in 1247 near Enköping in Sweden between king Eric XI of Sweden and rebels led by Holmger Knutsson...
and its leader beheaded a year later.
Furthermore, the official Sweden was at the brink of war with
NorwayNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a country in Northern Europe occupying the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, as well as Jan Mayen and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard under the Spitsbergen Treaty...
ever since Norwegians' infamous
Värmland' is a historical province or landskap in the west of middle Sweden. It borders Västergötland, Dalsland, Dalarna, Västmanland and Närke. It is also bounded by Norway in the west. Its Latin name is Wermelandia; its English derivative is Wermland or similar variation. The origin of the name is...
expedition in 1225. The relations were improved only after the
Treaty of LödöseTreaty of Lödöse was a peace treaty between Sweden and Norway in 1249. It ended a 24-year period of mutual hostility that had erupted after Norway's infamous Värmland expedition in 1225. Attempts for peace had already started in 1241, but could not be concluded before years later. The tensions...
in 1249, which was forged by the newly empowered Birger Jarl. Before the treaty, Norway remained an ally to the folkungs, giving them refuge and providing men and arms.
In this situation, it seems unlikely, that Sweden could have been able to organize a major expedition against Novgorod. Between 1222 and 1249, Swedes are not known to have done any other military campaigns, making the claims about their forceful appearance at the Neva with Norwegians as their allies seem questionable.
Theories
Taking these facts into consideration, it has been suggested, that the Swedish expedition may have been an indirect result from the papal letter in 1237 that was sent to the Swedish
Archbishop of UppsalaThe Archbishop of Uppsala has been the primate in Sweden in an unbroken succession since 1164, first during the Catholic era, and from the 1530s and onward under the Lutheran church.- Historical overview :...
. The letter eloquently called for a crusade, not against Novgorod, but against Tavastians in
FinlandFinland , officially the Republic of Finland
, is a Nordic country and democracy situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland...
, who had allegedly started hostilities against the church. In his defunct position, the king may not have been willing or able to react, but the letter may have provided the frustrated folkungs an opportunity to regain part of their
Viking AgeViking Age is the term for the period in European history, especially Northern European and Scandinavian history, spanning the eighth to eleventh centuries. Scandinavian Vikings explored Europe by its oceans and rivers through trade and warfare. The Vikings also reached Iceland, Greenland,...
glory. Mostly free to react without interference from the king, folkungs would have been able to
raise an army of their ownThe institution known as leiðangr , leidang , leding, , ledung , expeditio or sometimes lething , was a public levy of free farmers typical for medieval Scandinavians...
, get voluntaries from Norway and even assistance from Thomas, the independent Bishop of Finland, who needed to constantly worry about the
attacks from the eastFinnish-Novgorodian wars were a series of conflicts that took place between a group called Yem, usually supposed to be Finnic tribes in eastern Fennoscandia, and the Republic of Novgorod from the 11th or 12th century to early 13th century. The wars seem to have contributed to the eventual Swedish...
. Instead of Tavastia, this mixed set of interests and nationalities would have headed for the more lucrative Neva and there met its fate in the hands of Alexander. In the possible aftermath of the said battle, the King of Norway approached his Swedish counterpart for peace talks in 1241, but was turned down at the time.
However, some recent research has altogether questioned the importance of the battle, seeing it as an ordinary border skirmish that was exaggerated for political purposes, thus also explaining its absence from Swedish and other western sources. Noteworthy is that any exact numbers of Russian or Swedish losses in the battle were exceptionally small.
Additional theories are numerous. Some historians have expressed that the Swedish army was under the command of the very young Birger Jarl already then, 8 years before his appointment to the position of the
jarlIn Sweden, members of medieval royal families, such as the House of Stenkil and House of Bjelbo, held the title of jarl before their ascension to the throne. Since the early 12th century, there usually was only one holder of the title at a time, second only to the King of Sweden.For special...
. It has also been suggested, that the suspicious information on Norwegians', Finns' and Tavastians' participance was made up in the 14th century, the time when the First Novgorod Chronicle was written, with Sweden in control of Norway, Finland and Tavastia.
Consequences
All in all, the first known Swedish military expedition against Novgorod after the events at the Neva took place in 1256, following folkungs' demise, peace with Norway and conquest of Finland. If the battle of the Neva had any long-term consequences, it was in Sweden's determination to take over Finland first before attempting to proceed further east.