In 1412 the knight Gilbert de Lannoa arrived to serve in the land of the German Teutonic Order. At this time, the brothers of the order were at peace with their neighbors, and the master suggested that Gilbert go with reconnaissance to the Russian lands, where he was to visit Novgorod and Pskov. In the 1420s, the knight wrote 140 pages of an essay about his journey, which is a unique source about the life of the Russian people in the Middle Ages.
Travel to Novgorod
Hilbert came from the ancient and influential family of de Lannoas in Lower Germany. During his long life, the knight managed to marry three times, visit Jerusalem, fight in Spain, France, Prussia, Poland, Greece, Turkey. However, the warrior arrived in Russia for the purpose of reconnaissance.
In his notes, de Lannoa wrote that his journey began in December 1414, and he rode all the way to Novgorod wrapped in fur coats. On the way, he did not meet more than one traveler or even a village. The first thing that the knight wrote about Novgorod was the words that it was a large and amazingly beautiful city. Do not forget that this was said by a man who saw Paris, London, Cairo and Jerusalem.
In Novgorod there is communal administration, there is a bishop who lives in the Cathedral of St. Sophia, a duke (prince) and a burg-count (mayor). The city is home to many great gentlemen (boyars) and ordinary townspeople, distinguished by strength and wealth. The knight says that local boyars can field 40 thousand horsemen and militia without counting. Most often, Russians fight the Lithuanians and the knights of the Livonian Order and often gain great victories.
The population of Novgorod recognizes only the government that they themselves choose. They do not mint gold coins, but make money from silver. Small coins are squirrel or marten skins. The German traveler visited both the prince, the mayor and the bishop, who daily sent him fresh food supplies.
The local cuisine surprised the European and was based on cabbage, mushrooms, peas and fish. Hilbert separately noted that the townspeople ate a lot. To study the customs of the Russians, the knight went to the marketplace, where he saw how: "according to their law, the Novgorodians sell and buy wives from each other in the market, for one or two bars of silver, by agreement, who will give the request price." Most likely de Lannoa was describing the tradition of the bride price, which he did not understand.
Promotional video:
Women loosened two braids on their backs, and men braid their hair into one large one. The information that Novgorod men wore braids is confirmed by a carved panel in the Cathedral of St. Nicholas in the city of Stralsund, which depicts merchants from the city.
Trip to Pskov
After Novgorod, the spy went to Pskov, where he posed as a German merchant. In his words, the city was large and heavily fortified. At the same time, foreigners were prohibited from entering the Pskov Kremlin, and violation of the rule was punishable by death. Pskov submits to the authority of the "Moscow King", and the townspeople expelled their ruler and now he lives in Novgorod.
Pskovites wear long hair that falls over their shoulders, and women braid their braids and make a round diadem of them on their heads. At the same time, the knight noticed that the townspeople adhere not to the Russian-Moscow, but to the Polish fashion to divide their hair into two sides with a parting. Leaving Pskov, the German visited Narva and Dorpat, which he described as a good city.
Alexander Brazhnik