Treaty of Novgorod (1326)
The Treaty of Novgorod (Russian: Новгородско-норвежский договор, romanized: Novgorodsko-norvezhskiy dogovor; Norwegian: Novgorod-traktaten) was signed on 3 June 1326 in Novgorod and marked the end of decades of the Norwegian-Novgorodian border skirmishes in the far-northern region of Finnmark. The terms were an armistice for 10 years. A few years earlier in 1323, the Republic of Novgorod had settled its conflict with Sweden in the Treaty of Nöteborg.
Signed | 3 June 1326 |
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Location | Novgorod |
Parties |
The treaty did not delineate the border but rather stipulated which part of the Sami people would pay tribute to Norway and which to Novgorod, creating a kind of buffer zone in between the countries. The treaty remained in effect until the 19th century and was never abrogated by any of the powers. It eventually led into a situation where Sami people were freely exploited, some of them forced to pay taxes to all surrounding powers at the same time, including to the Birkarls from Swedish Finland.[1]
References
- For Latin and Russian texts of the treaty, see S. N. Valk, ed., Gramoty Velikogo Novgoroda i Pskova (Moscow and Leningrad: AN SSSR, 1949), pp. 69-79.