Novgorod Republic
13th century
In 1228, there was a failed Novgorodian campaign against the Tavastians in present-day southern Finland, as reported in the Novgorod First Chronicle (NPL). The Novgorodian troops were disaffected by prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, a quarrel broke out within the army and the troops refused to fight. In the same year, Yaroslav tried to militarily overrun the rebellious town of Pskov (possibly because its throne was vacant), but the Pskovians closed their gates in time and denied him entry. Yaroslav retreated to Novgorod, claimed no ill will towards Pskov, but raised another army supposedly for the purpose of attacking Riga (a stronghold of the Livonian Brothers of the Sword). But the Pskovians distrusted him and allied with Riga instead, while the troop raising caused food prices in Novgorod to spike, stoking civil discontent against prince Yaroslav as well; opposition to the Suzdalian dynasty's power grew amongst citizens of both Pskov and Novgorod. As they rejected support for his campaign against Riga, suspecting a ploy to seize Pskov along the way after the previous failed attempt, Yaroslav was forced to abandon his plans and disband his expensive army. When a bad harvest exacerbated the famine,the Novogorodians rose in revolt against the prince, who fled with his family and supporters to Pereslavl-Zalessky. With the Suzdalian princely threat gone, the Pskovians sent the Livonian auxiliaries home, while the veche elected Michael of Chernigov as Novgorod's new knyaz in 1230. The NPL notes that in subsequent years, Pskov remained allied with Riga and the Rigans, and later Dorpat (modern Tartu) and Odenpäh (modern Otepää). Meanwhile, Yaroslav Vladimirovich, a son of the previous Pskovian prince Vladimir Mstislavich of Pskov sought to leverage his family ties with the bishops Hermann of Dorpat and Albert of Riga (died 1229) to gain his father's throne.
13th century
!Regional situation in 1237: [Livonia (various factions) Lithuania Novgorod Vladimir-Suzdal Smolensk Chernigov](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/06/1237KievanRus%27LivoniaLithuania.png/250px-1237KievanRus%27LivoniaLithuania.png)
13th century
The famine in Novgorod continued, and in 1230, another popular revolt erupted against supporters of the brand new prince Michael of Chernigov, including tysiatskii Boris Negochevich. The desperate Novgorodian people asked for Yaroslav of Suzdal to return, which he did at the end of 1230, but the famine got even worse in spring 1231, until German merchants sailing from overseas were able to import sufficient amounts of grain and flour to relieve the Republic's hunger. In autumn 1231, Yaroslav took Novgorodian troops on a campaign to Chernigov against his rival Michael. In 1232, there were anti-Yaroslav rebellions in Novgorod and Pskov, but only the latter was successful in chasing the Suzdalians out of town.
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