According to a custom, the elder son and heir of the ruling Kievan monarch was sent to rule Novgorod even as a minor. When the ruling monarch had no such son, Novgorod was governed by
posadniks, such as legendary
Gostomysl,
Dobrynya,
Konstantin, and
Ostromir.
In
Norse sagas the city is mentioned as the capital of
Gardariki (i.e., the East Slavic lands). Four
Viking kings —
Olaf I of Norway,
Olaf II of Norway,
Magnus I of Norway, and
Harald Haardraade — sought refuge in Novgorod from enemies at home. No more than a few decades after the death and subsequent
canonization of Olaf II of Norway, in 1028, the city's community had erected a church in his memory,
Saint Olaf's Church in Novgorod.
Of all their princes, Novgorodians cherished most the memory of
Yaroslav the Wise, who had sat as prince while his father,
Vladimir the Great, was prince in Kiev. Yaroslav promulgated the first written code of laws (later incorporated into
Russkaya Pravda) among the Eastern Slavs and is said to have granted the city a number of freedoms or privileges, which they often referred to in later centuries as precedents in their relations with other princes. His son,
Vladimir, sponsored construction of the great
St Sophia Cathedral, more accurately translated as The Cathedral of Holy Wisdom, which stands to this day.
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