Unintended Consequences

Abstract After annexing Novgorod in 1478, Grand Prince Ivan III adopted a series of policies that resulted in weakening the commercial economy that had underpinned Novgorod’s wealth and independence. Among them were policies, adopted in the 1490s and thoroughly studied by scholars, that disrupted Novgorod’s relations with its Baltic trading partners and prompted major adjustments to its patterns of export. But even earlier, in the 1480s, Ivan introduced policies that dismantled the long-standing and well-organized system of supplying large quantities of squirrel pelts, one of Novgorod’s major exports, to the market. The economic effect of these policies, which had been designed to consolidate his political authority over the subjugated region, was seemingly unintentional.