The north of
European Russia was mostly colonized by the
Novgorodians from the 14th to 15th centuries, with the ushkuyniks possibly leading the way from the 12th to 14th centuries; northern Russian traditions linked the appearance of brigand hideouts on mountainous terrain or the mouths of rivers with the ushkuyniks, and dens organized by the ushkuyniks for raids have been hypothesized by scholars as having been associated with early Novgorodian occupation methods. The Novgorodians raided beyond the basin of the
Northern Dvina from the 11th century. Many ushkuyniks wore mail
hauberks, though it was more common for them to wear hybrid assemblages of armor acquired through purchase or looting;
mail and plate bechterets was also commonly worn and this would become typical in late medieval and early modern Russia. The weaponry of the ushkuyniks was also influenced by the
Tatars, with short-range weapons including spears, swords, and especially sabres, while bows and crossbows were used as long-range weapons. During the campaign of 1360, the ushkuyniks sailed from Novgorod by the portages to the
Volga river. Under command of the
boyar Anfal Nikitin, they gained possession of
Zhukotin, a trade emporium in
Volga Bulgaria. A ruler of the
Golden Horde, which controlled Zhukotin, was furious and ordered Grand Prince
Dmitry Konstantinovich to capture the ushkuyniks and to bring them to the Horde for trial, but Dmitry's
punitive expedition failed. In 1363, the ushkuyniks launched the first Novgorodian raid along the
Ob River in western Siberia. At the same time, the chronicles describe Karelo-Novgoridian raids on Norwegian
border provinces. (19th century) Three years later, without consulting their superiors in Novgorod, they approached
Nizhny Novgorod and, wishing to punish Dmitry for his hostile action, massacred
Armenian and
Tatar merchants trading there. This led to a diplomatic row, when Dmitry demanded apologies from
Novgorod Republic. In 1371, the ushkuyniks sacked
Yaroslavl,
Kostroma and other Upper Volga cities. Three years later they sailed with upwards of ninety ships to pillage the
Vyatka region. In 1375, they defeated the militia of Kostroma and burnt the city to the ground. The destruction was so severe that Kostroma had to be rebuilt elsewhere. After that, they looted Nizhny Novgorod and sailed down the Volga to Astrakhan, where they were annihilated by a Tatar general. By 1391, the ushkuyniks had recovered from this reverse and felt strong enough to resume their activities. In this period
Patrikas, the overlord of the
Korela district, was their patron. In 1391 the pirates sacked both Zhukotin and
Kazan. With
Muscovy's power on the ascendant, the Novgorod Republic was pressed into putting down their filibustering activities in the first decades of the 15th century. After Novgorod was annexed by Moscow in the 1470s, Moscow acquired the legacy of the Novgorodian policy of commercial expansion to the northeast, while at the same time pursuing its policy of "gathering the Russian lands", leading to Russian eastward expansion intensifying in the following decades, especially following the conquests of the
Astrakhan and
Kazan khanates in the mid-16th century. Novgorodian pirates were succeeded by the soldiers and
Cossack forces of Moscow. == References ==