"300 Golden Belts" and the Veche. A German document of 1331 on the political structure of Novgorod the Great
The article deals with data on the veche (political assembly) of medieval Novgorod provided by the message to Riga written in 1331 by German Hanseatic merchants who lived in Novgorod. The message is about a confl ict in Novgorod between German merchants and local townspeople. The document contains very important information on Novgorodian government and political institutions. The article consists of two parts: the study, complete publication and translation from Middle Low German into Russian of the document itself and the careful analysis of its content.