Military-Political History of the Pskov-Livonian Border: History of Struggle for Natural Resources in the Context of Climatic Changes of 14th–15th cc.

Abstract

The content of the research is the study of the climatic factor influence on the intensification of the struggle for natural resources in the border of the Lord Pskov and the Livonian Confederation in the period of climatic changes in the 14th–15th centuries. The objective of the study was the identification of the fullest possible range of the causes of spontaneous cases of the military-political situation aggravation in the period under study. Russian Chronicles, Russian scribes books, Livonian Chronicles, correspondence of the Livonian officials were used, later sources were also involved. Maps of military conflicts correlated with the known periods of climatic fluctuations in the studied region are made. The most important and significant came to be struggle for lake and river fishing grounds (Piirissaar island (Zhelachka), Narva rapids, etc.), for the territory of wild bees population mass rate (Purnau) and for haymaking. To redistribute the resources of these territories in their favor, the sides used both direct seizure of the resource, and diplomatic and military pressure on the opponent. The large-scale invasions, chronologically coinciding with lean years, should be specially marked. Mapping the regular military clashes loci allowed us to determine the list of resources, the struggle for control of which took the most violent forms. It is shown that in the 14th–15th centuries the struggle for renewable resources of the border territories, largely due to the climatic factor, made the mayor content of military actions and conflicts of Pskov and the Livonian Confederation.