Nature's Evil

In the forests of Eurasia, the habitat of the squirrel coincided roughly with the human habitat. Dry, lightweight, and easily preserved under the right conditions, the squirrel pelts were an ideal commodity. For three centuries they were the mainstay of exports from Novgorod. The thin, light and supple skins were made into warm garments, stockings, hats and much else besides. Even taking transportation costs into account, these goods were cheap. A widely dispersed resource for mass consumption led to prosperity and relative equality. While Novgorod was trading in squirrel pelts, it enjoyed wealth, independence from a ruling prince, and something like democracy. In the winter, when their coats were thicker, squirrels were shot with blunt-tipped arrows so that the fur wasn’t damaged. Any peasant could turn his hand to this task. The pelts were scraped, washed and dried. Curing them was a time-consuming and skilled job – this was women’s work. Brought by sledge to Novgorod, the pelts were packed for export or prepared for local use. The trade in squirrel pelts was one of the main enterprises of the Hanseatic League, which included Novgorod. In the fourteenth century, a vast trading post known as the ‘German Court’ was built in the city. After buying and sorting the pelts, the Germans tied them into bundles and packed bundles of the same quality into barrels. Dozens of Germans were stationed in Novgorod to carry out this work. As the monopoly purchaser of a communal resource, the Hanseatic trading post was able to hold costs down and make excess profits. In accordance with mercantilist logic, the Germans were interested only in pelts, leaving profitable tasks such as sewing and tailoring to their partners at home. The Novgorod furriers worked only for the local market.

In the spring, barrels of pelts were sent down the Volkhov River, across the northern lakes to the Neva, and then on across the Baltic to Lübeck and Bremen. From there Russian fur continued its journey to London, Paris and Florence. In exchange, the Novgorod merchants received silver, arms, textiles, herring and non-ferrous metals. When there was hunger in the city they also imported grain. The fur trade guaranteed a significant amount of silver, which the trading republic needed for its mercenaries. By the end of the Novgorod Republic, fur was exported on a massive scale: 12,000 squirrel pelts travelled thousands of miles from the East so that London furriers could make one particular robe for Henry IV. But the bulk of imports were destined for mass consumption. A total of half a million squirrel pelts were exported per year. 11

As the squirrel population became depleted, the Novgorod merchants had to advance into unknown territories further east and force the local tribes to procure pelts. The trade was risky: in 1445, Yugra tribes inflicted defeat on a 3,000-strong detachment from Novgorod. And, in the fifteenth century, London imported fewer furs. The reason was that squirrel pelts could not compete with the wool textiles which England had begun to produce in increasing quantities. Although the Hansa traded in many goods, such as grain, timber and cod, it went into decline following the collapse of the fur trade. The fall in profits led to clashes among the Russian principalities. Resource-dependent states always worry about running out of raw materials. They are actually more at risk from the advent of new technologies which make their resources redundant.

Sable

The occupation of Novgorod by Muscovite troops in 1478 followed the fall in prices and the reduction of the market for fur. In the quest for fur, the Russians continually moved further east, colonising huge swathes of northern Asia and, later, northern America. In historical paintings we see the Muscovy nobility portrayed in fur coats and hats edged with sable, beaver and ermine. Monomakh’s cap was the sable-trimmed symbol of supreme power of the Russian tsars. Similarly, the Scottish crown was trimmed with ermine. A top hat made out of felted beaver fur was a status symbol of the European elite.

A luxury item, sable didn’t compete with wool and was in steady demand in Europe; sable (sobol ) is among the very few loan words that have gone from Russian into English. The route to Siberia, the home of the sable, lay through Kazan. The Muscovite troops captured Kazan in 1552 – a defining moment in the history of Russian colonisation. In 1581 Yermak Timofeyevich, with a company of 800 Cossacks, reached the Siberian Khanate. Like the Vikings long before them, the Cossacks dragged their boats, made from hollowed-out tree trunks, between great Siberian rivers and drifted down or rowed up them. After three years of trade and battles in Siberia, Yermak died, but 24,000 sable pelts, 2,000 beaver pelts, and 800 pelts from black foxes were sent to Moscow. 12