 the battle of the neva (, nevskaya bitva, ) was fought between the novgorod republic and swedish armies on the neva river, near the settlement of ust-izhora, on july 15, 1240. the purpose of the swedish invasion was probably to gain control over the mouth of the neva and the city of ladoga and, hence, seize the most important part of the trade route from the varangians to the greeks, which had been under novgorod's control for more than a hundred years. the battle was part of the medieval swedish-novgorodian wars. == russian sources == the existence of the battle is only known from russian sources. the first source to mention the battle is the novgorod first chronicle from the 14th century.; in swedish. hosted by the narc.fi. see arkistolaitos/sahkoiset and diplomatarium fennicum from the menu. see also original text; in russian. according to the chronicle, on receiving the news of the advancing swedish fleet, the 20-year-old prince alexander yaroslavich of novgorod quickly moved his small army to face the enemy before they had reached lake ladoga. the chronicle described the battle as follows: left|thumb|battle of the neva contributed to alexander's later sainthood. "swedes came with a great army, and norwegians and finns and tavastians with ships in great numbers, swedes with their prince and bishops, and they stayed on the neva, at the mouth of the izhora, willing to take ladoga, and to put it short, novgorod and all of its lands. but still protected the merciful, man-loving god us and sheltered us from the foreign people, and the word came to novgorod that swedes were sailing to ladoga; but prince alexander did not hesitate at all, but went against them with 
1240_in_Europe Battles_involving_Sweden Battles_involving_the_Novgorod_Republic Battles_of_the_Middle_Ages Conflicts_in_1240