Battle of the Neva 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 . 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 : " 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 Novgorodians and people of Ladoga and overcame them with the help of Saint Sophia and through prayers of our lady , the Mother of God and Virgin Mary , July 15 , in the memory of Kirik and Ulita , on Sunday , ( the same day that ) the 630 holy fathers held a meeting in Chalcedon ; and there was a great gathering of the Swedes ; and their leader called Spiridon was killed there ; but some claimed that even the bishop was slain ; and a great number of them fell ; and when they had loaded two ships with the bodies of high - born men , they let them sail to the sea ; but the others , that were unnumbered , they cast to a pit , that they buried , and many others were wounded ; and that same night they fled , without waiting for the Monday light , with shame . Of Novgorodians there fell : Konstantin Lugotinitch , Yuryata Pinyashchinich , Namest Drochilo , Nesdylov son of Kozhevnik , but including the people of Ladoga 20 men or less , God knows . But prince Alexander came back home with Novgorodians and people of Ladoga , all well , protected by God and Saint Sophia and all the prayers of the holy men . " A 16th - century version of the battle gave plenty of additional details , expanding the conflict to biblical proportions , but otherwise following the earlier described developments . Later , Prince Alexander Yaroslavich was nicknamed " Nevsky " ( of Neva ) for his first significant victory . Two years later , Alexander stalled an invasion of the Livonian Knights during the Battle on the Ice . Despite the victories , there were no Novgorodian advances further west to Finland or Estonia . Swedish sources . All references of a battle of the Neva are missing from the Swedish sources . There may be one or several reasons for that . Situation in Sweden . Since the death of King John in 1222 , Sweden was in a " de facto " state of civil war until 1248 when Birger Jarl managed to seize power in the kingdom . Unrest was due to the struggle between those who wanted to keep the old tribal structure , the folkung party , and the king , who was assisted by the church . Folkungs , who were mainly from Uppland , heavily resisted the centralization of power , taxation of the Swedes of Uppland , and church privileges . They had temporarily succeeded in deposing the king in 1229 , but were forced to give in five years later , but were far from defeated yet . Uppland remained largely independent of the king , and its northern areas continued to be in folkung hands . An uneasy truce continued until 1247 , when the folkung rebellion was put to an end at the Battle of Sparrsätra and its leader beheaded a year later . Furthermore , the official Sweden was on the brink of war with Norway ever since the Norwegians ' infamous Värmland expedition in 1225 . Relations improved only after the Treaty of Lödöse in 1249 , which was forged by the newly empowered Birger Jarl . Before the treaty , Norway remained an ally of the folkungs , giving them refuge and providing men and arms . In this situation , it seems unlikely that Sweden could have been able to organize a major expedition against Novgorod . Swedes are not known to have carried out any other military campaigns between 1222 and 1249 , making the claims about their forceful appearance at the Neva with Norwegians as their allies seem questionable . Theories . Taking these facts into consideration , it has been suggested in a recent book aimed at a wide readership , that the Swedish expedition may have been an indirect result of the papal letter in 1237 that was sent to the Swedish Archbishop of Uppsala . The letter eloquently called for a crusade , not against Novgorod , but against Tavastians in Finland , who had allegedly started hostilities against the church . In his defunct position , the king may not have been willing or able to act , but the letter may have provided the frustrated folkungs an opportunity to regain part of their Viking Age glory . Mostly free to act without interference from the king , folkungs would have been able to raise an army of their own , get volunteers from Norway and even assistance from Thomas , the independent Bishop of Finland , who needed to constantly worry about attacks from the east . Instead of Tavastia , this mixed set of interests and nationalities would have headed for the more lucrative Neva and there met its fate at the hands of Alexander . In the possible aftermath of the said battle , the King of Norway approached his Swedish counterpart for peace talks in 1241 , but was turned down at the time . However , some recent research has fundamentally questioned the importance of the battle , seeing it as an ordinary border skirmish that was exaggerated for political purposes , thus also explaining its absence from Swedish and other western sources . It is noteworthy that any exact numbers of Russian or Swedish losses in the battle were exceptionally small . Additional theories are numerous . Some historians have suggested that the Swedish army was already under the command of the very young Birger Jarl , eight years before his appointment to the position of jarl . It has also been suggested that the suspicious information on Norwegians ' , Finns ' and Tavastians ' participation was made up in the 14th century , the time of writing of the First Novgorod Chronicle , when Sweden was in control of Norway , Finland and Tavastia . Consequences . All in all , the first known Swedish military expedition against Novgorod after the events at the Neva took place in 1256 , following folkungs ' demise , peace with Norway and conquest of Finland . If the battle of the Neva had any long - term consequences , it was in Sweden ' s determination to take over Finland first before attempting to proceed further east .