BOYAR

In the broadest sense, every privileged landowner could be called a boyar; in a narrower sense, the term refers to a senior member of a prince's retinue during the tenth through thirteenth centuries, and marked the highest court rank during the fourteenth to seventeenth centuries. The word boyar probably stems from a Turkic word meaning "rich" or "distinguished." Coming from a mixed social and ethnic background, boyars served a prince, but they had the right to change their master, and enjoyed full authority over their private lands.

The relationship between a prince and his boyars varied across the regions. In the twelfth to fifteenth centuries, boyars acquired considerable political power in some principalities ruled by members of the Ryurikid dynasty and in Novgorod, where they formed the governing elite. In the Moscow and Tver principalities, boyars acknowledged the sovereignty of the prince and cultivated hereditary service relations with him. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the rank of boyar became the highest rung in the Muscovite court hierarchy. It was reserved for members of elite families and was linked with responsible political, military, and administrative appointments.

During the seventeenth century, the rank of boyar became open to more courtiers, due to the growing size of the court, and it gradually disappeared under Peter the Great. It is often assumed that all boyars were members of the tsar's council, the so-called Boyar Duma, and thereby directed the political process. This assumption led some historians to assume that Muscovy was a boyar oligarchy, where boyars as a social group effectively ran the state. However, there was always a hierarchy among the boyars: A few boyars were close advisors to the tsar, while most acted as highranking servitors of the sovereign.

See also: boyar duma; muscovy; okolnichy

bibliography

Kollmann, Nancy Shields. (1987). Kinship and Politics: The Making of the Muscovite Political System, 1345–1547. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Poe, Marshall T. (2003). The Russian Elite in the Seventeenth Century. 2 vols. Helsinki: Finnish Academy of Science and Letters.

Sergei Bogatyrev

boyars , upper nobility in Russia from the 10th through the 17th cent. The boyars originally obtained influence and government posts through their military support of the Kievan princes. Their power and prestige, however, soon came to depend almost completely on landownership. The boyars occupied the highest state offices and through a council advised the prince. When political power shifted to Moscow in the 14th and 15th cent., the boyars retained their influence. However, as the Moscow grand princes consolidated their power, the influence of the boyars was gradually eroded, particularly under Ivan III and Ivan IV . Their ancient right to leave the service of one prince for another was curtailed, as was their right to hold land without giving obligatory service to the czar. The political turmoil of the so-called time of troubles further weakened the boyars, and in the 17th cent. the rank and title of boyar was abolished by Peter I .

boyar A member of the highest nonprincely class of medieval Russian society. In the 10th to 12th centuries the boyars formed the senior levels of the princes' retinues. They received large grants of land and exercised considerable independent power during the period of decentralization after the 13th-century Mongol conquest. However, as the grand princes of Muscovy consolidated their own power, they managed to curb boyar independence.

From the 15th to the 17th centuries Muscovite boyars formed a closed aristocratic class drawn from about 200 families. They retained a stake in princely affairs through their membership of the boyar duma or council. IVAN IV (THE TERRIBLE) (ruled 1547–84) reduced their power significantly by relying on favourites and locally elected officials. Their social and political importance continued to decline throughout the 17th century and PETER I eventually abolished the rank and title.

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