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Portrait of Russian boyar Pyotr Potemkin by Godfrey Kneller
Russian boyars in the 16th–17th centuries

A boyar was a member of the highest rank of the feudal Bulgarian, Russian, Serbian, Wallachian, Moldavian, and later Romanian and Livonian (modern Latvia and Estonia) aristocracies, second only to the ruling princes (in Bulgaria, tsars) from the 10th century to the 17th century. The rank has lived on as a surname in Russia, and Romania, Finland and Latvia where it is spelled Pajari or Bajāri'.[1]


Also known as bolyar; variants in other languages include Bulgarian: боляр or болярин; Russian: боя́рин, tr. boyarin, IPA: [bɐˈjærʲɪn]; Ukrainian: буй[dubious ] or боярин; Romanian: boier, IPA: [boˈjer] (About this soundlisten); and Greek: βογιάρος.

The title Boila is predecessor or old form of the title Bolyar (the Bulgarian word for Boyar). Boila was a title worn by some of the Bulgar aristocrats (mostly of regional governors and noble warriors) in the First Bulgarian Empire (681–1018). The plural form of boila ("noble"), bolyare is attested in Bulgar inscriptions[2][3] and rendered as boilades or boliades in the Greek of Byzantine documents.[4][5] Multiple different derivation theories of the word have been suggested by scholars and linguists, such as it having possible roots from old Turkic: bai ("noble, rich"; cf. "bay"), plus Turkic är ("man, men").[4] The title entered Old Russian as быля (bylya, attested solely in The Tale of Igor's Campaign).[citation needed]

Boyars in Bulgaria[edit]




Boyars in Serbia[edit]

In medieval Serbia, the rank of the boyars (Боjари, bojari) was equivalent to the rank of the baron; meaning "free warrior" (or "free man" in general), it was the first rank after the non-free peasants or serfs. The etymology of the term comes from the word battle (бој, boj); the boyars of Serbia were literally "men for the battle" or the warrior class, in contrast to the peasants; they could own land but were obliged to defend it and fight for the king. With the rule of the Ottoman Empire after 1450, the Ottoman as well as the Austro-Hungarian terms exchanged the Serbian one. Today, it is an archaic term representing the aristocracy (племство, plemstvo).

Boyars in the lands of Kievan Rus' state[edit]

Mounted Russian boyar from 17th century


The boyars occupied the highest state offices and, through a council (duma), advised the grand duke. They received extensive grants of land and, as members of the Boyars' Duma, were the major legislators of Kievan Rus'.


Boyars in Old Russian Muscovy or Muscovite Rus'[edit]

During the 14th and 15th centuries, the boyars of Moscow had considerable influence that continued from the Muscovy period. However, starting with the reign of Ivan III, the boyars were starting to lose that influence to the authoritative tsars in Russia. Because of Ivan III's expansionist policies, administrative changes were needed in order to ease the burden of governing Muscovy.[6] Small principalities knew their loyal subjects by name, but after the consolidation of territories under Ivan, familial loyalty and friendship with the boyar's subjects turned those same subjects into administrative lists.[6] The face of provincial rule disappeared.


Instead of the grand prince personally overseeing his lands, he had to rely on his captains and close advisors to oversee day-to-day operations.[6] Instead of the great voice the boyars had previously in their advisory roles, they now had less bargaining power and mobility.[9] They answered questions posed by the grand prince, and Ivan III even made sure to get their approval on special events, such as his marriage to Zoe Paleologa, or the attack on Novgorod.[10] This was to ensure the boyars and their military power remained loyal to the tsar. The grand duke also made sure that peasants could not leave the princes’ lands, or from one place to another, in the mid-1400s, effectively establishing serfdom.[11] The boyars gained rewards and gifts as well. Some boyars were sent to regions as governors, and could “feed off” the locals in this way.[12] Still, by the end of the 15th century, boyar membership had declined, and merit rather than belonging to the family decided who became a boyar.[13] Then Ivan IV became the tsar, and more radical changes were implemented.

Ivan IV became the grand prince of all Rus' in 1533 at the age of three, but various boyar factions tried to compete for control of the regency.[14] When Ivan IV came to power in 1547, much more of the boyar's independent political power became obsolete. The independence and autonomy experienced by the princes of the regions in Russia was abolished under Ivan IV by the end of the sixteenth century, making them “the prince’s sons”, or just simple boyars serving the Grand Prince.[15] Ivan IV divided Rus' into two parts in 1565, and in the private part, the terror began.[14] The boyars attempted to band together and resist, but instead of constitutionally establishing their role in government, Ivan IV ruthlessly crushed the boyar opposition with the use of the oprichnina terror.[16] Land grants were also given to subjects that provided military service, and soon this type of land grant became the more common compared to inherited land among the boyars.[16] Ivan IV consolidated his power, centralized royal power, and made every effort possible to curb the influence of the princes.

After Ivan IV, a time of troubles began when his son Fedor, died without an heir, ending the Rurik dynasty.[14] The boyar Boris Godunov tried to proclaim himself tsar, but several boyar factions refuse to recognize him.[14] The chaos continued after the first False Dmitriy gained the throne, and civil war erupted.[14] When the Romanovs took over, the seventeenth century became one filled with administrative reform. A comprehensive legal code was introduced, and a merging of the boyars into the elite bureaucracy was beginning to form.[14]


Peter the Great, who took power in 1697, took it upon himself to westernize Russia, and catch it up with the modern world. After the revolt of the streltsy regiments in 1698, Peter the Great returned to Russia, forcing government officials and those that were financially able to have clean shaven faces and wear Western clothing.[18] Peter also reformed the judicial system, and created a senate with members appointed by him, replacing the old council of boyars that originally advised the tsar.[18] This move he made was one of many that dismantled the powers and status the boyars previously possessed. Peter was driving out the conservative and religious faction of the boyars out of the courts, and instead using both foreign and Russian officials to fill the administrative system. Several boyars, as well as other nobility, spoke out against these reforms, including historian Mikhail Shcherbatov, who stated that the reforms Peter made helped destroy Russian tradition, and created people that tried to “worm their way up, by flattering and humoring the monarch and the grandees in every way.”[18] Still, the reforms continued, as by this point, the tsar possessed too much power, and Russia became an absolute monarchy more and more with each ruler.

Boyars in Galicia[edit]


Boyars in Wallachia and Moldavia[edit]

Wallachian vornic Șerban Grădișteanu wearing a kalpak, an indication of his boyar rank


The boyar condition[edit]

The Romanian social hierarchy was composed of boyar, mazil, and răzeș. Being a boyar implied three things: being a land-owner, having serfs, and having a military and/or administrative function. A boyar could have a state function and/or a court function. These functions were called dregătorie or boierie. Only the prince had the power to assign a boierie. Landowners with serfs but no function were categorized as mazil but were still considered to be of noble origin (din os boieresc, which translates literally as "of boyar bones"). Small landowners who possessed a domain without distinction (devălmășie) or serfs were called răzeși. According to some historians, they were descendants of mazil landowners.




Boyars with gorlatnaya hats in a painting by Andrei Ryabushkin. The higher hats indicated higher social status.


The prince[edit]

Usually a prince was a boyar before his election or appointment as prince, but this was not an absolute condition. Initially, only princely descendants could be elected princes. During the Phanariot epoch, however, any man could be a prince if appointed by the sultan (and rich enough to buy this appointment from the grand vizier). During the Ottoman suzerainty, and especially during the Phanariot régime, the title of Prince became an administrative function within the imperial Ottoman hierarchy, and thus the ultimate form of boyardness. The title of Prince of Wallachia or Moldavia was equivalent in dignity to that of a pasha with two horse-tails.

Cultural references[edit]


See also[edit]


  1. ^ Behind the names: Pajari
  4. ^ a b Vasmer's Etymological Dictionary (Russian)
  5. ^ a b Constantine Porphyrogenitus, de Cerimoniis aulae Byzantinae, II, 46–47
  6. ^ a b c Gustave, Alef (1967). "Reflections on the Boyar Duma". The Slavonic and East European Review. 45 (104): 76–123. JSTOR 4205832.
  7. ^ Bushkovitch, Paul (2004). "Princes Cherkaaskii or Circassian Murzas: The Kabardians in the Russian Boyar Elite, 1560–1700". Cahiers du Monde Russe. 45 (1/2): 10. JSTOR 20174844.
  8. ^ Kleimola, A.M (1972). "The Duty to Denounce in Muscovite Russia". Slavic Review. 31 (4): 762. doi:10.2307/2493761. JSTOR 2493761.
  9. ^ Gustave, Alef (1967). "Reflections on the Boyar Duma". The Slavonic and East European Review. 45 (104): 78. JSTOR 4205832.
  10. ^ Gustave, Alef (1967). "Reflections on the Boyar Duma". The Slavonic and East European Review. 45 (104): 79. JSTOR 4205832.
  11. ^ Vernadsky, George (1939). "Feudalism in Russi". Speculum. 14 (3): 315. JSTOR 2848599.
  12. ^ Alef, Gustave (1967). "Reflections on the Boyar Duma". The Slavonic and East European Review. 45 (104): 79. JSTOR 4205832.
  13. ^ Gustave, Alef (1967). "Reflections on the Boyar Duma". The Slavonic and East European Review. 45 (104): 109. JSTOR 4205832.
  14. ^ a b c d e f Curtis, Glenn. "Muscovite Period". Sam Houston State University. Library of Congress. Archived from the original on 21 May 2016. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
  15. ^ Vernadsky, George (1939). "Feudalism in Russi". Speculum. 14 (3): 318. JSTOR 2848599.
  16. ^ a b Vernadsky, George (1939). "Feudalism in Russi". Speculum. 14 (3): 319. JSTOR 2848599.
  17. ^ Kliuchevskii, V.O. (1960). A History of Russia, Volume 2 (PDF). New York: Russell and Russell.
  18. ^ a b c Kelley, J. (1991). Makers of the Western Tradition. New York: St. Martin's. p. 29.
  19. ^ Szlachta. Encyclopedia of Ukraine

External links[edit]