Abstract
The author of the article attempts at assessing the number of nobles (boyars) in pre-Mongol Rus’. He uses the data from non-narrative sources, first of all from the treaty of 944 between Rus’ und Byzamtium, and from those chronicle’s reports which indicate directly to numbers of boyars in certain local centers – these reports are coming back to the 13-14th centuries. He concludes that the ruling classes in the different polities on the territory of Rus’ during the 10-14th centuries (from the Dnieper Rus’ of the middle of the 10th century to independent princedoms-lands of the 12-14th centuries) consisted of no more than 20-30 persons. The number of the whole estate of boyars at the beginning of the 13th century was approx. 1500 persons (not numbering members of their families).
Keywords
history of Old Rus’, demographic history, population, social structure, nobility, boyars
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