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A boyar (also spelled bojar) or bolyarin was a member of the highest rank of the feudal Russian, Romanian and Bulgarian aristocracy, second only to the ruling princes, from the 10th through the 17th century.
The word boyar is most probably originated from old-Turkic bai (rich, noble) and är giving (noble man), compare also with modern Azeri or Turkmen bajar (noble man, administrator); the word can also be connected to the old-Turkic/Bulgar boila meaning noble and middle-Greek βοιλᾶς *.
Boyars in Bulgaria
The oldest Slavic form of boyar — bolyarin (Bulgarian: болярин) — is found in Bulgaria, where it might be related to the old Bulgar title boila, which denoted a high aristocratic status among the Bulgars. It was probably transformed through boilar or bilyar to bolyar and bolyarin. A member of the nobility during the First Bulgarian Empire was called a boila, while in the Second Bulgarian Empire the corresponding title became bolyar or bolyarin. Bolyar, as well as its predecessor, boila, was a hereditary title.
The bolyars were divided into veliki (great) and mali (small). In Bulgaria at present the word bolyari is used as a nickname for the inhabitants of Veliko Tarnovo — the former capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire.
Boyars in Rus and Russia
In the Russian language, the singular is boyarin (боярин, IPA: ), the plural is boyare and the feminine form is boyarynya.
Boyars wielded considerable power through their military support of the Kievan princes. Power and prestige of many of them, however, soon came to depend almost completely on service to the state, family history of service and to a lesser extent, landownership.
The boyars occupied the highest state offices and through a council (Duma) advised the prince. They received extensive grants of land and, as members of the Boyars' Duma, were the major legislators of Kievan Rus'.
When political power shifted to Moscow in the 14th and 15th centuries, the boyars retained their influence. However, as the Grand Dukes of Muscovy consolidated their power, the influence of the boyars was gradually eroded, particularly under Ivan III and Ivan IV.
Tsar Ivan IV "Ivan the Terrible" severely restricted the Knyaz powers during the 16th century. 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 tsar.
The Boyar Duma expanded from around 30 people to around 100 in the 17th century and was finally abolished by Tsar Peter the Great in 1711 in his extensive reforms of government and administration.
Boyars in Wallachia and Moldavia
In the lands inhabited by Romanians the boyar (Romanian:boier) class emerged from the chiefs (cneaz or jude) of rural communities in the early Middle Ages, initially elected, who later made their judicial and administrative attributions hereditary and gradually expanded them upon other communities. After the apparition of more advanced political structures in the area their privileged status had to be confirmed by the central power, which used this prerogative to include in the boyar class individuals that distinguished themselves in the military or civilian functions they performed (by allocating them lands from the princely domains).
The boyars progressively differentiated themselves into ‘great’ boyars (who owned numerous, large domains and held important functions in the central administration) and ‘small’ boyars (who owned small estates and held less important functions).Starting with the first half of the 15th century they became the most important political force in Wallachia and Moldavia. In Transylvania they were either assimilated by the Hungarian nobility or lost their status, becoming simple peasants.
Although over the centuries their influence alternated with periods of centralism the boyars of Wallachia and Moldavia increased their privileges (they had absolute control over the inhabitants of their domains, full tax exemptions and only boyars could hold offices). Divided into numerous factions they frequently attempted to remove or replace the princes of those two countries, a process usually accompanied by crimes and atrocities from both sides. Since the 16th century members of the great boyar families replaced the traditional princes from the Basarab and Muşat dynasties on the thrones of Wallachia and Moldavia.
In the 17th and 18th centuries the Romanian boyars became increasingly influenced by Greek culture, adopting its institutions and way of life; during this time rich people of common origin became boyars by simply buying the rank from the prince, in order to have access to important public functions. However, in the early 1800s many boyars (especially the foreign-educated ones) became advocates of change and modernization, being very active in the process of Romanian national awakening that culminated with the union of Wallachia and Moldavia in 1859. In the newly-created state the boyars remained a very important factor (even though their privileges had been gradually abolished since the 1830s) as they owned most of the land, thus controlling agriculture, the country’s most important activity. The boyars also had strong political representation, especially in the Conservative Party.
In the rapidly-changing economy of contemporary Romania, the boyars' medieval domains were practically converted into colonial plantations. This situation led to large peasant uprisings and was generally disapproved, but only in the dramatic circumstances of the post-WWI period did the Romanian government agree to carry out a significant land ownership reform. Between 1918 and 1921 60,000 square kilometres of land were transferred to 1.4 million peasants, effectively ending the economic role of the boyars.
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Noble titles | Russian nobility | Romanian nobility | Bulgarian nobility | Russian loanwords
Болярин | Bojaren | Bojaro | Boyard | בויאר | Bajorai (luomas) | Болјарин | Bojaren | Bojarzy | Boiardo | Boier | Боярин | Boyar | Бояри
"Boyar"