Druzhina
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A druzhina[a] is the Slavonic word for a retinue in service of a chieftain, also called a knyaz (prince).[2]
Kievan Rus'
[edit]Druzhina was flexible both as a term and as an institution. At its core, it referred to the prince's permanent personal bodyguards (malaia; 'small' Druzhina); more generally, it referred to the prince's extended household (dvor; court).[3]
| Title | Description |
|---|---|
| Voevoda | General |
| Kormilets | Head of household |
| Tiun | Steward/estate manager |
| Tysiatskii | Military governor of a city |
| Sotskie | Supports a tysiatskii |
| Lesser functionaries | |
| Kliuchnik | Domestic manager |
| Birich | Type of enforcement officer |
| Pechatnik | Seal-man |
| Pisets | Scribe |
Apart from a prince's kins, the druzhina was a his closest and most vital social group: it served as the "protective and coercitive basis for his power". A wise prince was expected to nurture his druzhina, keep it close, feast with it, consult it and reward it. The effects of not doing so can be seen with Boris's case; after his father's death, the latter's druzhina pledged loyalty to him and offered him the throne of Kiev. Boris declined, the druzhina dispersed, and he was left defenceless against the agents of his brother Sviatopolk, who murdered him. [3]
The druzhina had perhaps once "truly corresponded to some egalitarian ideal of military fellowship, with the prince as patron and first among equals".[3] However, as the role of a prince and the running of a principality (especially a senior prince's) became more complex, so did the druzhina. It developped its own internal hierarchies, divisions of functions, structure of offices and responsabilities.[3]
The druzhina had its own rank-and-file members ('youths') in the junior druzhina (mladshaia) and its own senior members (boyars). Boyars offices encompassed military, domestic and urban administration. The druzhina was a military elite, and the distinction between military and administrative offices thus wasn't always clear. According to Novgorodian inscriptions, for example, the 'swordman' (mechnik) also had a role in fiscal administration or tribute-gathering.[3]
The druzhina was loyal to the prince personally, and could thus somewhat choose whom to support.[3]
 |
| Knyaz (sovereign) |
| Boyar / Szlachta (noble) |
| Druzhinnik (retainer) |
| Smerd (free tenant) |
| Kholop (slave) |
Poland
[edit]Ibrahim ibn Yaqub, who traveled in 961–62 in Central Europe, mentions that the drużyna of Duke Mieszko I of Poland had 3000 men, paid by the duke.[4] Unlike his predecessors, Casimir I the Restorer promoted landed gentry over the drużyna as his base of power.[citation needed]
See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Speake, Jennifer; LaFlaur, Mark (1999). "druzhina". The Oxford Essential Dictionary of Foreign Terms in English. Oxford University Press.
- ^ Font, Marta (2010). "Druzhina". The Oxford Encyclopedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-533403-6.
- ^ a b c d e f g Simon Franklin, "Kievan Rus' (1015-1125)," in The Cambridge History of Russia, vol. 1, ed. Maureen Perrie (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006), 81-82.
- ^ "Ibrāhīm ibn Ya‛qūb al-Isrā’īlī al-Ṭurṭūshī," by Lutz Richter-Bernburg, in: The Oxford Companion to World Exploration, David Buisseret, editor-in-chief, 2 vols., Oxford UP 2007, I:402b-403b
Bibliography
[edit]- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: . Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary (in Russian). 1906.
External links
[edit]
Media related to Druzhina at Wikimedia Commons
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