r=court); but this term is equally objectionable,
because the great majority of the Dvoryanstvo have nothing
to do with the Court.

In the old times, when Russia was merely a collection of some seventy
independent principalities, each reigning prince was surrounded by
a group of armed men, composed partly of Boyars, or large landed
proprietors, and partly of knights, or soldiers of fortune. These men,
who formed the Noblesse of the time, were to a certain extent under the
authority of the Prince, but they were by no means mere obedient, silent
executors of his will. The Boyars might refuse to take part in his
military expeditions, and the "free-lances" might leave his service
and seek employment elsewhere. If he wished to go to war without their
consent, they could say to him, as they did on one occasion, "You have
planned this yourself, Prince, so we will not go with you, for we knew
nothing of it." Nor was this resistance to the princely will always
merely passive. Once, in the principality of Galitch, the armed men
seized their prince, killed his favourites, burned his mistress, and
made him swear that he would in future live with his lawful wife. To his
successor, who had married the wife of a priest, they spoke thus: "We
have not risen against YOU, Prince, but we will not do reverence to a
priest's wife: we will put her to death, and then you may marry whom you
please." Even the energetic Bogolubski, one of the most remarkable
of the old Princes, did not succeed in having his own way. When he
attempted to force the Boyars he met with stubborn opposition, and was
finally assassinated. From these incidents, which might be indefinitely
multiplied from the old chronicles, we see that in the early period
of Russian history the Boyars and knights were a body of free men,
possessing a considerable amount of political power.

Under the Mongol domination this political equilibrium was destroyed.
When the country had been conquered, the Princes became servile vassals
of the Khan and arbitrary rulers towards their own subjects. The
political significance of the nobles was thereby greatly diminished. It
was not, however, by any means annihilated. Though the Prince no longer
depended entirely on their support, he had an interest in retaining
their services, to protect his territory in case of sudden attack, or
to increase his possessions at the expense of his neighbours when a
convenient opportunity presented itself.