Russian merchant family at the Domostroy times

Domostroy (Russian: Домострой), loosely translated as The Household Management, is a 16th-century Muscovite set of household rules, instructions and advices pertaining to various religious, social, domestic, and family matters. Image File history File links Ryabushkin_merchant_17. ... Image File history File links Ryabushkin_merchant_17. ... Russian (Russian: русский язык, russkiy yazyk, ) is the most widely spoken language of Eurasia and the most widespread of the Slavic languages. ...

The real author of the Domostroy is unknown, but the most widespread version was edited by the archpriest Sylvester, an influential advisor to young Ivan IV. An updated edition was compiled by Karion Istomin during the late 17th century. To modern researchers, it is a precious account about Russian society and the life of wealthy boyars and merchants. Sylvester as a single name can refer to: Pope Silvester I Pope Silvester II Antipope Silvester III Sylvester of Marsico Sylvester the Cat, a Looney Tunes character Sylvester James, disco performer Sylvester Stallone, actor Sylvester McCoy, actor James Joseph Sylvester, English mathematician Sylvester is a movie about a horse and... Ivan IV (August 25, 1530–March 18, 1584) was the first ruler of Russia to assume the title of tsar. ... A boyar (also spelled bojar) 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. ...

Modern researchers tend to trace the origins of the Domostroy to the 15th century Novgorod Republic, where it could have been used as a kind of morale codex for the wealthy. As such, it has some quotations from the Book of Proverbs and other biblical texts, and from earlier Russian morale texts such as Izmaragd and Zlatoust. (14th century - 15th century - 16th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 15th century was that century which lasted from 1401 to 1500. ... Medieval walls of Novgorod City The Novgorod Feudal Republic (Новгородская феодальная республика in Russian, or Novgorodskaya feodalnaya respublika) was a powerful medieval state which stretched from the Baltic Sea to the Ural Mountains between the 12th and 15th century. ... Morale is a term for the capacity of people to maintain belief in an institution or a goal. ... first page of the Codex Argenteus A codex (Latin for block of wood, book; plural codices) is a handwritten book, in general one produced from Late Antiquity through the Middle Ages. ... The Book of Proverbs is one of the books of the Ketuvim of the Tanakh and of the Writings of the Old Testament. ... Zlatoust (Златоуст in Russian, etymology: злато (archaic) is Russian for gold and уста is for mouth, hence silver-tongued person, orator) is a town in the Chelyabinsk Oblast in Russia. ...

In modern Russian, the term Domostroy has a pejorative meaning. It is used in such classic texts as Herzen's My Past and Thoughts and Turgenev's Fathers and Sons to refer to a traditionalist way of life associated with patriarchal tyranny, as exemplified by the following quotations: A wife which is good, laborious, and silent is a crown to her husband. Don't pity a youngling while beating him: if you punish him with a rod, he will not die, but become healthier. Alexander Herzen in 1867 Aleksandr Ivanovich Herzen (Алекса́ндр Ива́нович Ге́рцен) (April 6, 1812 - January 21, 1870) was a major Russian pro-Western writer and thinker known as the father of Russian socialism. He is held responsible for creating a political climate leading to the emancipation of the serfs in 1861. ... Ivan Turgenev, photo by Félix Nadar (1820-1910) Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (Ива́н Серге́евич Турге́нев, November 9, 1818 - September 3, 1883) was a major Russian novelist and playwright. ... A tradition is a story or a custom that is memorized and passed down from generation to generation, originally without the need for a writing system. ... A patriarch (from Greek: patria means father; arché means rule, beginning, origin) is a male head of an extended family exercising autocratic authority, or, by extension, a member of the ruling class or government of a society controlled by senior men. ...

Structure

Muscovite women in a church.

The book is divided into 67 sections (in Sylvester's version) dealing roughly with the following matters: Andrey P. Ryabushkin (1861-1904). ... Andrey P. Ryabushkin (1861-1904). ...

• Religious practices
• Relationship between Russian people and the tsar
• Organization of the family
• Management of the household
• Culinary

Tsar (Bulgarian, Serbian and Macedonian цар, Russian , in scientific transliteration respectively car and car ), often spelled Czar or Tzar and sometimes Csar or Zar in English, is the official Slavonic title designating Emperor in the following states: Bulgaria in 913–1422 (for later usage in 1908–1946, see below) Serbia in...

References

• Domostroy, SPb, Science, 1994 (from the presentation of the book)

External links

• Domostroy, Sylvester's version (Russian)