Boyar

Boyar, an order in old Russia, next to the knjazes or knjeses (ruling princes). They had their own partisans, and gave their services to a prince of their own choice, whom they left again at their pleasure. They held the highest military and civil offices, and were so universally looked up to by the mass of the people, that the most powerful rulers considered it prudent to use this form in their ukases: 'The emperor has ordered it; the Boyars have approved it.' Their rank was always proportioned to length of state-service. In their housekeeping the Boyars were excessively fond of splendour, and their contempt for the serfs or 'lower orders' was immeasurable. Their power acted as a wholesome check upon the authority of the princes, in consequence of which the latter became their bitter enemies. Peter the Great finally abolished the order by giving them a place among the Russian nobility, but at the same time stripping them of their peculiar privileges.—The higher nobility of Roumania are also called Boyars.