1
IN the fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries the Grand Princes of Moscow
acquired a position of pre-eminence over the other lands of north-eastern
Rus ·. Historians have traditionally emphasized the political, economic, or
ideological aspects of this feat. The Danilovichi, as political tutees as well as
lineal descendants of Alexander Nevsky, exhibited a remarkable pliancy
towards the Tatar overlord; they managed to siphon off much of the tribute
that was channelled through their hands; they used some of it to attract peasant
immigrants, who appreciated the relative security of this forested area; and
they won valuable support from the metropolitans of the Orthodox Church,
who legitimated their rule in the eyes of the faithful.
These factors were certainly important; but perhaps the main ingredient in
Moscow's success was its skilful manipulation of the warrior elite. All Ryurikid
rulers had noble servitors, but those who took employment with the Grand
Prince of Moscow enjoyed higher status and richer rewards. In return for these
favours they put their swords at his disposal with a will and consistency not
apparent elsewhere. This was the foundation on which arose the formidable
liturgical and service state of sixteenth-and seventeenth-century Muscovy:
a realm with a strong sense of its individuality, of its sacred mission, a realm in
which the well-born found fulfilment in loyally furthering the interests of the
autocrat. Sigismund von Herberstein, the Habsburg diplomat who first visited
Moscow in 1517, heard notables mock the grandees of Lithuania who failed to
carry out their sovereign's orders. '"That does not happen with us here," they
say with a smile; "if you want to keep your. head on firmly, ride off at each
command."'^1 Later Western travellers also noted, with no little astonishment,
the submissiveness and martial character of the Russian dvoryanstvo. 'The
soldiers of Russia', wrote the Englishman Giles Fletcher in 1591, 'are called
(deli) boyarskiye, or sons of gentlemen, because they are all of that degree by
virtue of their military profession ... The son of a gentleman (which is born a
soldier) is ever a gentleman and a sol!lier withal and professeth nothing else but
military matters. '^2 Forty years or so later Adam Olearius remarked on the fact
that leading noblemen 'are obliged to live in Moscow and, even though they
may have no business there, must appear daily at court and beat their heads to
the tsar.'^3
In the 1550s compulsory service was imposed by decree on all (secular)
1 Von Herbcrs1cin, Moscm•ia, p. IOI.
2 Flelcher, Russe Commonwealth, in Ucrry and Crummey, Rude u11cl Burharou.r Ki1111do111,
p. 177 (Schmidt con .. p. 75).
J Olearius, Travels, p. 220; cf. Margeret, L 'Estut, pp. 13-15; Van Klenk, l'oso/'~11•0, p. 486.