Domostroy
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Domostroy (Russian: Домострой, Domestic Order) is a 16th century Muscovite set of household rules, instructions and advices pertaining to various religious, social, domestic, and family matters.
Its real author 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.
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 moral 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.
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.
[edit] Structure
The book is divided into 67 sections (in Sylvester's version) dealing roughly with the following matters:
- Religious practices
- Relationship between Russian people and the tsar
- Organization of the family
- Management of the household
- Culinary
[edit] References
- Domostroy, SPb, Science, 1994 (from the presentation of the book)
[edit] External links
- Domostroy, Sylvester's version (Russian)
