The Courts of the Grand Duchesses of Ryazan

Abstract

The article explores the problem of the Courts of the Ryazan Grand Duchesses Anna Vasil’evna (1483–1501) and Agrafena Vasil’evna (1501–1514/1515). The main question concerns the existence of the court of the Grand Duchesses as a special independent structure. The reconstruction of the courts of Anna Vasil’evna and Agrafena Vasil’evna revealed that the persons who comprised part of their Boyar Duma, the palace administration, and the executive apparatus had previously been in the service of the Grand Dukes of Ryazan, or had close relatives (fathers, siblings) who were part of the courts of Grand Dukes. After the death of the Grand Duchesses, their servants moved to the court of Ivan Ivanovich Ryazanskiy. These facts indicate a high level of continuity between the courts of the Ryazan rulers. They also enable to state that during the periods of the regency of the grand duchesses it they did not have their own special, separate court, independent of the court of the Grand Dukes. The article is the first attempt to analyze the composition of the possessions of the Grand Duchesses of Ryazan. It considered the lands and income granted to the princesses, according to the wills of the Grand Dukes of Ryazan, the real estate that formed the widow’s subsistence inheritance, as well as the font of the Grand Duchesses. The authors come to the conclusion that during the 15th–16th centuries in the principality of Ryazan, the practice of allocating land holdings to widowed princesses was consistent with all-Russian traditions.