Medieval Russian Titles

Lordly Titles and Forms of Address

Not used in the official SCA alternate titles list.

Translated into English as Sovereign.

So I prince Danilo Dmitriyevich Kholmskiy, that yesm' to beaters by brow to their Master [Gospodinu] and Ospadaryu [Sovereign] Great prince Ivan Vasilyevich for their fault by their ospodinom [master] Geront'em by the metropolitan of all Rus, and by his children and from servitors, bishops... [Pledge record of the prince of Kholm to Ivan III, 8 March 1474.]

Sreznevskij presents entries for the following meanings:

1.) dominus (Latin), gospodin", khozyain" (owner/master)
Не ведоущю господарю ниве. [Пат. Син. XI в. 28.]

Ни холопа, ни робы безъ господаря (=осподаря) твоимъ судиямъ не судити. [Дог. гр. НОвг. съ в. к. Мих. Яр. 1307 г.]

2.) gospodin" (different Greek word than above). Въсхоте господарь. [Пат. Син. I в. 101]

3.) gosudar" (title of tsar, king and grand prince) - multiple sources.

Gospod' [господь] - Lord, God

Not used in the official SCA alternate titles list.

The Novgorod Chronicle:

1251 [6759] "For the Lord God sends down on us..." - господу бо богу

Sreznevskij presents entries for the following meanings:

1.) gospodin", dominus (Latin), same Greek word as #1 of gospodar above. Multiple examples.

2.) gospod', as applied to God. Several examples. A typical term used in prayers and the first word of many prayers.

---

(Отписок во время Иоанна III) Наияснейшему и вышнейшему господу, господу Ивану Васильевичу, царю всея Руси и великому князю...

(Formal address to Ivan III from a Greek servitor) To the most serene/brilliant and most supreme lord, lord Ivan Vasil'evich, tsar of all Rus and grand prince...

Gosudar [государь] - sovereign, master.
Gosudarynya [государыня] - feminine of above.

Not used in the official SCA alternate titles list.

Not just for the Russian sovereign.

Sreznevskij presents entries for the following meanings:

1.) gospodin", vladelets" (owner)

2.) title of grand prince, tsar and king

3.) title of archbishop and patriarch.

4.) title of city of Novgorod, i.e. Lord Novgorod the Great

"Prince great novgorodian Nizhneva Novagoroda and suzdalskoy, and gorodetskoy, and kurmyshskoy, and sarskoy, and Bulgarian, and bolymetskoy, and to podolskoy and all Ponizovskeye Lands zavolskiy yurta and Northern sovereign [государь] prince Dmitrey Konstentinovich' " [c. 1360s when Dmitri Konstantinovich of Nizhny Novgorod briefly held the yarlik as Grand Prince]

"Memory to my Sovereign [Государю] Great Prince Ivan Vasilyevich of all Russia..." [c. 1486 will of a local prince]

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(Отписки во время Иоанна III) Государю великому князю Ивану Васильевичу всея Руси холоп твoй такой-то челом бьет...

(Formal address to Ivan III used by boyars and servitors) To sovereign grand prince Ivan Vasil'evich of all Rus, kholop (slave) yours that beats with the brow...

---

"By the grace of God, Sovereign [Гдрь] of all Rus, Great Prince Ivan Vasil'evich' Volodomirian, and Muscovite, and Novgorodina, and Pskovian, and Tverian, and Yugorskian, and Permian," [1488 document]

Excerpts on household management from the Domostroi

"In household daily life and everywhere to any person master [государю] or mistress [государыни] or son or daughter or male servant, and female and to old/senior and junior any matter to begin..."

"And to himself master [государю] and wife and children and his household to learn not to steal..."

"mistress of the house [государыни домовная]"

"and the master [государь] himself or the mistress [государыня] watches"

Not used in the official SCA alternate titles list.

Used to address higher ranking persons of various ranks.

In modern Russian it is used as the equivalent of mister when formally addressing foreigners, i.e. Gospodin Lawson instead of Mr. Lawson. (For native Russians, a completely different gramatical structure using the patronymic is used for polite address.)

Sreznevskij presents entries for the following meanings:

1.) dominus (Latin) and the same Greek word as #1 under gospod' and gospodar above.

2.) the word gospodin" in the sense of prince and owner generally, connected to the title or substituted for it.

3.) as an expression of respect. Eg. Господине брате [Ефр. Крм. Крв. 134.]

According to George Vernadsky in Kievan Russia

p. 173 – Gospodin, lord, is one of the basic old Russian political terms. It was used in various senses: owner of land, owner of slaves, lord of the manor, sovereign, the bearer of sovereignty. This term of sovereignty was applied not only to princes, but also free city-states such as Novgorod the Great.

p. 181 - Andrei Bogoliusky and his brother, Vsevolod III had a tendency to treat the lesser princes in their domains as their subordinates, podruchniki (meaning “one who is under the arm”). Such subordinates had to promise to obey his superior. This tendency was resisted by those lesser princes.

p. 197 – In 1200, the Novgorodians were forced to address Vselvolod III of Suzdal as Gospodin Velikii Kniaz’ although they soon re-confirmed their independence.

p. 210-1 – Some princes tried to extend notions of seniority in the 1100s, esp. in Suzdal and Galicia. The tendency was to use terms of family relationship to express political seniority. Thus in 1150, Prince Iziaslav II said to his uncle Viacheslav: “Thou art my father; take Kiev and all the land; keep for thyself whatever pleases thee and give me the rest”. Suzdalia developed the idea of suzerainty more. In 1174, Andrei Bogoliubsky, Prince of Vladimir-in-Suzdalia and Kiev was displeased by the lack of loyalty of the Rostoslavichi brothers and said, “Since you do not obey my will, thou, Roman, get out of Kiev; thou, David, out of Vyshgorod; and thou, Mstislav, out of Belgorod; go all of you to Smolensk…” They protested complaining that he had addressed them as if they were vassals (podruchniki). Andrei’s brother and successor took this process further in taking the title Velikii Kniaz’ and added the title gospodin to the form of address. In 1180 the princes of Riazan said, “Thou are our lord and father.” And Prince Vladimir II of Galicia wrote to him, “My father and lord, help me to keep Galicia, and I shall be God’s and thine with all Galicia, always obedient to thy will.” The significance of this is hinted at by the fact that Vladimir II’s grandfather Vladimirko had similarly recognized the suzerainty of the Byzantine emperor. This was the introduction of vassalage within Russian politics. There is no evidence of reciprocal contracts in this time, however, and all princes continued to consider themselves “brothers”, “grandchildren of the same grandfather.”

So I prince Danilo Dmitriyevich Kholmskiy, that yesm' to beaters by brow to their Master [Gospodinu] and Ospadaryu [Sovereign] Great prince Ivan Vasilyevich for their fault by their ospodinom [master] Geront'em by the metropolitan of all Rus, and by his children and from servitors, bishops... [Pledge record of the prince of Kholm to Ivan III, 8 March 1474.]

Novgorod Birchbark Letters:

#84 (1120-1140) - Возьми у госпожи тринадцать резан'
#67 (1300-1320) - Иди, господин, к Тимофею:
#23 (1400-1410) - Поклон от Карпа господину моему Фоме. Я был, господин, на Пустоперже, разделил рожь с Олексой и с Гафанком (Огафанком). Не много, господин, ржи [пришлось] на твою долю
#17 (1410-1420) - Поклон от Михайлы господину своему Тимофею. Земля готова, нужны семена. Пришли, господин, человека сразу же, а то мы не смеем брать рожь без твоего слова'
#49 (1410-1420) - Поклон от Настасьи господам моим братьям. У меня Бориса [больше] нет в живых. Как, господа, позаботитесь обо мне и о моих детях??

The Novgorod Chronicle:

1216 [6724] "slave against master, master against slave" - рабъ на господина, господинъ на рабъ

1228 [6736] "on our Lady's Day..." - госпожькинъ день.

1233 [6741] "from our Lady's Day util Lent" - от госпожкина дни.

1348 [6856] "Come to us, Sire [Gospodin], to defend thy patrimony..." господине - the men of Novgorod addressing Veliki Knyaz Simeon.

1397 [6905] "...and they beat with their foreheads to the Lord [gospodin] Vladyka of the Great Novogorod..." - господин [The vladyka is the religious head of Novgorod, basically the archbishop.]

1398 [6906] "We cannot, Lord Father, endure this violences..." - господине отче [men of Novgorod addressing their Vladyka]

1398 [6906] "we shall lay down our heads... for our Lord Great Novgorod." - господина... великыи Новъгород [the great men of Novgorod making a vow]

1398 [6906] "Sirs, Voyevodas of Novgorod..." - Господо воеводы новгородчкыи [the Vladyka's superintendent speaking to the leaders of Novgorod]

1398 [6906] "Since our Lord the Veliki Knyaz..." - господинь князь великiи

1418 [6926] "Here, sirs! help me against this miscreant." - а господо... [said by a certain man Stepanko, crying out to the people]

According to George Vernadsky in The Mongols and Russia, p. 351-2 – Terms of vassalage and suzerainty

The range of political interrelations between the grand dukes and princes as the grand dukes struggled for supremacy are reflected in the interprincely treaties, many of which survive. Political inequality or equality was usually expressed in terms of kinship, even where no blood relation existed. So Prince Vladimir of Serpukhov was referred to as the “younger brother” of Dmitri Donskoi in the 1367 and 1374 treaties, and as Dmitri’s “son” in the 1389 treaty to show his level subordination to the grand duke, which had increased by 1389. (They were actually cousins.) When princes made a treaty on terms of equality, they used the term “brother” for each other.

More formal terms of vassalage were introduced by Vitovt of Lithuania in his treaties with East Russian princes. In 1427, Grand Duke Boris of Tver called Vitovt his lord (gospodin). About two years later, the grand duke or Riazan called Vitovt both his lord (gospodin) and sovereign (gospodar) [p 296]. The term “gospodin” was quickly adopted by Vasili II in his 1433 treaty with Vasili of Serpukhov, who had to address Vasili as his “lord, elder brother and father” in an interesting mix of political and kinship terms. After that, the kinship terms seem to have been omitted in favor of the term gospodin. In the 1440s, the Moscow chancery started to try to increase the authority of the grand prince by adding the term “gospodar”. Ivan III demanded that Novgorod recognize him as their gosudar (the Great Russian variant of the West Russian term gospodar) which meant the end of their independence.

Others:

Vashe/Tvoye Velichestvo - Your Majesty (plural/singular), may be OOP.
Vashe/Tvoye Siyatel'stvo - Your Excellency (plural/singular), literally, "your brilliance/illustriousness", may be OOP.

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