Druzhina

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Druzhina

Druzhina, Družyna or Druzyna (Druzhýna) in the history of early East Slavs

East Slavs

The East Slavs are a Slavs, the speakers of East Slavic languages. Formerly the main population of the medieval state of Kievan Rus, by the seventeenth century they evolved into the Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians and Rusyns peoples....
was a detachment of select troops in personal service of a chieftain

Tribal chief

A traditional tribal chief is the leadership of a tribe, or the head of a tribal form of self-government.The notion of a "tribal chief" is rather vague and arbitrary; neither chief nor tribe is clearly defined, so in many cases other designations are used for the same institution, such as petty ruler or even headman ....
, later knyaz
Knyaz

Kniaz?, knyaz or knez is a slavic title found in most Slavic languages, denoting a Royal family nobility rank. It is usually translated into English as either Prince or less commonly as Duke....
. Its original functions were bodyguard

Bodyguard

A bodyguard is a type of security guard or government agent who protects a person?usually a famous, wealthy, or politically important figure?from assault, kidnapping, assassination, stalking, loss of Confidentiality, or other threats....
ing, raising tribute from the conquered territories and serving as the core of an army during war campaigns. The druzhina organization varied with time and survived in one form or another until the 16th century.

The name is derived from the Slavic word drug with the meaning of "companion, friend".

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Druzhina, Družyna or Druzyna (Druzhýna) in the history of early East Slavs

East Slavs

Tribal chief

Bodyguard

Cognate

Cognates in linguistics are words that have a common etymology origin.An example of cognates within the same language would be English shirt vs....
of the Germanic drott
Drott

*Druhtinaz is a Common Germanic?term meaning "lord", properly designating a military leader?or warlord. After Germanic Christianity, the term began to be used for God both in English and in the Scandinavian languages....
in (Proto-Germanic *druhtinaz) meaning "war band".

Archaeological excavations suggest that druzhinas existed in the region as far back as the 6th and 7th centuries.

Druzhinniks (members of the druzhina) served freely. At any moment any of them could leave one knyaz and join another one. Modern estimates of sizes of a druzhina match that of ibn Fadlan

Ahmad ibn Fadlan

Ahmad Patronymic#Arabic Fadlan ibn al-Abbas ibn Ra?id ibn Hammad was a 10th century Arab Muslim Arabic literature and traveler who wrote an account of his travels as a member of an embassy of the Abbasid Caliph of Baghdad to the king of the Volga Bulgars, the Kitab ila Malik al-Saqaliba ....
's: sizes varied, but never exceeded several hundred persons. During military campaigns a druzhina was a nucleus

Nucleus

Nucleus may refer to:...
of the troops formed by means of a kind of levy

Levy

Levy or L?vy may refer to:*Levy County, Florida* Forced labor; see conscription or national service* An imposition of a tax* A judicial remedy where the property of a judgment debtor is seized for public sale to satisfy a monetary judgment...
.

A druzhina was paid by a knyaz, and received a share of military loot.

In the 11th and 12th centuries the druzhina separates into two layers: elder druzhina, also called better druzhina or fore druzhina, and younger druzhina. The elder druzhina consisted of knyaz's men (?????? ????) who eventually became boyar
Boyar

A boyar or bolyar was a member of the highest rank of the Feudalism Moscovy, Kievan Rusian, Bulgarian, Wallachian, and Moldavian Aristocracy, second only to the ruling knyazs , from the 10th century through the 17th century....
s. They held higher military and civil positions (posadnik
Posadnik

Posadnik was the mayor in some East Slavic cities or towns. Most notably, the posadnik was the mayor of Novgorod and Pskov. The term comes from the Old Church Slavic "posaditi," meaning to put or place; they were so-called because the prince in Kiev originally placed them in the city to rule on his behalf....
, Voivode) and were advisors of a knyaz.

In addition to military service, druzhinniks of the younger druzhina (called otroki or gridni) ran errands for a knyaz and served as his bodyguard

Bodyguard

A bodyguard is a type of security guard or government agent who protects a person?usually a famous, wealthy, or politically important figure?from assault, kidnapping, assassination, stalking, loss of Confidentiality, or other threats....
s. Younger druzhina did not take part in knyaz's councils, with the exception of military ones, which had a very broad representation.

Manuscripts mention that elder druzhinniks had their own personal druzhinas.

When a knyaz died, his druzhina was inherited by his successor, who usually already had his own druzhina. This was usually a source of rivalry: the druzhina of the previous knyaz claimed experience, while the newcomers commanded the trust of the new leader.

Starting in the 12th century in northern principalities

Vladimir-Suzdal

Vladimir-Suzdal Principality , or Vladimir-Suzdal Rus , was a principality which succeeded Kievan Rus as the most powerful Rus' state in the late 12th century and lasted until the late 14th century....
, a land-endowed military class had formed from druzhina.

Druzhina

See also