boyars

The boyars were the senior aristocracy, the only force in the country capable of competing with the tsar-often with catastrophic results.

Russian Road Trip 2007

His enemies-called the boyars-wanted the earth divided into several countries, allowing each a nation to tyrannize ruthlessly, with the terrible retaining the power to rubber-stamp their rulings and little else.

An East Wind Coming Cover, Arthur Byron 1979

"The old nobility of those Russian countries are called boyars," said

Rollo in Holland Jacob Abbott 1841

By that time the rich "boyars" [1] (as foreigners persist in styling the Russian proprietors of the present day), have arrived from their estates, and the poor peasants, who have long ceased to till the ground, and have not thrashed all the corn, begin to come in from theirs; for, humble and dependent as he may be, each peasant has nevertheless his own patch of land.

Russia As Seen and Described by Famous Writers Various

And less glowering Russian boyars hovering in the background.

Watch John Wayne in The Quiet Man: live! Andrew Pulver 2010

So Mr. Putin seems to have decided that he needed to re-assert his authority over the boyars and end any uncertainty over who will run Russia in the future.

Vladimir the Eternal 2011

The world got another close look at FIFA yesterday when the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids were awarded in a conclave of the soccer boyars in Zurich.

World Cup Follies 2010

Boris ruthlessly suppressed it and executed 52 boyars together with their entire families

Boris Johnson 2009

Napoleon and his generals took over the palaces of the court princes and great houses of the mighty boyars.

Gary Hart: US Army in Jeopardy in Iraq 2008

Only he will be able to mediate conflicts and dole out patronage among his boyars.

That Other Presidential Campaign Matthew Kaminski 2008