Knyaz or knez, also knjaz, kniaz is a historical Slavic title, used both as a royal and noble title in different times of history and different ancient Slavic lands. It is usually translated into English as "prince" or "king", depending on specific historical context and the potentially known Latin equivalents of the title for each bearer of the name. These translations probably derive from the fact that the title tsar was often treated as equivalent to "king" or "emperor" by European monarchs. In Latin sources the title is usually translated as princeps, but the word was originally derived from the common Germanic *kuningaz (king).
A smerd was a free peasant and later a feudal-dependent serf in the medieval Slavic states of East Europe. Sources from the 11th and 12th centuries mention their presence in Kievan Rus' and Poland as the smardones. Etymologically, the word smerd comes from a common Indo-European root meaning "ordinary man" or "dependent man".
Old East Slavic literature, also known as Old Russian literature, is a collection of literary works of Rus' authors, which includes all the works of ancient Rus' theologians, historians, philosophers, translators, etc., and written in Old East Slavic. It is a general term that unites the common literary heritage of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine of the ancient period. In terms of genre construction, it has a number of differences from medieval European literature. The greatest influence on the literature of ancient Rus' was exerted by old Polish and old Serbian literature.
The Pskov Judicial Charter was a legal code of the Pskov Republic, inherited from the Kievan Rus' law. It was issued in various redactions between 1397 and 1467, and was based on certain resolutions of the Pskovian city assembly or veche, princely decrees, provisions of the Russkaya Pravda and common law. It, along with the Novgorod Judicial Charter, was an important source for the Sudebnik of 1497.
Oleg Nikolayevich Trubachyov was a Russian linguist. A researcher of the etymology of Slavic languages and Slavic onomastics, he was considered a specialist in historical linguistics and lexicography. He was a Doctor of Sciences in Philological Sciences, an academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences and served as the editor-in-chief of the Etimologiya yearbook. His works are on the etymology of Slavic languages and on East Slavic onomastics.
The Kórmchaia Book, also known as the Books of the Pilot (Russian: Ко́рмчая книга, Ко́рмчая from кормчий, Church Slavonic: кръмьчии 'helmsman, ship's pilot'; Pidalion or Nomocanon, are collections of church and secular law, which constituted guide books for the management of the church and for the church court of Orthodox Slavic countries and were also the transmission of several older texts. They were written in Old Church Slavonic and Old East Slavic.
Merílo Právednoye or Just Measure is a Russian collection of writings from the late 13th or early 14th century, preserved in the copies of the 14th to the 16th centuries. The name was given in modern literature, taken from the first words of this text: "this books is just measure, true weighing...". Just Measure was written in Church Slavonic and Old Russian.
Throughout the early Middle Ages, the Rurikid knyazes of the Kievan Rus' used unique symbols to denote property rights over various items. They are depicted on punches, seals, and coins of the Rurikids. In contrast to Western European heraldry, where coats of arms belonged to entire families, or were inherited without changes by firstborn sons, Rurikid symbols were personal, with every knyaz devising an emblem of their own for themselves.
Church Statute of Prince Volodimir is a source of church law in Old Rus', defined legal authority of church and legal status of clergy by the state: prince (knyaz) and his administration. Vladimir's Statute was a short legal code, regulated relationship between the church and the state, including demarcation of jurisdiction between church and princely courts, and defined index of persons and organizations within the church jurisdiction. The church also got under its supervision the system of weights and measures, and monthly support: tithe from all princely income. The statute was written at the beginning of the 12th century and remade during many centuries. The statute was written in Old Church Slavonic and Old East Slavic. It was one of the first church sources of Kievan Rus' law. The Church Statute of Prince Yaroslav and other Kievan Rus' princely statutes served closely related purposes. One of the sources of the statute was Byzantine law, including the Kormchaia.
The Church Statute of Prince Yaroslav is a source of church law in Kievan Rus', defined legal authority of church by the prince (knyaz), his administration and churchmen. Yaroslav's Statute was a short legal code, regulated relationship between the church and the state, including demarcation of jurisdiction between church and princely courts, index of persons within the church jurisdiction, rules of family law and sanctions against moral violation. The statute was written at the 11th–12th century and remade during 13th–16th centuries, in Old Church Slavonic and Old East Slavic. It was one of the first church sources of Kievan Rus' law. Church Statute of Prince Vladimir and other Rus' princely statutes served to closely purposes. But church jurisdiction was expanded in comparison with Vladimir's Statute. A part of the lawsuits in the Yaroslav's Statute was referred to the church jurisdiction, and a part - to joint jurisdiction of the church and the prince. One of the sources of the statute was Byzantine law, including Nomocanon.
Kievan Rus' law or law of Kievan Rus', also known as old Russian law or early Russian law, was a legal system in Kievan Rus', in later Rus' principalities, and in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from the 13th century. Its main sources were early Slavic customary law and Zakon Russkiy, which was partly written in Rus'–Byzantine Treaties. A number of articles have similarities with the Germanic (barbarian) laws, for example, the "Salic law" – a collection of legislative acts of Francia, the oldest text of which dates back to the beginning of the 6th century. The main written sources were Russkaya Pravda and Statutes of Lithuania.
The Rus' chronicle, Russian chronicle or Rus' letopis was the primary Rus' historical literature. Chronicles were composed from the 11th to the 18th centuries, generally written in Old East Slavic, about Kievan Rus' and subsequent Rus' principalities and history. They were one of the leading genres of Old Rus' literature in medieval and early modern Eastern and Central Europe.
Vladimir Petrukhin is a Russian historian, archaeologist and ethnographer, Doctor of Historical Sciences, chief research fellow of the Medieval Section in the Institute of Slavic Studies in the Russian Academy of Sciences, professor of Higher School of Economics.
The House of Lopukhin was an old Russian noble family, most influential during the Russian Empire, forming one of the branches of the Sorokoumov-Glebov family.
Pravosudiye Mitropolichye, lit.Metropolitan's Justice) is a source of Old Russian law. It reflects the influence of the secular norms on Old Russian church law.
Praskovia Naumovna Arian, née Belenkaia, was a Russian writer, translator, feminist and educator. She founded the annual First Women's Calendar covering women's issues in Russia and later the First Women’s Technical Institute. She wrote articles under the pseudonym "Ar.". In the 1930s she taught courses for workers at the Kirov Plant in Leningrad.
Vitaliy Alekseevich Shishakov, was a Soviet popularizer of scientific knowledge, journalist, candidate of pedagogical sciences, and an honorary member of the All-Union Astronomical and Geodetic Society (1965).
Anatoly Vasilyevich Belov was a Soviet religion scholar and atheist propagandist. He was a First Deputy Chairman of the Council for Religious Affairs under the Council of Ministers of the USSR, an expert on Adventism and one of the authors of the Atheistic Dictionary and Atheist Handbook.
Vladimir Kapitonovich Nikolsky was a Soviet historian, ethnologist, translator, religious scholar, Doctor of Historical Sciences (1943), and professor.
Yunyye Bezbozhniki: zhurnal shkol'nogo bezbozhnogo aktiva was a monthly magazine for schoolchildren, an organ of the Central Committee of the Komsomol, the People's Commissariat of Education of the RSFSR and the Central Soviet of the League of Militant Atheists of the USSR.
![Copy of the "Extensive edition". Beginning manuscript: "SuD' ROslavl' . volodimiritsa[?]~ Pravda rus'ska :" (Sudu Jaroslavli Volodimirica. Pravda Rusiskaja.) Russkaya pravda razvorot.jpg](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/02/Russkaya_pravda_razvorot.jpg/220px-Russkaya_pravda_razvorot.jpg)
