The Domostroi : Rules for Russian Households in the Time of Ivan
the Terrible by Carolyn Johnston Pouncy (Editor)
A detailed and colorful instruction manual on household management
in sixteenth-century Russia, the Domostroi gives a fascinating glimpse
of the world of the nobility. This "how-to" guide is one of the few sources
on the social history and secular life of Russia in the time of Ivan the
Terrible. There are few books in print which give a factual account of
one of the great despots of history. Much of what is available is based
on the Stalinist revisions, but he was called terrible with considerable
justification. As a boy he threw animals from the battlements - as a youth
he progressed to hurling humans. His murderous nature brought him to commit
such bestial acts as impaling, skinning alive and boiling his victims.
He would have people hung up and encourage his entourage to cut pieces
from them; he had them covered in oil, set alight and then thrown into
the freezing river. He murdered his own son. Not a very nice man. Dropbears.com Hardcover - 266 pages (October 1995)
Cornell Univ Pr; ISBN: 0801424100
Out of print - Try Used
Books
