Chashnik

Chashnik 

(also chashnichii), from the 14th to 18th centuries, a rank and position at the court of the grand prince of Moscow and later the tsar.

The chashnik was originally the head of the special court institution that was in charge of drinking establishments and wild-hive beekeeping. The chashnik also supervised the economy, administration, and judicial system of crown hamlets and villages inhabited by wild-hive beekeepers and managed the crown’s wild-hive forests. The chashnik was among the closest advisers of the prince.

In the 16th and 17th centuries the administrative functions of the chashnik passed to the Sytnyi Dvor, which prepared beverages for the tsar’s household, and the duties of the chashnik were reduced to serving the tsar at banquets and the holiday feasts. The rank of chasnik was abolished in the early 18th century.