Riadovich

Riadovich 

(1) In Ancient Rus’, an individual who concluded an agreement, or riad, with a feudal lord, as a result of which he became economically dependent on the feudal lord and lost his personal freedom. There is very little information about the social position of the riadovichi. They could have been low-level administrators for their feudal lords.

(2) In the 14th through 17th centuries, a member of a commercial corporation, a shopkeeper in a marketplace. The riadovichi were also the inhabitants of riadki, which were trade and artisan settlements.

REFERENCES

Grekov, B. D. Krest’iane na Rusi s drevneishikh vremen do XVII v., 2nd ed., book 1. Moscow, 1952. Pages 162–65.
Cherepnin, L. V. “Iz istorii formirovaniia klassa feodal’nozavisimogo krest’ianstva na Rusi.’ In the collection Istoricheskie zapiski, vol. 56. [Moscow] 1956. Page 260.
Zimin, A. A. Kholopy na Rusi. Moscow, 1973.