Lovchii

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Lovchii

(1) A court office; from the 16th century, a rank in Russian feudal society; in the 18th century, the title was changed to egermeister. The lovchii was involved in the organization of the hunt. The various categories of lovchii included okhotniki (hunters), sokol’nich’i (falconers), psari (huntsmen), bobroniki (beaver hunters), and podledchiki (ice fishermen). They were first mentioned in the Precepts of Vladimir Monomakh (12th century).

(2) Servants of Russian boyars and landlords who organized their hunts.

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References in periodicals archive ?

The care and training of these animals came under the jurisdiction of the branches of the court bureaucracy entrusted with handling "amusements"--the Hunt Office (Lovchii put'/prikaz), the Stables Chancellery (Koniushennyi dvor), and later Aleksei Mikhailovich's Private Chancellery.