Two Concepts of Liberty in Old Rus: Svoboda and Volya

Abstract

The article is focused on ideas and rhetoric of freedom in Old Rus from Eleventh to Fifteenth centuries. The author examines two concepts of freedom in Old Russian Language: volya and svoboda, and traces their evolution. Svoboda was a latitude or priviledge given to a serve by a master. Svoboda existed in one or more areas of life, but was not a universal freedom. The author of Word of Daniil Zatochnik dreamt simultaneously of becoming a serve (kholop) of a mighty prince and being granted svoboda in his servile status. Volya initially meant desire and will, but later, apparently in the late Twelfth and early Thirteenth century, took a meaning of freedom. As opposed to svoboda, volya became a political and even legal term for full independence of a man (e. g. boyars in Muscovite Rus in Fourteenth century) or a community (e. g. Novgorod the Great from Thirteenth to Fifteenth centuries) from any external authority. Anyone making a claim for his own volya made an act of political self-determination. Following the rise of power of Moscow princes volya of anyone but prince left political vocabulary.