Knezy

Knezy

 

(“leaders”), a general Slavic historical term. In the period of the origin of class society it was the designation for the elders of the clan. In the early feudal period in Rus’ the term had the meaning of prince (kniaz’); in the western Ukraine, Moldavia, Croatia and elsewhere, the knezy were the leaders (star-shiny), a privileged category of the serfs. When Serbia was under the Turkish yoke, they were the representatives of communal self-government; after the country’s liberation, they were (until 1882) the heads of state.