Miroshkinichi

a Novgorod boyar family of the 12th and 13th centuries.

Best known among the family’s members were the posadniki (burgomasters) Miroshka Nezdinich (1189–1203), Dmitr Miroshkinich (1205–09), and Ivanko Dmitrievich (1220–29). Controlling great wealth and large landholdings, the Miroshkinichi acquired significant political influence and occupied the highest offices of Novgorod the Great. They were also the greatest of Novgorod’s usurers, entrapping merchants, artisans, and rural dwellers in debt servitude. Their use of violence and extortion gained them the hatred of the broad popular masses. During an antifeudal uprising in Novgorod in 1207, the residences of the Miroshkinichi were sacked.