The Reformation · c. 1550
The Domostroi
Attributed to Sylvester of Novgorod
What it is
A manual for the Orthodox household covering prayer, obedience, servants, cooking, laundry, brewing, and the correction of wives and children.
Why it lasted
The fullest picture of Russian domestic life in the sixteenth century, and a text later Russian writers cited as the emblem of everything oppressive in it.
Where to read it
This work is in the public domain and can be read in full, free, at the archives below. The Library catalogues it; it does not host the text.
These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.
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