boyar born, but could more easily attain to boyardom, if of superior
personal merit. It was reserved for Peter the Great to transform the
_boyarstvo_ or boyardom into something more nearly resembling the
aristocracy of the West.

See Alexander Markevich, _The History of Rank-priority in the Realm of
Muscovy in the 15th-18th Centuries_ (Russ.) (Odessa, 1888); V.
Klyuchevsky, _The Boyar Duma of Ancient Russia_ (Russ.) (Moscow,
1888). (R. N. B.)

BOY-BISHOP, the name given to the "bishop of the boys" (_episcopus
puerorum_ or _innocentium_, sometimes _episcopus scholariorum_ or
_chorestarum_), who, according to a custom very wide-spread in the
middle ages, was chosen in connexion with the festival of Holy
Innocents. For the origin of the curious authority of the boy-bishop and
of the rites over which he presided, see FOOLS, FEAST OF. In England the
boy-bishop was elected on December 6, the feast of St Nicholas, the
patron of children, and his authority lasted till Holy Innocents' day
(December 28). The election made, the lad was dressed in full bishop's
robes with mitre and crozier and, attended by comrades dressed as
priests, made a circuit of the town blessing the people. At Salisbury
the boy-bishop seems to have actually had ecclesiastical patronage
during his episcopate, and could make valid appointments. The boy and
his colleagues took possession of the cathedral and performed all the
ceremonies and offices except mass. Originally, it seems, confined to
the cathedrals, the custom spread to nearly all the parishes. Several
ecclesiastical councils had attempted to abolish or to restrain the
abuses of the custom, before it was prohibited by the council of Basel
in 1431. It was, however, too popular to be easily suppressed. In
England it was abolished by Henry VIII. in 1542, revived by Mary in 1552
and finally abolished by Elizabeth. On the continent it survived longest
in Germany, in the so-called _Gregoriusfest_, said to have been founded
by Gregory IV. in 828 in honour of St Gregory, the patron of schools. A
school-boy was elected bishop, duly vested, and, attended by two
boy-deacons and the town clergy, proceeded to the parish church, where,
after a hymn in honour of St Gregory had been sung, he preached. At
Meiningen this custom survived till 1799.

See Brand, _Pop. Antiquities of Great Britain_ (1905); Gasquet,
_Parish Life in Medieval England_ (1906); Du Cange, _Glossarium_
(London, 1884),