Boyarshchina
Boyarshchina
Boyarshchina
Other names: Kozarevshchina.
First mentioned in 1582.
Number of farmsteads: 3 (1582), 7 (1678), 7 (1707), 20 (1911).
The name of the village reminds of the times of the boyar domination of the XIII – XV cc. At the beginning of the XX century there were 20 houses in the village. At present a part of the houses is dated from the late XIX – early XX cc. Boyarshchina is the birthplace of famous Zaonezhie epic tales narrator Vasily Shchegolenok (1805 – 1886). Being a simple farmer and shoemaker he had a remarkable and amazing style of epic songs performance. Academic folklorists invited V. Shchegolenok to perform in scientific societies of Moscow and Saint Petersburg. In 1879 he got acquainted with L. Tolstoy and lived in Yasnaya Polyana. Tolstoy recorded many legends, folk tales, proverbs, some expressions, and words from him. Six stories by L. Tolstoy are themed on the tales of V. Shchegolenok.
V. Shchegolenok also met with other famous figures of Russian culture: V. Stasov, E. Barsov, and I. Repin. Composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov used melodies of his epic songs in the opera Sadko. Vasily Shchegolenok is buried at the walls of the Kizhi churches on Kizhi Island as many folk tales narrators.