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The Reformation · c. 1550
The Domostroi
Attributed to Sylvester of Novgorod
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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
Public domain and free to read in full, though not held here. The archives below have it.
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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