Boyan (bard)

Boyan (Old East Slavic: Боянъ, romanized: Bojanǔ) is the name of a bard mentioned in the Rus' epic The Lay of Igor's Campaign as being active at the court of Yaroslav the Wise.

He is apostrophized as Volos's grandson in the opening lines of The Lay (probably a reference to Veles as the patron of musicians).

Soviet scholars tended to associate him with the House of Chernihiv, assuming that he started his career at the court of Mstislav of Tmutarakan.

Boris Rybakov supported this theory and linked his name to a graffito on the wall of Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev which mentions a purchase of "Boyan's land" by "Vsevolod's wife".

Boyans were different from skomorokhs but wandering storytellers were also beaten, their fairy tales were forbidden, they were prosecuted by the authorities, and they eventually disappeared.