A Foreigner in Early Sixteenth-Century Muscovy

This chapter examines what the chances were for Western refugees to make a political career in the service of the grand prince of Muscovy. Based on the case of Duke Glinskii (c. 1475–1536), a former favourite of Alexander Jagiellon, the Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland (r. 1492/1501–1506), this chapter tells the story of a Western refugee at the Muscovite court during the early sixteenth century, with a particular emphasis on the vicissitudes and precariousness of living in exile in a land as exotic as early modern Muscovy. As such, this contribution seriously revises studies by earlier authors dealing with Duke Glinskii’s stay in Muscovy. In particular, the historical validity of the so-called “treachery” of Glinskii in 1514 is reconsidered here.