He claimed heritage from the legendary hero-monk Alexander Peresvet, whose duel with Temir-Murza is said to have been the overture to the historic Battle of Kulikovo.
[5][6][7][8] Shortly after arriving in Muscovy, Peresvetov was commissioned to manufacture hussar shields for the Muscovite military, under the patronage of a boyar.
[9][10] Peresvetov's advocacies in his writing presumably found favour with Ivan the Terrible, although it is unclear to what extent and if they influenced the Tsar's policies.
[12] Peresvetov is the author of several allegorical political writings and also a couple of petitions and essays addressed directly to the Tsar.
[13] Peresvetov's more prominent works were ostensibly an account of the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople by Sultan Mehmed II but actually provided a covert, allegorical denunciation of the privileges still enjoyed by the boyars.
The low noblemen wanted to gain more influence and privileges in the Muscovite society, whereas the boyars sought to maintain their hegemony.
Most subsequent historians do not agree with the assumption that it is a pseudonym, and rather believe that there is sufficient archival evidence that Ivan Peresvetov did in fact exist.