Exploring Russia in the Elizabethan Commonwealth: The Muscovy Company and Giles Fletcher, the elder

Felicity Stout’s monograph Exploring Russia in the Elizabethan Commonwealth incorporates elements of her PhD thesis and is a welcome addition to the discussion of Elizabethan political culture and England’s mercantile interactions with Muscovy in the late 16th century.(1) Exploring the themes of commonwealth, corruption and tyranny, the book draws upon Giles Fletcher’s experiences and writings of Russia to address the multi-generic nature of Fletcher’s Of the Russe Common Wealth (thereafter RCW), and the repercussions of theorising upon tyrannical governments through an image of foreign land to entice parallels with the Elizabethan state. Broadly, the book examines the literary methodology through which individuals, like Fletcher, were able to mediate on contemporary events, political developments and changing forms of governments.