COLLECTIVE PETITION OF 1637 AND STRATEGIES OF MUSCOVY MERCHANTS IN COMPETITION FOR RUSSIAN MARKET AGAINST ENGLISH AND OTHER FOREIGN MERCHANTS

The article is dedicated to analyzing the strategies of Russian merchants to formulating their own demands in collective petitions aimed against the expansion of foreign merchants into the Russian market during the first half of the 17th century. The focus is placed on the petitions submitted in 1635, 1637, and 1639, with particular attention given to the 1637 petition, which for the first time contained a demand to restrict the activities of English merchants. The analysis of these texts enabled the reconstruction of Moscow traders’ perceptions regarding the authorities’ role in regulating commercial relations, and also allowed for the identification of key rhetorical strategies used to influence the tsar’s decisions. Moreover, the study highlights the most active petitioners of the period and emphasizes the role of customs officials as particularly invested actors in limiting foreign presence in the Russian market. The article identifies the communicative strategies employed in drafting these petitions and explores the potential conditions under which these texts were composed. It concludes that merchant efforts had a significant impact on the trade policy of the Muscovite.