Peresvetov was born in the early 16th century in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, to a Ruthenian family of the lower nobility. The exact date of his birth is not known. 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. In the 1520s and 1530s, he was a soldier in the service of King John I Zápolya of Hungary and later Ferdinand I of Habsburg (and possibly also Petru Rareș of Moldavia), alongside other Polish and Lithuanian nobles owing allegiance to Polish King Sigismund I. He is thought to have come to Muscovy in 1538 or 1539, and entered the service of Ivan IV the Terrible of Muscovy.