- Richard Chancellor
Infobox Person
name=Richard Chancellor
caption=
quotation=
birth_date=1521
birth_place=Bristol
dead=
death_date=1556
death_place=Richard Chancellor(d. 1556) was an English
explorer andnavigator ; the first to penetrate to theWhite Sea and establish relations withRussia .Chancellor, a native of
Bristol , acquired geographical and maritime proficiency from the explorer Sebastian Cabot and thegeographer John Dee. Cabot had always been interested in making a voyage toAsia through theArctic , and for this purpose KingEdward VI chartered an association of English merchants, theCompany of Merchant Adventurers in 1552-1553, with the Duke of Northumberland as principal patron. They hoped not only to discover a North-East Passage but also to find a market for English woollen cloth.Sir Hugh Willoughby was given three ships for the search, and Chancellor went as second-in-command. A Norwegian coastal storm separated them; Willoughby, with two ships, sailed east and discovered
Novaya Zemlya but died with all his men on the Lapland coast. Chancellor, with the ship "Edward Bonaventure", found the entrance to the White Sea and anchored at the port of Archangel. When TsarIvan the Terrible heard of Chancellor's arrival, he immediately invited the exotic guest to visit Moscow for an audience at the royal court. Chancellor made the journey of over 600 miles (over 1000 kilometres) to Moscow through snow and ice covered country. He found Moscow large (much larger than London) and primitively built, most houses being constructed of wood. However, the palace of the tsar was very luxurious, as were the dinners he offered Chancellor. The Russian tsar was pleased to open the seatrading routes withEngland and other countries, as Russia did not yet have a connection with theBaltic Sea at the time and the entire area was contested by the neighbouring powers of thePolish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and theSwedish Empire . In addition, theHanseatic League had a monopoly on the trade between Russia and Central andWestern Europe . Chancellor was no less optimistic, finding a good market for his Englishwool , and receivingfurs and other Russian goods in return. The Tsar gave him letters for England inviting British traders and promising trade privileges.When Chancellor returned to England in the summer of 1554, King Edward was dead, and his successor, Mary, had executed Northumberland for attempting to place
Lady Jane Grey on the throne. No stigma attached to Chancellor, and theMuscovy Company , as the association was now called, sent him again to the White Sea in 1555. On this voyage he learned what had happened to Willoughby, recovered his papers, and found out about the discovery of Novaya Zemlya. Chancellor spent the summer of 1555 dealing with the Tsar, organizing trade, and trying to learn howChina might be reached by the northern route.In 1556 Chancellor departed for England, taking with him the first Russian ambassador to his country, Osep Nepeja. They left Archangel in autumn; the fleet was Willoughby's ships (relaunched), the "Philip and Mary" and the "Edward Bonadventure". In October/November the fleet tried to winter in Trondheim. The "Bona Esperanza" sank, the "Bona Confidentia" appeared to enter the fjord but was never heard of again, and the "Philip and Mary" successfully wintered in Trondheim and arrived in London next April the 18th. The Edward did not attempt to enter, instead reaching the Scottish coast and being wrecked at Pitslago on the 7th of November. Chancellor lost his life, although the Russian envoy survived to reach
London .Chancellor had found a way to Russia, and though in time it was superseded by a better one it remained for years the only feasible route for the English.
In fiction
Chancellor appears as a major character in the novel "The Ringed Castle", fifth of the six novels in Dorothy Dunnett's historical fiction series, The "
Lymond Chronicles ".ee also
*
Company of Merchant Adventurers
*Society of Merchant Venturers
*Muscovy Company References
* "Richard Chancellor", 1997, in "Encyclopedia of World Biography", Detroit, Gale
* Dunnett, Dorothy. "The Ringed Castle," 1971, New York, Vintage Books.
* "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography"
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