Muscovy Company - History

History

The Muscovy Company traces its roots to the Company of Merchant Adventurers to New Lands (in full: 'Mystery and Company of Merchant Adventurers for the Discovery of Regions, Dominions, Islands, and Places unknown') founded in 1551 by Richard Chancellor, Sebastian Cabot and Sir Hugh Willoughby, who decided to look for the Northeast Passage to China.

The first expedition of the Company of Merchant Adventurers was led by Willoughby, who seems to have been chosen for his leadership skills and unfortunately had no prior nautical or navigational experience. Chancellor would function as the navigator of the small fleet, which consisted of three ships: the Bona Esparanza under Willoughby, the Edward Bonaventure under Chancellor and the Bona Confidentia. The fleet departed from London on 10 May 1553, but near the Lofoten islands a storm hit the ships and separated Chancellor's vessel from the other two.

Willoughby eventually crossed the Barents Sea and reached Novaya Zemlya. He spent some time sailing along the coast, then turned south towards Scandinavia. However at the mouth of the Varzina River on the coast to the east of present-day Murmansk the ship became trapped in ice. Willoughby and the crew were not prepared for the cold, and after a few desperate failed attempts to find help he and his men froze to death in the extreme cold of the northern winter. Russian fishermen discovered the ship, laden with frozen corpses, the following year.

Chancellor was luckier. He penetrated the White Sea, where the local fishermen were amazed by the great size of his Western-built ship. He reached the harbour of Nikolo-Korelsky Monastery on the Northern Dvina river (near the present-day Arkhangelsk, which would be eventually founded in 1584 to service the growing trade). The region had just recently been added to Muscovy, and when Czar Ivan IV 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 czar was very luxurious, as were the dinners he offered Chancellor. The Russian czar was pleased to open the sea trading-routes with England and other countries, as Russia did not yet have a safe connection with the Baltic Sea at the time and almost all of the area was contested by the neighbouring powers of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Swedish Empire. In addition, the Hanseatic League had a monopoly on the trade between Russia and Central and Western Europe. Chancellor was no less optimistic, finding a good market for his English wool, and receiving furs and other Russian continental goods in return. When he returned to England in 1554, he had letters from the czar with him, inviting English traders and promising trade privileges.

The Company of Merchant Adventurers renamed itself the Muscovy Company, and in 1555 Chancellor left for Russia again. The Muscovy Company began to serve as an important diplomatic link between Muscovy and England, and was especially valued by the isolated Muscovy. When Chancellor returned to England one year later in 1556, he was joined by the first Russian ambassador to England, Osip Nepeya. However at this juncture Chancellor's luck finally ran out. Off the Scottish coast, his ship was caught in a sudden storm and shipwrecked. Chancellor drowned, but Nepeya managed to reach the coast, where he was taken hostage by the Scots for a few months before they allowed him to travel on to London.

Anthony Jenkinson succeeded Chancellor as the main trader of the Muscovy Company. Jenkinson made two important voyages himself — one trying to reach Cathay overland from Moscow, eventually stopping at Bukhara; the other, between 1562 and 1579 to establish overland trade routes through Russia to Persia. In 1567, when Muscovy was faring badly in the Livonian War (1558-1583), Czar Ivan asked Jenkinson to sound out Queen Elizabeth I of England as a marriage prospect, providing a possible refuge for him if he was forced to flee the country. The negotiations yielded no results, and Czar Ivan was soon forced to sign a ceasefire (1570) with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Queen Elizabeth I granted the Muscovy Company a monopoly charter on whaling in 1577. The primary and most profitable whaling grounds of this joint-stock company came to be centered around Spitsbergen in the early 17th century, and the company's royal charter of 1613 granted a monopoly on whaling in Spitsbergen, based on the (erroneous) claim that Hugh Willoughby had discovered the land in 1553. Initially the English tried to drive away competitors, but after a few years, they claimed rights only to the waters south of these Arctic islands.

A further voyage undertaken by the Muscovy Company shortly after Chancellor's death was another attempt to discover the Northeast Passage, led by Steven Borough. He managed to sail through the "Kara Gate", as the strait between Vaygach and Novaya Zemlya is known.

In 1646 Muscovy expelled the English merchants, but trade reopened on the restoration of Charles II in 1660, when it was also reorganized as a regulated company. It enjoyed important privileges until 1649 and a monopoly on English-Russian trade until 1698, when it lost its privileges due to political opposition.

The Company helped provide churches and Anglican ministers at various times in Arkhangelsk, Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Kronstadt. It still supports St. Andrew's Anglican Church, Moscow. The Company continued in existence until the Russian Revolution of 1917 and has since operated mainly as a charity. St. Andrew's and the company headquarters (called the Old English Yard), built during the reign of Ivan IV not far from the Moscow Kremlin, were visited by Queen Elizabeth II in 1994.