Company of Merchant Adventurers to New Lands: Difference between revisions

The Company was formed in [[London]] in about 1551 by [[Richard Chancellor]], [[Sebastian Cabot (explorer)|Sebastian Cabot]] and Sir [[Hugh Willoughby (sea captain)|Hugh Willoughby]].<ref>[https://archiveJ.org/stream/earlyenglishvoya00hameuoft/earlyenglishvoya00hameuoft_djvu Hamel, transl.txt J.S. Leigh, ''Early English voyagesVoyages to Northern Russia: comprising the voyagesVoyages of John Tradescant the Elder, Sir Hugh Willoughby, Richard Chancellor, Nelson, and others'' (Richard Bentley, London 1857), [https://archive.org/details/earlyenglishvoya00hameuoft/page/n19/mode/2up Chapter 1] (Internet Archive).</ref> Some 240 ''adventurers'' (investors<ref>Morison, Samuel Eliot. The European Discovery of America: The Northern Voyages, p.483</ref>) purchased shares at $£25 each and a royal charter was prepared for their company under [[Edward VI of England|King Edward]] in 1553, making Sebastian Cabot its Governor.<ref>'The new Navigation and discoverie of the kingdom of Moscovia... in 1553', in E. Goldsmid (ed.), ''The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation, collected by [[Richard Hakluyt]], Preacher'', Vol. III: North-Eastern Europe and Adjacent Countries, Part II: The Muscovy Company and the North-Eastern Passage (E. and G. Goldsmid, Edminburgh 1886), pp. 52-76, at [https://archive.org/details/cihm_33119/page/n57/mode/2up?view=theater pp. 52-55] (Internet Archive).</ref> However the King died before itthe charter could receive the [[Great Seal of England|Seal]]. The circumstances are described at the opening of the Charter of 1566:

<blockquote>"divers very good Subiects of this Realme of England in the latter end of the reigne of the late right high and mightie prince our Soueraigne Lord king Edward the sixt, at the gracious incouragement and right good liking of the said king, and by his Maiesties liberall example, did at their aduenture, and to their exceeding great charges, and for the glory of God, the honor and increase of the reuenues of the Crowne, and the common vtilitie of the whole Realme of England, set forth three ships for the discoverie by sea, of Iles, lands, territories, dominions and Seigniories vnknowen, and by the Subiects of the sayd late king not commonly by seas frequented: and after that Almightie God [...] called to his mercie the said king, who died before the finishing and sealing of his most ample and gracious letters of priuiledges promised to the sayd Subiects..."<ref>E. Goldsmid (ed.), ''The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation, collected by [[Richard Hakluyt]], Preacher'', Vol. III, North-Eastern Europe and Adjacent Countries, Part II: The Muscovy Company and the North-Eastern Passage (E. & G. Goldsmid, Edinburgh 1886), [https://archive.org/stream/cihm_33119#page/n341/mode/2up p. 319] (Internet Archive).</ref></blockquote>

The purpose of the Company was to seek a new, northern trade route to [[Cathay]] ([[China]]) and the Spice Islands (the [[Moluccas]], now part of [[Indonesia]]).

The first expedition of the Company was led by Willoughby seeking the [[Northeast Passage]] to [[China]]. Three ships were outfitted and crewed for the expedition, which departed from London's [[Deptford]] Docks on 11 May 1553. Willoughby was aboard the ''Bona Esperanza'' (120 tons), with Richard Chancellor in command of the ''Edward Bonaventure'' (60 tons) and ''Bona Confidentia'' (90 tons). The ships became separated in a storm in the [[North Sea]]: the ''Bona Confidentia'' and ''Bona Esperanza'' rejoined, rounded North Cape and sailed east to [[Novaya Zemlya]]. The ''Edward Bonaventure'' likewise sailed around North Cape and along the [[Kola Peninsula]], entering the [[White Sea]] in August. On 24 August 1553, Chancellor cast anchor near the mouth of the [[Northern Dvina|Dvina River]] and was met by local Russians.<ref>[http://www.ub.uit.no/northernlights/eng/whitesea.htm The Trade Route around the North Cape to the White Sea]</ref> While his crew wintered over near present-day [[Arkhangelsk]], Chancellor travelled overland to [[Moscow]], where he was received by Tsar [[Ivan the Terrible]]. Willoughby's two ships turned back from Novaya Zemlya in September and attempted to winter over on the coast of [[Lapland (Finland)|Lapland]]. Every crew member soon died from cold and hunger.

In 1555 the Company received its formal royal approbation in a Charter of Incorporation issued under the date 6 February 1554/5 (but long afterwards amended to 26 February) by [[Mary I of England|King Philip and Queen Mary]], of which the full name was <blockquote>"The Marchants Adventurers of England for the Discovery of Lands, Territories, Iles, Dominions and Seigniories Unknowen, and Not before that Late Adventure or Enterprise by Sea or Navigation Commonly Frequented"<ref>Goldsmid (ed.), ''Principal Navigations'', III Part ii (1886), [https://archive.org/stream/cihm_33119#page/n109/mode/2up pp. 101-112.] </ref></blockquote> as one body and perpetual Fellowship and Commonalty. The promoters of this Charter are headed by [[William Paulet, 1st Marquess of Winchester|William Marquess of Winchester]] (Lord high Treasurer), [[Henry FitzAlan, 19th Earl of Arundel|Henry Earl of Arundel]] (Lord Steward of the Household), [[John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford|John Earl of Bedford]] (Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal), [[William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke (died 1570)|William Earl of Pembroke]], and [[William Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Effingham|William Lord Howard of Effingham]] (Lord highHigh Admiral of England), who with others <blockquote>"Haue at their own aduenture, costs and charges, prouided, rigged and tackled certaine ships, pinnesses and other meete vessels, and the same furnished with all things necessary haue advanced and set forward, for to discouer, descrie, and find, Isles..." (etc.)</blockquote>

The Charter constituted the Company under its Governor, Sebastian Cabot ("the chiefest setter forth of this iourney or voyage"), with four Consuls, [[George Barne II|Sir George Barne]], [[William Garrard]], [[Anthony Hussey]] and [[John SouthcotSouthcote (died 1585)|John Southcote]], with 24 Assistants named from among the principal Adventurers, its many named investors becoming the Fellowship.<ref>The fellowship names are omitted from the older printings of the Charter in Hakluyt, but are found in the ''Calendar of Patent Rolls: Philip & Mary II: 1554-1555'' (HMSO 1936/Kraus, Lendeln 1970), [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.31951001945210i&view=1up&seq=67 pp. 55-59] (Hathi Trust).</ref> The Fellowship was to meet annually to elect one or two Governors and 28 of 'the most sad, {{not a typo|discreete}} and honest persons' of their fellowship as Assistants to the Governor or Governors, of whom four were to be chosen Consuls. This became known (for short) as the "[[Muscovy Company]]" or Russia Company, and its members the Merchants of Muscovy or Merchants of Russia.<ref>T.S. Willan, ''The Muscovy Merchants of 1555'' (Manchester University Press 1953). See also J. Olson, ''Historical Dictionary of the British Empire: K-Z'' (Greenwood Publishing Group, 1996), [https://books.google.com/books?id=f0VnzMelzm8C&lpg=PA769&dq=mary%20tudor%20muscovy%20company&pg=PA769#v=onepage&q&f=false p. 769].</ref>

The Company sent Richard Chancellor again to the White Sea in 1555, in the ''Edward Bonaventura'' and the ''Philip and Mary'', where he learnt of the fate of Willoughby and spent 1556 in further exploration and negotiations with the Tsar. Having recovered and refitted the ''Bona Esperanza'' and ''Bona Confidentia'', he set out to return, taking with him the first Russian Ambassador to England, Osip GabrilovitschGregorjevitsch Nepeya. Three of the ships attempted to overwinter at [[Trondheim]], where both of Willoughby's ships were lost, the ''Philip and Mary'' arriving in London in April 1557. Chancellor's ship went ahead but in November 1556 foundered off the east coast of Scotland near [[Pitsligo Castle|Pitsligo]], and Chancellor was drowned. Nepeya however was rescued, and was conducted by [[Anthony Browne, 1st Viscount Montagu|Viscount Montagu]] to London, where in March 1557 he was met by a grand procession led by [[Thomas Offley|Sir Thomas Offley]], Lord Mayor, and conducted through the City to his appointed lodging. Here during the months of March and April he was fêted by the City Companies, and with the exchange of royal gifts he returned safely to Moscow.<ref>'A Discourse of the Honourable Receiving into England of the First Ambassador of the Emperor of Russia... Registered by Master Iohn Incent, Protonotary', in Goldsmid (ed.), ''Principal Navigations'', III Part ii (1886), [https://archive.org/stream/cihm_33119#page/n157/mode/2up pp. 141-51].</ref>