Richard Chancellor

Richard Chancellor
Born	c. 1521 Bristol
Died	1556

Richard Chancellor (died 1556) was an English explorer and navigator; the first to penetrate to the White Sea and establish relations with Russia.

Life

Richard Chancellor (1553)

Chancellor, a native of Bristol, acquired geographical and maritime proficiency from the explorer Sebastian Cabot and the geographer John Dee. Cabot had always been interested in making a voyage to Asia through the Arctic, and for this purpose King Edward VI chartered an association of English merchants, the Company 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. Their orders from the King included behaving peacably towards any people they met and keeping a regular journal. According to Howarth contrary winds delayed the expedition seriously but they eventually arrived off the North Cape as autumn set in, and were separated by a violent storm; Willoughby, with two ships, sailed east and discovered Novaya Zemlya but died during the winter with all his men on the Lapland coast some distance east of Murmansk. The bodies and journals were discovered by Russian hunters in the spring. Meanwhile, Chancellor noted and named the North Cape and with his ship Edward Bonaventure called at the Norwegian port of Vardø, the last town in Scandinavia before the inhospitable arctic coast of Russia; here they met Scottish fishermen who warned them of the dangers ahead. However continuing eastwards they found the entrance to the White Sea and after obtaining directions from local people dropped anchor at the port of Archangel.^[1]

When Tsar Ivan 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 by horse-drawn sleigh 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.^[2] The Russian tsar was pleased to open the sea trading routes with England and other countries, as Russia did not yet have a connection with the Baltic Sea at the time and the entire 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 goods in return. The Tsar gave him letters for England inviting English 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 the Muscovy 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, organising trade, and trying to learn how China might be reached by the northern route.

In 1556 Chancellor departed for England, taking with him the first Russian ambassador to his country, Osip (i.e.Joseph) Nepeya. 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 18 April. The Edward did not attempt to enter, instead reaching the Scottish coast and being wrecked at Pitslago on 7 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.

He died at Pitsligo Bay on 10 November 1556 .^[3]

In fiction

Chancellor appears as a major character in the novel The Ringed Castle (1971), fifth of the six novels in Dorothy Dunnett's historical fiction series, The Lymond Chronicles.

See also

• Company of Merchant Adventurers
• Society of Merchant Venturers
• Muscovy Company

Notes

References

• "Richard Chancellor", 1997, in Encyclopedia of World Biography, Detroit, Gale
• Dunnett, Dorothy. "The Ringed Castle," 1971, New York, Vintage Books.
• Howarth, David, 2003, "British Seapower", Robinson, London.
•  Laughton, John Knox (1887). "Chancellor, Richard". In Stephen, Leslie. Dictionary of National Biography. 10. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 
• Loades, David, ed. Reader's Guide to British History (2003) 1: 245-46, historiography
• McDermott, James (2004). "Chancellor, Richard (d. 1556)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press.