England and Russia

Comprising the Voyages of John Tradescant the Elder, Sir Hugh Willoughby, Richard Chancellor, Nelson and Others, to the White

J. Hamel

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9781136952371
• Subtopic: World History
• Index: History

First Published in 1968. This book charts the sea voyages of John Tradescant the Elder, Sir Hugh Willoughby, Richard Chancellor, Nelson and Others. Starting at the mouth of Dwina in 1553 and ending with expeditions for the Russia Company from 1612 and an account of the companions of Tradescant in his voyage to Archangel.

ENGLAND AND RUSSIA;

COMPRISING THE

VOYAGES OF TRADESCANT THE ELDER, AND OTHERS.

CHAPTER I.

ARRIVAL OF SIR HUGH WILLOUGHBY AND RICHARD CHANCELLOR AT THE MOUTH OF THE DWINA IN 1553.

As it is my purpose to describe the visit made to Archangel in the year 1618 by the great English naturalist, John Tradescant, it may be as well to cast a glance, by way of introduction, on the first arrival of the English at the mouth of the Dwina.

Nearly three hundred years have now elapsed since England there greeted Muscovy. So great have been the benefits to trade, the arts, and industry in general, arising from the friendly relations between England and Russia, which, in 1853, completed the third century of their continuance, that one might have expected to see this period closed, in both countries, with a jubilee to commemorate so remarkable an example of uninterrupted amicable intercourse between nations.

On the 24th of August, in the year 1553, the ship Edward Bonaventure cast anchor on the southern shore of the White Sea, in front of the settlement “Possad” of Nenocksa, not far from the Korelian mouth of the Dwina. Richard Chancellor was chief in command of this vessel, and Stephen Burrough, ever memorable in the history of navigation (as was also his assistant, John Buckland), was sailing-master.

The arrival of this English ship on the Russian coast was merely accidental, for her real destination was China and India. The recent voyages round the globe, which had been attended with remarkable geographical discoveries, had led to the present expedition, so that this landing near Nenocksa was connected with the most important epoch in the history of navigation.

Lisbon, owing to the conquests made by the Portuguese in Western Africa in the last quarter of the fifteenth century, and the acquisition of a part of India after Vasco de Gama’s voyage, had become a second Venice. Spain, through the discovery by Columbus of the southern portion of the New World which had fallen to her share, was accumulating countless riches at Cadiz and Seville. These acquisitions, as is well known, England had allowed to escape her, and was now obliged to content herself with the commercial advantages of minor importance, which had fallen to her share through the discovery by Cabot, of the northern portion of the new Continent.

England’s maritime trade was thereby comparatively restricted, although many an obstacle to its extension had already been removed. The Hanseatic League sought to maintain its old and odious monopoly, although in 1505 an English corporation of merchant adventurers had likewise been established for trading to the Netherlands, where Antwerp occupied the first place among the commercial towns of Europe. But in 1551 a serious inquiry was instituted into the complaints incessantly made against the Hanseatic League, in consequence of which the Steelyard was at length deprived of its unreasonable privileges. Thus were loosened the strong fetters by which commercial speculation in England had been cramped, and London merchants were tempted to imitate the examples of Portugal and Spain, and seek new paths for commerce on the sea. It was a favourable circumstance that at that time Sebastian Cabot, who belonged to that period of great discoveries, was still living in England, and could opportunely impart the experience which he had acquired in the course of half a century. When only twenty years of age he had already (in 1497) made the memorable voyage in the ship Matthew belonging to his native city of Bristol, during which, on the 24th June, North America was discovered.

His father, Giovanni Cabot or Caboto, was a Venetian, but Sebastian, as already stated, was born at Bristol, in the year 1477; and, when barely four years old, he was taken by his father to Venice, where he remained some time. The Royal Letters Patent issued by Henry the Seventh for the discovery of a North-West passage, through which Europe was made aware of the existence of North America, were made out on the 5th of March, 1496, in the names of Giovanni, and his three sons. Ferdinand the Second, King of Arragon, wrote in 1512 to Lord Willoughby, Baron de Broke, who was then in Arragon with the English troops sent thither in fulfilment of the terms of the alliance against France, to invite Sebastian Cabot to come to him from England. This was done, and Cabot entered into Ferdinand’s service, but returned to England after the death of the latter in 1516. To record all that he had performed there up to 1518, and what he had done in Spain, as well as the voyages undertaken by him, would lead us too far from our subject. Nevertheless we may observe, that after his return to England for the last time, in 1548, the Emperor Charles the Fifth requested Edward the Sixth, through Sir Thomas Cheyne, who, as a reward for his valour in the defence of Boulogne, had been named ambassador to Spain, to send Cabot back, as he, the Emperor, much required his services, (Cabot indeed received a pension from him,) whilst he would be of less use to England in the naval expeditions which she was then fitting out. Notwithstanding this invitation, Cabot remained in his own country, where the Court, as well as the speculating mercantile public, knew well how to appreciate his services. He received a pension in the year 1549, and in 1551 a present of money; and an effort was made to turn to account his extensive knowledge of naval affairs.

For a long time he had entertained the opinion, already plainly expressed by Robert Thorne at Bristol in 1527, that India and China, (at that time Cathay, and still called by the Russians Kitai,) might be reached from England by sailing northward round Norway, and finding a strait similar to that of Magellan, in order to compete with Portugal and Spain by this route. This project he imparted to several of the merchant adventurers in London, who, in connection with sundry other persons, formed a company by the allotment of shares, appointed Cabot, the promoter of the scheme, to be Director thereof, and determined on making an experiment. This company received the name of “The Mystery, Company, and Fellowship of Merchant Adventurers for the Discovery of unknown Lands, &c.”

In 1552 and 1553 three ships were fitted out in the most careful manner: the Bona Esperanza of 120, the Edward Bonaventure of 160, and the Bona Confidentia of 90 tons; and each vessel had a pinnace and a boat. As Cabot was too old himself to take the command of the expedition, it was confided to another, he, nevertheless, drawing out the plan of operations for the voyage. Sir Hugh Willoughby was appointed chief, and Richard Chancellor second leader.

Here the question naturally suggests itself—Who were these persons, hitherto unknown as Navigators? And how happened it, that the command of so important a maritime undertaking was confided to them?

In the account of the Expedition compiled by Clement Adams, Governor of the King’s Pages, from the communications made to him by Chancellor, the only mention made of Sir Hugh Willoughby is, that he was a man of good birth (“vir strenuus non obscuro loco natus”), well-known on account of his military merit, (“ob singularem in re bellicâ industriam”), and distinguished by a stately and imposing exterior (“ob corporis formam; erat enim proceræ staturæ”). Let us endeavour to obtain a better insight into the history of so interesting a person.

The first recorded ancestor of Sir Hugh Willoughby was, at the end of the thirteenth century, settled at Willoughby upon the Would, on the southern boundary of the county of Nottingham. At that time another Willoughby (it was written then Willegby, Willoweby,) had already, through his marriage with an heiress of the old house of Bec, in the neighbouring county of Lincoln, received the title of Baron d’Eresby, whose family still exists, and since 1828 has been represented by Peter Robert (Drummond) Burrell. From this stem, likewise, sprung two other families with the title of Baron: in 1492 that of Broke, and in 1547 that of Parham, which became extinct in 1779.

Although Sir Hugh’s ancestors, the descendants of the Nottinghamshire Willoughby, did not rise quite so suddenly to distinction, still we find them as early as the year 1320 in possession of the estate of Wollaton, four miles west of the town of Nottingham, and soon afterwards holding that of Risley, not far distant, although in Derbyshire. At a later period they came into possession of Middleton, in Warwickshire, as well as of other property.

The name of Sir Hugh’s father was Henry. Through his prowess in battle, he had won not only the honour of knighthood, but likewise the title of Banneret. The first he received after the victory, which, on the 16th of June, 1487, he assisted in gaining, in presence of King Henry the Seventh, over the Dutch and Irish troops which had been assembled in favour of the Pretender Lambert Simnel. This battle was fought in Nottinghamshire, not far from the Wollaton estate, at East Stoke to the south of Newark-upon-Trent. He became a Banneret on the 17th of June, 1497, in consequence of the valiant conduct by which he distinguished himself in the fight on Blackheath Common, near London, where the rebels from Cornwall were defeated. He died on the 7th of May, 1528, and was buried in Wollaton Church. Sir Henry married four times. By his first wife he had two sons, John and Edward: the second and fourth died childless; the third was the mother of Sir Hugh referred to in our narrative.

The eldest son, John, the offspring of Sir Henry’s first marriage with Margaret Markham, a daughter of Sir Robert Markham, of Coatham, in Nottinghamshire, was knighted in the year 1533, on the occasion of the coronation of Ann Boleyn, Henry the Eighth’s second consort. He married Anne Grey, eldest daughter of Baron Edward Grey, Viscount de Lisle, and died in 1547, leaving no children.

The elder brother of the Viscount de Lisle, Baron John Grey, who was slain in 1460, in the battle of St. Alban’s, was the first husband of the beautiful Elizabeth Woodville, whose charms, even when she was a widow, had sufficient power to enthral King Edward the Fourth. She became Queen in 1464, and was the mother of King Edward the Fifth and of Henry the Seventh’s queen consort. In consequence of this marriage, the family of the Barons Grey (of Groby) acquired considerable power; but it was also the cause of a bloody war, and of all the great events which took place in 1469 and the following years. The son of this Elizabeth, Thomas Grey, was at first Earl of Huntingdon, and afterwards Marquis of Dorset.

Edward, the younger, brother of John Willoughby, whose line, at John’s death, came into possession of the property, married Ann Filliol, eldest daughter of Sir William Filliol, of Woodlands, in Dorsetshire, and co-heiress of his great wealth. The younger sister, Catherine Filliol, was the first wife of Edward Seymour, afterwards (in 1547) Duke of Somerset. Anne Filliol had one son by Edward Willoughby, named Henry. After her first husband’s death, she married Lord St. John, one of the sixteen statesmen named by Henry the Eighth, in his will, to form the Regency during the minority of his son Edward.

This Henry Willoughby, named above, took to wife Anne Grey, one of the daughters of Thomas Grey, second Marquis of Dorset. He was the son of the Thomas Grey before mentioned. The brother of this Anne Willoughby contracted a matrimonial alliance still more elevated than had fallen to his lot through his descent, for his second wife, Frances Brandon, was the niece of the reigning king. As she was left the only child and heiress of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, by his third marriage with Mary Tudor, widow of King Louis the Twelfth, and sister of Henry the Eighth, he (in 1551) obtained the ducal title of Suffolk. The eldest daughter, by Grey’s marriage with Frances Brandon, was that memorable lady Jane Grey, whom Roger Ascham, in 1550, when she was thirteen years old, surprised at their country house, at Broadgate, with Plato in her hand, whilst the family were amusing themselves out of doors, and who, three years later (in 1553), was, against her wishes, called for a short time Queen of England, after she had married Lord Guildford Dudley, a son of John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, who became Duke in 1551, was Earl of Warwick in 1547, Viscount de Lisle in 1542. A sister of the Lord Guildford Dudley, Catherine, married Henry Hastings, third Earl of Huntingdon, but had no children. Her consort was the son of Francis Hastings, second Earl of Huntingdon, and of Catherine Pole, eldest daughter of Henry Pole, Baron de Montacute, grandson of George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, and nephew of King Edward the Fourth. Henry Hastings had two remaining sisters, who were considerably younger, Ann and Mary, whom I here name, because Queen Elizabeth proposed to the Czar Ivan Vassilovitch, that he should marry one of these Ladies Hastings (probably Mary, the younger) when he showed an inclination to obtain the Queen’s own hand. Henry Willoughby had by Ann Grey, two sons, Thomas and Francis. As for himself, he was slain at Norwich, which town he had entered with the troops assembled to disperse the powerful body of rebels led by Robert Ket, a tanner. The before-mentioned John Dudley, at that time Earl of Warwick, was chief in command when the victory was gained.

The young Thomas Willoughby, after his father Henry’s death in 1543, came into possession of Wollaton besides other property. He was barely thirteen years old when his great uncle, Sir Hugh Willoughby, undertook the voyage to Cathay, in 1553. He had scarcely married Dorothy Paget, one of the daughters of the accomplished diplomatist, Baron William Paget de Beaudessert, the ancestor of the late Marquis of Anglesey, when he died, in 1558, without issue.

The estate descended to his younger brother Francis, at that time but eleven years old. At a later period, between 1580 and 1588, the latter built the house at Wollaton, which is one of the most beautiful architectural monuments remaining of the Elizabethan age. The architect was Robert Smithson. Thorp, however, appears to have been consulted. The stone was quarried at Ancaster, in Lincolnshire, and it must have been exchanged for pit coal!

Sir Francis Willoughby married Elizabeth Lyttelton, the eldest daughter of Sir John Lyttelton of Frankley, who bore him six daughters.

In addition to other property which Sir John Lyttelton acquired by purchase, was the beautiful country seat of Hagley Park, since mentioned by Pope in his Poems, which still belongs to his descendant, Lord Lyttelton, who resides there.

I find that somewhat later, Francis Willoughby separated from his wife. Thirteen months before his death he contracted a second matrimonial alliance with the widow Dorothy Tamworth (née Coleby), who managed to spend a great deal of his wealth, and, after Willoughby’s death, became the spouse of Lord Philip Wharton.

Sir Francis died in 1597. His eldest daughter, Bridget, who inherited Wollaton, and a great part of her father’s wealth, married Percival Willoughby (who was knighted in 1603) of Bore Place, in Kent. They had one son, Francis.

Thomas Willoughby, uncle both to the first William Willoughby d’Eresby, who, on the 17th of February, 1547, was created Baron of Parham, and to the beforementioned Charles Brandon, who after the death of the king’s daughter, his third wife, took, as his fourth, Catherine Willoughby d’Eresby, was in 1539 appointed, by Henry the Eighth, Lord Chief Justice in the Court of Common Pleas. The above-mentioned Percival, who married Bridget Willoughby, was his great uncle.

Francis Willoughby, who was likewise knighted, married Cassandra Ridgway, the daughter of Thomas Ridgway, Earl of Londonderry. From this marriage sprang Francis Willoughby, well known to lovers of natural history as an ornithologist and ichthyologist. He spent his youth at Trinity College Cambridge, and there became a friend of John Wray (since 1669 spelt Ray), the Linnæus of his time, afterwards so famed as a botanist. The latter was eight years older than he, and superintended his studies, out of gratitude for which Willoughby supplied him with ample resources for the study of nature and for travelling. From 1661 to 1666 they made several tours together as naturalists, both at home and abroad. They certainly visited together, when they came to London, Tradescant’s Museum, as well as the gardens at South Lambeth. Wray tells us (in 1676) that they there saw the stuffed Dodo. Wray found there likewise the Puffin mentioned at page 3 of Tradescant’s Catalogue (Anas Arctica clusii, Mormus arcticus seu Fratercula Arctica of the moderns), which is also to be met with in the Royal Society’s collection (Grew’s Museum Regalis Societatis, 1681, p. 72), of a larger size than the specimen described by Willoughby. They travelled abroad, from 1663 until 1666, in Holland, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Sicily, and Malta. Willoughby was likewise in Spain in 1664.

At the formation of the Royal Society in the year 1663, Francis Willoughby was immediately elected a Fellow, but Wray was not admitted to this honour until 1667. Willoughby, whose father died in 1665, resided at Middleton Hall, where he established a Museum of Natural History. In 1668 he married Emma Bernard, the daughter of Sir Henry Bernard. Wray took up his residence with him soon afterwards at Middleton Hall, where they made observations together on the ascent of the sap in trees. In the year 1670 Wray dedicated his “Catalogus Plantarum Angliæ” to his highly-respected friend and Mæcenas, Francis Willoughby. The mother of the latter died in 1676.

A few years subsequently to 1668, Willoughby was preparing to undertake a voyage to America for the purposes of science, but died on the 3rd of July, 1672, after appointing his friend Wray to take charge of the education of his two sons, Francis and Thomas, who were still very young. Wray on this account continued to reside at Middleton Hall. He there wrote, in 1672, as he says, for the use of his pupils, the eldest of whom, however, was barely four years old, his “Nomenclator Classicus of Animals and Plants,” and then undertook the revision and publication of the “History of Birds,” which Willoughby had left behind him. This Ornithology first came out in Latin in 1676. Willoughby’s widow, Emma Bernard, disputed payment of the expenses, which were considerable on account of the seventy-seven copper plates. In the preface Wray dwells upon the excellent qualities of the heart and understanding which distinguished his departed friend and patron. The “Ichthyology” he commenced in 1684, and it appeared in 1686. Here I must incidentally remark that the zoologist wrote his name Willughby; his father, and also his greatgrandfather, had written it Wyllughby. The eldest son, Francis Willoughby, had not yet attained the age of seven years, when, in 1676—probably as an acknowledgment of the scientific services of his father (the “Ornithology” had just appeared)—he was created a Baronet. He died in 1688 unmarried.

His brother Thomas inherited the property and title. Wray dedicated to him in 1690 the first edition of his “Synopsis Methodica Stirpium Britannicarum.” He exhorted him to follow the example of his excellent father in promoting the study of Natural History. This second baronet, Sir Thomas Willoughby, was, in 1693, elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. He was likewise for several sessions a member of Parliament. In the year 1711 Queen Anne bestowed upon him the title of Baron as Lord Middleton of Middleton. He died in 1729.

The present representative of the family, Digby Willoughby, who succeeded in 1835, is the seventh baron. Besides Wollaton House, which is so interesting in an architectural point of view, he is proprietor also of Middleton Hall.

I now come to Sir Henry Willoughby’s third son, Sir Hugh Willoughby, with whom we are more immediately concerned. His mother was Ellen Egerton, daughter and heiress of John Egerton, of Wrinehill, in Cheshire, who married the eldest daughter of Sir John Gresley. Who is not reminded by the name of Egerton, not on...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE
• CONTENTS
• CHAPTER I. Arrival of Sir Hugh Willoughby and Richard Chancellor at the Mouth of the Dwina in 1553
• CHAPTER II. Early Russian Voyages—Intercourse between Russia and Western Europe
• CHAPTER III. Melancholy end of Sir Hugh Willoughby—Chancellor’s Visit to Moscow
• CHAPTER IV. Establishment of the Russia Company—Chancellor’s Second Expedition
• CHAPTER V. Shipwreck and Death of Chancellor—Escape of the Russian Ambassador, Nepeja, and his Arrival in England
• CHAPTER VI. Voyage of Anthony Jenkinson—Raphael Barberini in Russia, with a Letter of Queen Elizabeth to the Czar Ivan Vassilovitch
• CHAPTER VII. First Arrival of Russian Merchants in London—Their Reception by Queen Elizabeth—The Czar Ivan Vassilovitch’s Proposal of Marriage to the Queen — New Charter Granted to the Russia Company
• CHAPTER VIII. Treachery and Punishment of Doctor Bomel — Dissatisfaction of the Czar at the Conduct of the English—Suspension of the Russia Company’s Charter—Moscow Burnt by the Tartars—English House in the Varvarka Destroyed—Robert Best and Anthony Jenkinson Dispatched from England with Letters to the Czar
• CHAPTER IX. Negotiations of Daniel Sylvester—Freedom of Trade Restored to the Russia Company—English Depôt at Rose Island
• CHAPTER X. Voyage of Tradescant—Memoir of Tradescant—His Collection of Varieties—Discovery of a MS. by Tradescant, a narrative of his voyage to Archangel
• CHAPTER XI. Tradescant’s Description of Life in Russia—Forests—Flowers—Dress—Origin of the English Whale Fishery—His Voyage Home
• CHAPTER XII. Geographical Discoveries promoted by Members of the Russia Company—Sir Francis Cherry and others
• CHAPTER XIII. Expeditions of the Russia Company from 1612 — Their Utility in the Advancement of Science
• CHAPTER XIV. Companions of Tradescant in his Voyage to Archangel—Sir John Merrick—Sir Thomas Smith — Sir Dudley Digges—Dr. Richard James—Captain David Gilbert—Captain Robert Carr—Jessy de Quester
• APPENDIX