1

Roderick Heather

Following an honours degree in Economics from Sheffield University in 1967, the author spent almost thirty years working for various manufacturing usinesses in the U! and overseas" #n 199$ he moved to %atarstan in &ussia, leading a team of international consultants at a large automotive company and in 1997 he ecame an advisor to the U! Foreign 'ffice and the (epartment for #nternational (evelopment covering &ussia until )**)" +e su se,uently worked as a management consultant on various pro-ects in &ussia and Ukraine" .orn in &oyal /eamington Spa, the author has lived in 0anada, Swit1erland, France, the US2 and &ussia and has travelled to seventy different countries" %he author has written two other ooks a out &ussia, The Iron Tsar and Russia from Red to Black. +e is married with three adult sons and lives in 0hester"

AN ACCIDENTAL RELATIONSHIP
The British in Russia, 155 ! 1"#$

Roderick Heather

AN ACCIDENTAL RELATIONSHIP

The British in Russia, 155 ! 1"#$

0opyright % &oderick +eather %he right of &oderick +eather to e identified as author of this work has een asserted y him in accordance with section 77 and 73 of the 0opyright, (esigns and 4atents 2ct 1933" 2ll rights reserved" 5o part of this pu lication may e reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or y any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the pu lishers" 2ny person who commits any unauthori1ed act in relation to this pu lication may e lia le to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages" 2 0#4 catalogue record for this title is availa le from the .ritish /i rary" #S.5 973 1 36967 $36 3 www"austinmacauley"com First 4u lished 8)*169 2ustin :acauley 4u lishers /td" )$ 0anada S,uare 0anary ;harf /ondon E16 $/.

4rinted and ound in <reat .ritain

There is no greater folly circulating upon the earth .... than the disposition to undervalue the past, and to break those links which unite human beings of the present day with the generations which have passed away.

From a speech y ;illiam <ladstone, .ritish 4rime :inister, in 2ugust 1377"

Introduction

(uring man=s time on this earth, many of his greatest inventions or discoveries have een accidental or unintended" %hus, the reputed accidental encounter of an apple with 5ewton=s head ultimately gave us the theory of gravity and 0olum us= search for a westerly passage to 0athay revealed the e>istence of the 2mericas" So it was with England=s first encounter with &ussia" /ike 0olum us, the English sailors that set out in 1$$7 were seeking a sea passage to the riches of the 'rient, only in an easterly direction around the northern capes of Scandinavia" %hey had not intended to ?discover= &ussia@ it was totally accidental and une>pected" Aet this chance encounter was to lead to not only a remarka le relationship etween .ritain and &ussia ut also to the eventual involvement of thousands of .ritish men and women in &ussia=s future social, military and economic development" From the time the .olsheviks rutally imposed their stranglehold on power across %sarist &ussia in the early 19)*s, the country has een a relatively difficult place for foreigners to visit or in which to live or do usiness" 2lthough things temporarily improved somewhat under 4resident Aeltsin after the 1991 revolution, the 4utin era has seen a renewed official distrust of foreigners and their activities in &ussia" +owever, for over 7** years prior to the arrival of 0ommunism, apart from the occasional period of war or political tension, &ussia was as open to foreigners as any European country and the .ritish increasingly took advantage of this situation" (riven initially y a desire for trade, the .ritish relationship with and interest in &ussia gradually e>panded during the 17 th, 13th and 19th centuries, mainly reflecting .ritain=s growing preBeminence in the military, scientific, financial and industrial spheres" +owever, oth nations enefitted from the relationship" For .ritain, &ussia not only provided a ready market for its goods and e>pertise ut also an important political counter alance to the threats from e>pansionary Spain and France" #n return, &ussia gained an increasingly powerful ally as well as access to vital skills and technology that it lacked for its future development" 'ver the course of some 76* years, the 2ngloB&ussian relationship would see friendship and rivalry, trade and lockade, alliance and war as the two nations developed into the world=s two largest empires and competed on the international stage" %here were perhaps five main phases defining .ritish involvement with &ussia" %he initial period of contact and trade etween the governments of Eli1a eth # and #van the %erri le, the e>pansion of relationships under 4eter the <reat and su se,uently 0atherine, the political tensions that led to the 0rimean ;ar and the soBcalled <reat <ame, the e>plosion of .ritish industrial involvement in &ussia in the latter half of the 19 th century and finally the period of the First ;orld ;ar plus the su se,uent .ritish entanglement in the &ussian civil war" #nevita ly most .ritish activity revolved around the two capital cities
7

of :oscow initially and later St 4eters urg" Since these two cities were the centres of political and economic power as well as the cultural hu s, many .ritons living in &ussia or visiting the country spent the ma-ority of their time there" +owever, as we shall see, the .ritish in the period covered y this ook were active right across this vast country, not only as visitors or travellers ut living and working in a wide variety of places from the .altic to the .lack Sea and from the 0aucasus to Si eria" %hey were involved with &ussian royalty and peasants@ they ran the army and uilt theatres@ they worked on the great estates and in the factories@ some campaigned for social -ustice or ecame nurses in the &ussian 2rmy and a few ecame very wealthy and achieved high honours while others lost everything" Some loved the country and its people ut others loathed it, finding the &ussians uncultured and e>tremely corrupt" %he .ritish were rarely the largest foreign presence in &ussia ut no other nation can claim to have had as great a continuous, diverse and widespread influence on &ussia and its institutions as the .ritish etween the 16 th and )*th centuries" 2lthough many individual aspects of the road gamut of .ritish activities in &ussia have een covered in various pu lications over the years, this ook is an attempt to ring these stories together and give them some perspective and conte>t" +owever, it is not my intention to draw any deep conclusions a out the wider impacts of the contacts etween the .ritish and the &ussians on their respective cultures and economic development, though clearly this was highly significant in various ways" %his is a road su -ect and eyond the scope of this ook" &ather, the ook is more a compendium of the e>periences of the .ritish in &ussia, together with an overview of their reasons for going and what they achieved" Sadly, the constraint of space has forced me to e highly selective a out the stories and e>periences of .ritish people included in this ook" %here were hundreds of others that visited &ussia or lived and worked there, each of whom in their own individual ways made a contri ution to the uni,ue 2ngloB&ussian relationship that evolved over some 76* years" %heir stories will have to remain untold for the time eing" 'ver the course of more than 76* years, the .ritish made a remarka le contri ution to &ussia in a wide variety of fields" 2lthough their e>periences in #mperial &ussia were often difficult, they were also sometimes amusing 8at least when viewed in retrospect9 and the country steadily ecame a destination of choice for the .ritish" (espite the fact that .ritain=s relationship with &ussia would eventually overcome the traumas of the .olshevik revolution and the 2llied #ntervention, it would never e the same as efore" #n particular, the large resident 2ngloB&ussian community, so em edded in the social, economic and cultural fa ric of &ussia had gone, mostly settling in .ritain" :any of them had staked everything they had in &ussia and most of them admired the country and its people" %heir financial losses, coupled with their treatment y the .olsheviks meant they would not return" For some readers, the period covered y my ook may perhaps appear ar itrary ut the cutoff date of 19)* has een chosen ecause most of the e>isting .ritish community resident in &ussia had left the country y then and it
8

marks the time when foreigners generally were unwelcome in what was soon to ecome the Soviet Union" 0hesterC 'cto er )*17

2nthony Denkinson=s 1$37 map of &ussia

10

1 &irst Contacts

#n the late summer of 1$$7 an English sailing ship, the dward Bonaventure, having rounded the stormy capes off the northern end of 5orway, headed south into the uncharted ;hite Sea" %he ship was captained y &ichard 0hancellor and he and his men were seeking a northBeast passage to 0hina on ehalf of the recently formed 0ompany of :erchant 2dventurers" 2fter a few days, they made landfall in the small har our of the 5ikoloB!orelsky monastery on the (vina &iver, near what is now the &ussian town of 2rchangel" 2s the 16* ton dward Bonaventure approached, slicing easily through the dark, lueB lack waters of the sound, local fishermen in their little wooden oats ga1ed in stunned awe at the une>pected sight of such a large ship" %he English crew e>citedly lined the deck, the rass uttons of their light lue company uniforms glinting in the northern sun=s afternoon rays" %he date was 2ugust )6 th and this une>pected encounter marked the eginning of a uni,ue relationship etween people from the .ritish #sles with those of &ussia" 2 relationship that over the ensuing 76* years would see friendship and rivalry, trade and lockade, alliance and war as the world=s two largest empires competed on the world stage" 0hancellor=s ship was one of three that had left England in early Duly on the first e>pedition of the 0ompany of :erchant 2dventurers" %he company, whose full title was !"ystery and #ompany of "erchant $dventurers for the %iscovery of Regions, %ominions, Islands, and &laces unknown', was founded under &oyal 0harter in 1$$1 y 0hancellor, Se astian 0a ot and Sir +ugh ;illough y, with the o -ective of finding a maritime passage around Scandinavia to the 'rient" #n the early 1$**s England was heavily dependent on continental Europe for the supply of lu>ury goods" :erchants of the +anseatic /eague, a group of powerful cities that controlled much of the 5orth Sea and .altic trade, en-oyed favoura le trading privileges in England" Understanda ly, English merchants wanted a share of this lucrative trade and the growing production of woollen cloth for e>port encouraged them to search for routes to open up new markets" %he idea of finding a northern polar passage to 0athay and the East #ndies was first suggested y &o ert %horne, a .ristol merchant, in letters to oth +enry E### and 0harles E in Spain in 1$)7" .ut his proposal was not followed up until the formation of the :erchant 2dventurers in /ondon" %his first :erchant 2dventurers= e>pedition was actually led y ;illough y ut although an e>perienced soldier, he had limited previous nautical or navigational e>perience so 0hancellor was appointed pilot and navigator of the small fleet F the Bona speran(a under ;illough y, the dward Bonaventure captained y 0hancellor plus the Bona #onfidentia" 0hancellor was from .ristol and gained his maritime and navigation skills from the e>plorer Se astian 0a ot and geographer Dohn (ee" +e was a well respected mariner and well liked y the men who served under him" 2s the three ships sailed northBeast, entering the
11

2rctic 0ircle, they were hit y dense fog and a severe storm near the /ofoten #slands off northern 5orway and were separated" ;illough y=s ship and the Bona #onfidentia managed to regroup and sailed east across the .arents Sea, eventually reaching the &ussian islands of 5ovaya Gemlya1" ;illough y spent some time sailing along the coast, then turned ack south and on Septem er 16 th he sailed into a ay to the east of presentBday :urmansk" %he ships decided to stay and rest for a while@ fish and game initially seemed a undant so conditions weren=t considered to e too ha1ardous ut soon, the 2rctic winter lew in trapping oth ships in pack ice" ;illough y and his crew were neither prepared nor e,uipped for the e>treme cold and conditions on oard deteriorated rapidly" (espite a few desperate attempts, the men were una le to cross the ice to reach land and find help and soon the energyBsapping cold and nightBfilled days closed in on them" From the -ournals kept y ;illough y, it seems that he and the crew were still alive in Danuary 1$$6" %here is de ate a out their eventual fate@ it is likely some or all succum ed to a mi>ture of starvation and free1ing to death" +owever, it has also een suggested that the survivors were killed y car on mono>ide poisoning, following their decision to insulate their ships from the itter 2rctic cold" ;hatever the eventual cause of their sad deaths, the following year the ships, laden with over si>ty fro1en corpses, were discovered y local &ussian fishermen" 0hancellor was more fortunate" +aving failed to re-oin the other two ships after the storm, he had sailed on, eventually turning south into the ;hite Sea" %he area where he first landed had only recently een added to the &ussian kingdom of :uscovy and so there was great interest in the arrival of this western intruder" 5ews of 0hancellor=s presence was soon relayed to the &ussian court and %sar #van #E immediately invited this une>pected e>plorer to visit him in :oscow" /eaving most of his crew ehind, 0hancellor made the -ourney of over 6** miles to :oscow on horseBdrawn sledges, through a country lanketed in deep snow and ice" For #van, this intriguing and une>pected contact with the English was highly interesting" /ike the .ritish, the &ussians under #van were then in the early stages of a ma-or e>pansion of their empire that was to continue irregularly into the twentieth century" +owever, their desire to e>pand was severely constrained" %o the west, they were hemmed in y the strong Swedish, 4olish and /ithuanian kingdoms@ to the south and east, the %atars and their allies the 'ttomans held sway" %he &ussians had no safe access to the important trading areas around the .altic Sea and all overland trade with Europe was controlled y the +anseatic /eague" So the opportunity to open up a sea route for trade with England and then potentially with other western European countries was particularly attractive to the isolated :uscovy" For 0hancellor, the possi ilities seemed no less encouraging" 2lthough he had set out with the hope of finding 0athay, esta lishing a good market for English wool in the large &ussian market and trading furs and other &ussian goods in return seemed a good alternative" .oth parties shared the common goal of eliminating the middlemen of the +anseatic /eague and uilding on their accidental initial contact"
1

For many years, these islands were depicted on later maps as ;illough y=s /and"

12

0hancellor was impressed with the si1e of :oscow 8it was then much larger than /ondon9 ut thought it primitively uilt with few uildings of any note, most houses eing constructed of wood" +owever, the palace of the %sar was very lu>urious, as were apparently the dinners he su se,uently laid on for 0hancellor" #van had only recently won a decisive victory against the southern %atar !hanate after the siege of the strategically important city of !a1an where he earned the nickname of #van the %erri le)" +owever, #van failed to live up to his new name, instead inviting his English guests to the &ussian court, hosting them lavishly and granting the English free trade in all his dominions" 0hancellor=s initial discussions with #van must have een rather tricky as his introductory letters and re,uests to trade would have een addressed to the anticipated potentates of 0athay" +owever, 0hancellor o viously finessed this awkward pro lem as on his return to England in 1$$6, he carried with him letters from the %sar to England=s !ing Edward E# 7, welcoming English traders and promising them e>clusive trade privileges" 0ommunication etween #van and 0hancellor during these complicated trade negotiations must also have een difficult since neither spoke the other=s language" #t is possi le they were conducted in <erman or /atin as they would seem to e the most likely languages of which each party might have had some knowledge at that time" Soon after 0hancellor=s arrival ack in England, the 0ompany of :erchant 2dventurers renamed itself the :uscovy 0ompany and in 1$$$ he visited &ussia again taking with him <eorge !illingworth, the first of the 0ompany=s factors or agents to e ased in :oscow" %hey spent the summer organi1ing trade deals with the %sar=s officials and trying to gather information on how #ndia or 0hina might e reached y the northern sea route" %hey also now heard the news of ;illough y=s unfortunate end and the discovery of 5ovaya Gemlya" So, on his way ack to England, 0hancellor stopped en route near :urmansk to retrieve the ody of ;illough y plus his two ships and goods as well as his personal papers" #n addition to its growing trading activities, the :uscovy 0ompany also now egan to provide an important diplomatic link etween :oscow and England with the 0ompany=s merchants increasingly carrying confidential correspondence etween the %sar and Hueen Eli1a eth #" 'n his third voyage to &ussia, 0hancellor was asked to take with him to England the first &ussian am assador, 'sip 5epaya, accompanied y no less than si>teen &ussian officials and traders" #t seems that even as early as the 16 th century, /ondon was an attractive destination for the &ussians" %hey were the first &ussians officially allowed to leave the country, apart from an am assador to the (anish court a few years earlier" %he group left 2rchangel in late autumn 1$$6 in the dward Bonaventure plus ;illough y=s two recovered ships and a new addition to the :uscovy 0ompany=s fleet, the &hilip and "ary" 2rriving off %rondheim in 5orway in stormy weather, the fleet tried to take shelter in the har our ut the Bona speran(a sank and the Bona #onfidentia appeared to enter the f-ord ut was never heard of again" %he &hilip and "ary survived and successfully wintered
2

%he meaning of &ussian word then for ?terri le= had the sense of awesome rather than a reflection of the admittedly terri le and loody events of the siege" 3 Edward had died during 0hancellor=s voyage so the letters were handed to Hueen :ary"

13

in %rondheim, arriving in /ondon the following 2pril ut 0hancellor in the dward Bonaventure did not attempt to enter, sailing on instead towards the Scottish coast" Sadly, 0hancellor=s navigational skills couldn=t prevent him running into another sudden storm off the Scottish coast near 2 erdeen and on 5ovem er 7th, the ship capsi1ed" 0hancellor, along with most of his crew, was drowned ut 5epaya, together with seven of the &ussians plus the interpreter &o ert .est, survived and managed to reach the coaSt 2ccording to 5apeya=s later testimony, his own life was saved y 0hancellor, who drowned in attempting to carry the am assador and his entourage to shore in the dward=s oat" 2ll of the cargo valued at I)*,*** plus 5apeya=s papers and the %sar=s presents to Eli1a eth were lost in the wreck" (espite some initial difficulties with the suspicious local Scots who tried to hold them hostage, the survivors made it to Edin urgh and eventually travelled safely on to /ondon, arriving in :arch 1$$7" ;ith only a few trifles saved from the wreck, it was not an auspicious start for the first &ussian am assador to England" 0hancellor had found a sea route to &ussia and although in time this part of his legacy was largely superseded y travel overland through Europe, it remained for many years the only feasi le route for the English" 2lmost as important a part of his legacy was the vast amount of information that he supplied to the :uscovy 0ompany which formed a guide to doing usiness in &ussia for the English merchants who followed him" #n fact, it was deemed too valua le to e disseminated widely and the 0ompany -ealously guarded 0hancellor=s notes until 1$39, when &ichard +akluyt reproduced them in the first edition of his &rincipall )avigations" %he small har our where 0hancellor had first landed on the coast of the ;hite Sea soon ecame known to the .ritish as St 5icholas, after the name of the &ussian monastery there" #n 1$36 it was officially incorporated y the &ussians as the town of !holmogory to service the growing trade with the :uscovy 0ompany" %he name of 2rchangel was not used until 176) when the growing town was given e,ual trade rights with St 4eters urg" ;ithin a few years of 0hancellor=s death, the :uscovy 0ompany had esta lished small ut growing settlements of .ritish traders at St 5icholas and :oscow as well as starting to e>pand into other towns across &ussia" 0hancellor was eventually succeeded as the :uscovy 0ompany=s main overseas trader y the remarka le 2nthony Denkinson who was to ecome a fre,uent visitor to &ussia playing an important part in the development of relations etween the two countries" Denkinson came from a wealthy /eicestershire family and trained in his early years for a mercantile career, travelling widely in the :editerranean region and in 1$$7 he reached 2leppo in Syria where he negotiated a trading licence with the %urks" #n 1$$7, he was appointed captainBgeneral of the :uscovy 0ompany and he sailed to &ussia with four ships carrying the returning am assador, 'sip 5epea plus a large ,uantity of war materials and accompanied y several e>perts in medicine and iron mining, skills that &ussia was adly lacking" Denkinson spent four months at the 0ompany=s northern factories efore travelling on to :oscow where he was handsomely entertained y #van at an,uets held on 0hristmas day and in early Danuary"
14

#n early 1$$3 the intrepid Denkinson, accompanied y two rothers, &ichard and &o ert Dohnson, headed south y oat, sailing down the Eolga through the recently con,uered %atar lands around !a1an and then on to 2strakhan on the 0aspian Sea" 2fter a month of difficult sailing across the 0aspian, his party eventually made landfall at the :angyshlak peninsula on the northBeast coast in modernBday !a1akhstan" From there they travelled southBeast for four months, crossing the %artarBheld lands, enduring great hardship and danger, efore arriving at the important trading city of .ukhara" Denkinson spent the winter here ut despite the fact that the city lay on the Silk &oad to the east, his discussions with local caravan merchants persuaded him that the city offered little prospect for the :uscovy 0ompany=s eastern trade" #n the spring of 1$$9 Denkinson decided against travelling further to 4ersia and retraced his steps, eventually returning to :oscow in Septem er" +e rought with him si> %artar am assadors and twentyBfive &ussians who had een enslaved y the %atars that he had freed" +e returned to a warm welcome from the %sar who was happy to see him ack in :oscow safely and grateful for the return of his countrymen" 2lthough Denkinson=s first e>pedition had not succeeded in reaching 4ersia, he returned to England in the spring of 1$6* with important new knowledge of the remote 0aspian region and confirmation of the potential land route across &ussia to 4ersia" +is party were almost certainly the first European traders to e>plore this little known area and 2strakhan was soon to ecome an important trading ase for the :uscovy 0ompany as it strove to open up direct trade with 4ersia and the 'ttomans" (espite the dangers and difficulties en route, Denkinson also managed to make a map of the &ussian territories they had traversed and his map was later incorporated into the atlas of 2 raham 'rtelius, the Theatrum orbis terrarum6" 'n his return to England from his first e>pedition, Denkinson immediately egan preparations for a second trip to &ussia, with the o -ective of reaching 4ersia and then to try to find an overland route to 0athay" 0arrying letters of recommendation from the new Hueen Eli1a eth to #van and the Shah of 4ersia, Denkinson arrived ack in :oscow in 2ugust 1$61" Unfortunately, the %sar=s recent remarriage and an o structive court official delayed his audience with #van until :arch 1$6)" %heir eventual discussions however, were cordial and entrusted with a secret diplomatic mission y the %sar, Denkinson, accompanied y the 4ersian am assador, travelled south once more across &ussia and the 0aspian Sea reaching Shirvan in the eastern 0aucasus 8now part of 21er ai-an9" 2fter a short stay there, he carried on into 4ersia, finally reaching the 4ersian court at Hua1vin$ in late summer" Unfortunately, a recently signed trade treaty etween 4ersia and %urkey compelled Denkinson to change his plans and he spent the winter months a virtual prisoner efore he was allowed to return to Shirvan where he successfully negotiated favoura le terms for English merchants" +e reached :oscow on )* 2ugust 1$67 and soon afterwards delivered diplomatic messages from the rulers of Shirvan and near y <eorgia to the %sar who, in appreciation of the manner in which Denkinson had discharged
4

;ritten y 2 raham 'rtelius and engraved y the Englishman 5icholas &eynolds, it was originally printed in 2ntwerp in :ay 1$7* and is considered to e the first true modern atlas" 5 Hua1vin, located some 1** miles north of %ehran was then the 4ersian capital"

15

his tasks, granted a significant e>tension of trade privileges to the :uscovy 0ompany" Denkinson arrived ack in /ondon in Duly 1$66, some three years after having set out in the knowledge that he had esta lished an e>cellent rapport with #van and paved the way for the 0ompany=s trade with 4ersia" #n :ay 1$6$ Denkinson petitioned to e>plore a northBeast passage to the Far East, de ating the issue with +umphrey <il ert efore the Hueen and the 4rivy 0ouncil ut without success" +owever, he was awarded a life annuity of I6* the following year for his services to the 0rown" Shortly after, Denkinson was sent to &ussia for a third time as a special envoy to settle a dispute regarding the trading arrangements that had een made with &ussia during his previous visit in 1$66" Upon his arrival in Dune 1$$6, he found the situation in &ussia very different from the one he had left -ust two years earlier" #n a letter to ;illiam 0ecil, Denkinson descri ed the country=s wars with 4oland and Sweden and mentioned #van=s great cruelty towards the no lemen and gentry he suspected of plotting against him" ;hen Denkinson presented #van with Eli1a eth=s letter in Septem er 1$66, the %sar, instead of responding directly to her re,uest to reaffirm the trade privileges, wrote re,uesting an architect and medical e>perts" Una le to progress discussions regarding trade, Denkinson had no choice ut to sail ack to England in 'cto er with the %sar=s new message for Eli1a eth" #n the summer of 1$67 he returned again to :oscow conveying Eli1a eth=s confirmation that she would send the e>perts re,uested y #van" 2rmed with this positive response, Denkinson was then a le to skilfully conclude a considera le e>tension of the trade privileges and consolidated the :uscovy 0ompany=s a solute monopoly in the ;hite Sea area of &ussia" +e sailed ack to England in late 1$67 with secret correspondence from the %sar for Eli1a eth in which #van stressed his desire for a political alliance, to e mediated y Denkinson at am assadorial level plus a safe haven pact for oth monarchs in each other=s country" +e also asked for men to uild ships and sail them plus artillery to assist in his military campaign against the Swedes and their allies" .y now Denkinson was not only the :uscovy 0ompany=s most e>perienced mariner ut had ecome a pivotal planner and researcher for the :uscovy 0ompany as well as a trusted emissary etween the English and &ussian courts" Eli1a eth had no wish to ecome involved in an alliance and sideBstepped the issue when she replied to #van=s new re,uests in 1$63 ut her letter firmly promised the offer of sanctuary should #van e forced to flee &ussiaC ?*e offer that yf at anie time it so mishappe that you, +ord, our brother mperour and great %uke, bee by anie casuall chaunce, either of secrite conspiracie or outward hostillitie, driuen to change your countries, and shall like to repaire into our ,ingdome and %ominions, with the noble empresse, your wife, and youre deare #hildren, the &rinces, we shall.... appoint you, the mperour and great %uke, a place in our ,ingdom fitt vppon your owne charges, as longe as ye shall like to remaine with vs"= 2lthough this clever diplomatic riposte y Eli1a eth was never taken up, as the %sar soon afterwards signed a peace treaty with his enemies, it was well received y him and helped to strengthen the position of the English in &ussia" #n Duly 1$71, Denkinson was sent ack to &ussia on his fourth and final e>pedition there" 2s a result of a reakdown in the reciprocal defence treaty,
16

resulting from %homas &andolph=s a ortive mission to :oscow in 1$63 8see page >>9, #van had revoked the trading privileges that Denkinson had so successfully negotiated in 1$66" Denkinson was now appointed am assador, replacing &andolph and sent ack to &ussia with the remit to reinstate the trade agreement" +owever, due to plague ,uarantines, he was held up at !holmogory for over si> months and was una le to reach :oscow until :arch 1$7)" Denkinson wrote to ;illiam 0ecil, now /ord .urghley, descri ing the devastating results of the plague in &ussia and the attack y 0rimean %artars on :oscow in :ay 1$71" :uch of the city was urnt to the ground, resulting in many deaths, including some thirty of the 0ompany=s employees who were urnt to death in the English +ouse" +e also provided yet more evidence of atrocities perpetrated y #van the %erri le on his own people and the %sar=s murder of his own son" (uring the course of two meetings with the %sar, Denkinson, y hinting ver ally at a political alliance without committing anything concrete to writing, rilliantly persuaded the %sar to reinstate all the :uscovy 0ompany=s privileges" ;ith relations restored and the English trading privileges once again agreed, Denkinson finally left :oscow in Duly 1$7) and returned to England F a successful culmination to a remarka le period of fifteen years at the centre of 2ngloB&ussian relations" (espite all his travelling, Denkinson still found time to court and then in 1$63 marry Dudith :arshe, the daughter of Dohn :arshe who was one of the original mem ers of the :uscovy 0ompany and an :4 for /ondon" Denkinson retained an interest in e>ploration and trade matters and colla orated closely with oth :artin Fro isher and Sir +umphrey <il ert, who paid tri ute to Denkinson as ? a man of rare vertue, great travaile, and e-perience="6 Denkinson died at his 5orthamptonshire home in 161*" 2s well as continuing to e>plore a northBeast passage, the am itious :uscovy 0ompany was pushing more of its merchants south and east across &ussia to open up new trading routes and missions were dispatched in 1$6$, 1$63 and again in 1$69, following in Denkinson=s footsteps" (espite the enefits rought y the growing new trade with &ussia, the :uscovy 0ompany=s search for a northBeast sea passage to the 'rient continued and several new e>ploratory voyages were undertaken, mostly led y Steven .orough, a (evon man who had een master of the dward Bonaventure on the initial -ourney with 0hancellor in 1$$7" +e led an e>pedition to &ussia in 1$$6 in the .erchthrift, a relatively small ship with a crew of only eight men" Using the knowledge from ;illough y=s doomed voyage, he sailed east and discovered the important !ara Strait etween 5ovaya Gemlya and the &ussian mainland which would ease significantly further progress eastwards for su se,uent e>plorers" +e made limited contact with local tri es on the mainland ut found them ar arous and unfriendly and sailed on" +owever, y early autumn, his small ship ecame increasingly surrounded y ice and with his route east now completely locked, .orough was forced to turn ack and sailed south into the ;hite Sea" +e wintered near 2rchangel at the spot where 0hancellor had originally landed and eventually returned to England the following year" #n 1$$3, he visited the
6

Sir +umphrey <il ert, %iscourse of a %iscovery for a )ew &assage to #ataia, 1$76"

17

Spanish navigation school in Seville and rought ack a copy of 0ortJs de 2l acar=s Breve #ompendio which .orough had translated and pu lished as the $rt of )avigation in 1$61" %his ook ecame the first English manual of navigation" #n 1$6* he was in charge of another e>pedition to &ussia and these :uscovy 0ompany trips developed into something of a family affair" .orough=s younger rother, ;illiam, who had served as an ordinary seaman in the dward Bonaventure on her 1$$7 voyage, su se,uently made many voyages to :uscovy" Steven=s son, 0hristopher .orough, wrote a description of a later e>pedition for the :uscovy 0ompany from the ;hite Sea across &ussia to the 0aspian Sea7" .orough, who was a skilled linguist, speaking fluent &ussian and 4ersian, set out from England in Dune 1$79 with four other senior merchants, 2rthur Edwards, ;illiam %urn ull, :atthew %al oys and 4eter <arrard with the o -ective of trading with the 4ersians" %he group arrived at St 5icholas one month later and from there they travelled to Aaroslavl, north of :oscow and then down the Eolga y oat to 2strakhan" %his e>pedition was in fact uilding on an earlier mission undertaken y Edwards with three other English traders who sailed down the Eolga in a &ussian river oat renamed the /race of /od in 1$63 and reached the 0aspian Sea" .orough=s group spent the winter in 2strakhan and, leaving 2rthur Edwards and half of their goods ehind, the rest set sail in :ay 1$3* on what .orough descri es as an EnglishB uilt ar,ue across the 0aspian Sea" Unfortunately, .orough fails to ela orate on the intriguing fact of how this English sailing ship came to e in 2strakhan as the 0aspian is landlocked" #t is possi le that one of the early English ship uilding e>perts that #van re,uested was dispatched to uild ships here, either y #van or the &ussia 0ompany" 2fter some difficult sailing in the shallow waters of the 0aspian, they eventually landed a month later near .aku 8the capital of modernBday 21er ai-an9 which was then under the control of the %urks, not the hoped for 4ersians" <iven the situation, they decided to trade with the %urkish 4asha of .aku, who received them favoura ly" %wo of the group, %urn ull and %al oys, risked travelling a little further inland where they finally made contact with some 4ersian merchants and traded some silk efore returning to .aku, together with several stragglers they found on the way, including two Spaniards who had escaped from captivity y the .ar ary pirates3 near %unis" 'n returning to 2strakhan in (ecem er, they discovered that 2rthur Edwards had died there from a fever during the previous year" ;ith the arrival of spring, the party split up, some returning north in 2pril 1$31 to eventually sail home in the *illiam and 0ohn laden with the proceeds of their trading and the others staying ehind to sell what was left" .orough is thought to have stayed on in &ussia for several
7

0hristopher .orough, $duertisements and reports of the 1th voyage into the parts of &ersia and "edia for the #ompany of "erchants for the discouerie of new trades, in the yeares 2345, 2367, and 2362" 8 %he .ar ary pirates or corsairs were primarily ased in 2lgiers and %unis and raided for slaves around much of the :editerranean and even up to northern Europe" #t has een estimated that they captured more than one million people as slaves etween the 16th and 19th centuries"

18

years, visiting the various English trading houses etween 2strakhan and 2rchangel, collecting information for a su se,uent report he made to the :uscovy 0ompany" +e is known to have returned to England y :arch 1$36 and he died the following year" .orough=s nautical training ena led him to record the latitudes of various regions in which he travelled during his time in &ussia and his maps are considered the first to have een written y a European with regard to the northern parts of &ussia and 0entral 2sia" +is linguistic e>pertise also led him to ring ack two &ussian manuscripts which are oth now at the .odleian /i rary in '>ford" .orough=s reports also showed that in the fifteen or so years since 0hancellor returned to England with the news of his first contact with &ussia, the trading tentacles of the :uscovy 0ompany had already spread considera ly across the country" %he e>tent of the growing wealth and am ition of the :uscovy 0ompany is shown y the fact that while .orough was still away and his wherea outs unknown, another e>pedition was organi1ed" 2rthur 4et and 0harles Dackman set out in 1$3* commanding two vessels the /eorge and the *illiam, with instructions to sail through the !ara Strait discovered earlier y Steven .orough and from there to continue eastwards eyond the ' i &iver in western Si eria 9" %hey sailed past through the !ara Strait, past the southern tip of 5ovaya Gemlya and reached ;aigat #sland on the 19th of Duly" ;hile trying to push their way along its northern coast, they ecame increasingly closed in y late ice, which prevented any further progress" %he ships ecame separated and for a time could only communicate with each other y eating drums or firing off muskets" %hey eventually managed to regroup and, roping the two ships together, they then attached themselves to an ice erg, surrounded y fields of ice and enveloped in fog" #n this precarious fashion, they sat and waited for two weeks for an improvement in the weather" +owever, it was then mid 2ugust and 4et and Dackman rightly concluded that it was too late to try to make further progress eastwards and so turned around to make the long -ourney home" 4et returned safely to England ut there is some dispute a out the final stages of Dackman=s voyage" 'ne version claims that he wintered in a 5orwegian port efore sailing home in the spring when his ship with all on oard was lost at sea 1*" :ore likely is a contemporary version y the .ritish am assador of the time 11 who stated Dackman and his crew were sei1ed off the coast of Si eria and were seen y him in :oscow around 1$9*" ;hichever version is correct, 4et and Dackman must e credited with having reached the most easterly point of the northBeast passage y any :uscovy 0ompany e>plorer" %his was to e the last maritime e>pedition y the :uscovy 0ompany to try to find a northBeast route to the 'rient@ the financial and human costs were proving too high" %hey did however persist with several overland e>peditions y their factors or agents ased in :oscow" 2lthough the dream of finding a northern passage around &ussia to the east egan to fade with the failure of 4et and Dackman=s voyage, periodic English and (utch e>peditions continued to venture north into the 2rctic regions in the
9

%he mouth of the ' i or ' forms the world=s longest estuary and is usually iceB ound from the end of 'cto er until early Dune" 10 +elen ;right, The /reat *hite )orth, 191*" 11 Sir Derome +orsey, Travels in Russia, 16*1"

19

early 17th century, often with disastrous results" 2lthough the focus of these voyages was on finding a northern passage, the increasingly attractive potential for whaling in the 2rctic waters to the north of 5orway and &ussia provided an added impetus" %he :uscovy 0ompany had een granted a monopoly on whaling y Hueen Eli1a eth as early as 1$77 ut it was not until the turn of the 16th century that the 0ompany e>panded its operations to e>ploit the profita le northern whaling grounds, principally around Spits ergen" #n the spring of 16*7, the e>perienced English mariner +enry +udson was recruited y the :uscovy 0ompany to seek a passage via the 5orth 4ole to Dapan and 0hina" +e set sail with his son Dohn and ten companions, striking due north where he elieved he would find an iceBfree sea" 'n reaching the edge of the polar ice pack, he followed it east until he arrived at the Spits ergen archipelago ut was una le to make further progress" 2 year later, the 0ompany again sent +udson to seek a northBeast passage through the .arents Sea and past the islands of 5ovaya Gemlya ut, once more, +udson found his path locked y ice and he returned to England" #n 2pril 16*9 +udson made a final attempt to find a northBeast passage though this time in the employ of the (utch East #ndia 0ompany" +e sailed in the 8alf "oon from +olland ut strong headwinds and storms locked his path" ;hilst in 2msterdam, +udson had heard reports of possi le routes to the East around 5orth 2merica and now decided to change his plans and sail westwards reaching the 2tlantic coast of 2merica where he e>plored the area around what would ecome 5ew Aork and the river that ears his name" %hat same year Sir %homas Smith set out from England in the $mity to search for a polar passage ut, like +udson, he was una le to progress past Spits ergen due to the density of the ice pack" 'ver the ne>t decade the :uscovy 0ompany sent a num er of e>peditions into the 2rctic region to search for a northern passage and hunt for walrus and whales" #n 161* Donas 4oole sailed north in the $mity to Spits ergen where he spent three months e>ploring the west coast, hunting walrus and collecting lu er from eached whales" +e returned north on two su se,uent voyages in 1611 and 161) and arrived ack in /ondon after the latter voyage, his ships laden with 13* tons of whale oil" +is success was followed up with further e>peditions sent north y the :uscovy 0ompany under &o ert Fother y as well as the (utch" #n 1676 a (utch ship was sent to Spits ergen in an attempt to esta lish a whaling ase and seven unfortunate men were landed and left to overwinter there" %wo of the party were English F 2ndrew Dohnson from :iddles rough and 2drian Dohnson, possi ly a relative then living in (elft in +olland" ;hen (utch ships returned the following year, the whole party was found dead in their hut" 2 collection of early traveller=s tales relates the story of a group of fortyBtwo sailors of mi>ed nationality whose ship ecame stuck in ice in :ay 1666 in the same region1)" .y the time a passing ship found the wreck in Septem er, only four men were still alive" %he group had run out of food and these four had survived y eating a leather elt that they had cut up and shared a few inches at a time" (espite the est efforts of the rescuing ship=s crew, three of

12

Dohn 4inkerton, 9oyages and %iverse Travels, 1311

20

them died soon after on oard and only one, an Englishman, finally made it ack home" &elations etween England, the :uscovy 0ompany and &ussia continued to develop and improve through the first half of the 17 th century, although there were distinct ups and downs" 4redicta ly, most of the pro lems were in one way or another a out money" 2s trade with &ussia grew and the num er of merchants involved increased, there were various disputes a out payments and de ts" :uch of this involved merchants dealing independently outside the structures of the 0ompany or stealing from each other" 2s this was the age of lawless Eli1a ethan uccaneers, it=s not surprising that some English traders tried to reak the 0ompany=s monopoly and operate on their own account, elieving they would e eyond the reach of any law" %here were also pro lems with #van, who at one stage decided to try to make money y trading himself and insisting that the 0ompany should give priority to his goods over their own" (uring the reign of #van, various accusations, claims and counterBclaims were made in letters e>changed etween the 0ompany and the &ussian or English courts ut, although these caused some temporary diplomatic rifts, they were generally eventually resolved" %here were clearly good relations etween 0harles # and %sar 2le>is as 0harles sent English troops to fight with the &ussians under 0olonel Sanderson in their 167) war against the 4oles 8see 0hapter ##9 and %sar 2le>is sent money and corn to help 0harles during his struggle with the 4arliamentarians" +owever, when news of the arrest and e>ecution of 0harles # reached the &ussian court, 2le>is was horrified" 2s an a solute monarch, his views on the actions and religious eliefs of the English 4arliamentarians were predicta le and understanda le" (iplomatic relations were roken off and in 1666 he e>pelled all English merchants from &ussia" %hese outward manifestations of the %sar=s feelings a out the events in England perhaps conveniently masked an underlying change that had een going on for some years in &ussia" %he English success in its trade with &ussia had provoked an increasing interest on the part of (utch merchants who were ecoming a growing force on the international scene" %he :uscovy 0ompany found the (utch increasingly snapping at their heels and y a mi>ture of offering the &ussians higher prices for their goods and payment of customs dues plus some du ious dealings with &ussian officials, the (utch had taken an important slice of the market y the mid 16**s" 2lso, there was growing opposition on the part of &ussian merchants to the favoured position of the :uscovy 0ompany" %hus 2le>is= e>pulsion of the English was pro a ly driven as much y commercial opportunism as y his disgust with the new English 4uritan government" ;ith the restoration of 0harles ## to the English throne in 166*, 2ngloB &ussian relations resumed and correspondence etween the two rulers indicated a mutual respect and warmth of feelings towards each other" %he :uscovy 0ompany was once again welcomed ack to trade in &ussia and, soon after, the 0ompany reorgani1ed its structure and ecame more commonly known as %he &ussia 0ompany" 2lthough it continued to en-oy important privileges regarding ta>es and duties and officially retained its monopoly over English trade with &ussia, it was una le to recover its former dominant position in the &ussian market" #n 1693 the 0ompany lost its privileged position as a result of domestic
21

political opposition stirred up y other .ritish merchants envious of the 0ompany=s trade rights" (uring the 16th and 17th centuries, the main :uscovy 0ompany trade was initially English woollen cloth for &ussian furs, tim er and tallow" (ue to its high ,uality and cost, the market for English cloth was largely limited to the &ussian court and richer segments of society" 'ver time, the e>ports from &ussia e>panded to include wa>, tar, leather and hemp as well as grain" +emp ecame particularly important to meet the needs of the growing .ritish navy and ship uilding industry" %he &ussia 0ompany soon set up its own rope works near 2rchangel as it was more economical to e>port &ussian hemp in a processed form" %o acco, metals such as iron, copper and lead plus manufactured metal products, especially armaments of all kinds, were e>ported ack from England in e>change" &ussian caviar, which had already ecome a sought after delicacy, was also e>ported y the 0ompany to #talian ports and the 'ttoman Empire" #n 1717, the 0ompany relocated its &ussian head,uarters from :oscow to 2rchangel and in 17)7 it changed again to the new &ussian capital of St 4eters urg" #ts individual agents across the country were called factors and the term ?.ritish Factory= came to e used for the large group of .ritish merchants in St 4eters urg" (uring the 19 th century it maintained trading posts in :oscow, 2rchangel and !ronstadt as well as the head,uarters in St 4eters urg and continued in e>istence until the .olshevik revolution in 1917, since when it has operated mainly as a charity" %he remarka le e>ploits and achievements of 0hancellor and .orough stand comparison with their more famous Eli1a ethan compatriots, (rake and &aleigh" .y esta lishing a maritime route to &ussia and developing the ensuing trade monopoly, they laid the foundations for .ritain to eventually uild the strongest navy in the world" ;ithout the &oyal 5avy, the su se,uent .ritish Empire would not have een possi le" +owever, these English e>plorers were not the first Europeans to visit &ussia, neither were they the first to arrive from what we now call the .ritish #sles" %hat honour pro a ly elongs to an early mem er of the Scottish .ruce family called &ognvald .rusason" .orn around 1*1*, he was the son of .rusi Sigurdsson, then the Earl of 'rkney 17 whose mother was Scottish, possi ly a daughter of :alcolm ##" 2s a child, &ognvald was taken y his father to 5orway where he remained for many years under the protection of !ing 'laf" Following the overthrow of 'laf in 1*71, &ognvald went into e>ile with 'laf=s rother, +arald +ardrada, arriving at !iev in &us where they served in the army of Aaroslav #, the <rand 4rince of the &us" &ognvald returned to 5orway in 1*7$ and soon after, went ack to 'rkney as Earl where he died in 1*66" .rusason was soon followed y another .ritish prince" ;hen the English king, Edmund #ronside lost his throne to !ing 0anute in 1*16, his son Edward fled to Europe, eventually ending up in !iev" 5ow known as Edward the E>ile, he married 2gatha, one of the <rand 4rince of !iev=s daughters and after the death of !ing 0anute, he returned to England in 1*$7 ut died shortly afterwards" 2gatha eventually settled in Scotland where her eldest daughter, :argaret, married !ing :alcolm ### of Scotland around the
13

%he 'rkney #slands, off the north coast of Scotland, were then part of the kingdom of 5orway"

22

year 1*7*" :alcolm was the son of !ing (uncan, famously murdered y :ac eth" +arald +ardrada also eventually returned to 5orway, ecoming king in 1*67" #n 1*66, he invaded England ut was defeated and killed at the attle of Stamford .ridge in Septem er y !ing +arold=s forces" +owever, +arold=s victory was short lived, as only a few weeks later he was defeated y ;illiam the 0on,ueror at the .attle of +astings" %he fact that +arold had to make a forced march north to fight +ardrada at Stamford .ridge and then speedily move ack south to confront the 5orman invasion, all in less than three weeks, was an important factor in +arold=s defeat y ;illiam" 0oincidentally, +arold=s defeat was to also result in the first English arrival in &ussia" +is daughter, <ytha, along with +arold=s two sons, fled the country after their father=s death in 1*66 and sought the protection of their uncle, the king of (enmark" +e soon married <ytha off to the son of Aaroslav #, Eladimir :onomakh, who was now the <rand 4rince of !iev" ;e have no record of <ytha=s feelings at eing packed off to faraway &us ut she stayed on for several years, having at least five children with Eladimir and two of their sons su se,uently succeeded their father as 4rinces of !iev" 2fter living many years in !ievan &us, there are two different versions of her final years" 'ne has it that she died in 1*93, having ecome a nun in a monastery" %he other states that she left the country to take part in the First 0rusade and was uried in Derusalem" ;hat is certain is that one of :onomakh=s sons, 4rince Auri (olgoruki, went on to ecome the founder of :oscow and thus the city may have een esta lished y a half English 4rince"16 %he land of the &us that &ognvald, Edward and <ytha went to in the 11 th century was a distant and difficult place to reach, especially for those coming from the north or west of Europe" ;ith almost si> months of winter, the few roads were all ut impassa le and the rivers totally fro1en" #n the summer months, political insta ility and fre,uent wars etween the various principalities and kingdoms made any -ourney eastwards towards &ussia e>tremely ha1ardous and unpredicta le" +owever, over the course of the ne>t three centuries an increasing num er of Europeans successfully made their way into the lands of &ussia" %he <ermans, Scandinavians and 2ustrians arrived through +ungary, 4oland and /ithuania and intriguingly, Sir &ichard +akluyt mentions 1$ the travels of an unnamed Englishman in %artary, 4oland and +ungary in 1)67" Some like :arco 4olo travelled into the southern parts of what was later to ecome the country of &ussia on their -ourneys farther east" %hese initial contacts were mostly to places around the .lack Sea F %artary 8Ukraine9, <eorgia and 21er ai-an" .ut the approach from the south through the :editerranean and .lack Seas ecame increasingly dangerous, especially after the capture of 0onstantinople y the 'ttomans in 16$7" %he .lack Sea region effectively ecame a closed area for Europeans as most of the coastal areas were then held y the %urks and their vassals, the %atars" #n addition, for those attempting to cross the :editerranean, there was the very real threat of eing
14

Since :onomakh remarried after <ytha=s death, it is not certain whether or not (olguruki was her son" 15 &ichard +akluyt, The principall )avigations, 9oiages and %iscoveries of the nglish )ation, 2365.

23

captured and sold into slavery y the .ar ary pirates ased in 5orth 2frica" %his partly e>plains the prolonged search y the :uscovy 0ompany for a naviga le northern route to &ussia and eyond into 4ersia and the near east" %he easier and more o vious route for a maritime nation like the .ritish would normally have een across the :editerranean and on into the .lack Sea" 2lthough 0hancellor=s accidental ?discovery= of &ussia in 1$$7 soon led to a mutually eneficial trading relationship, the two nations had more in common than the simple desire to trade" .oth were ruled y strong monarchs" Each country sat at the outer edges of Europe, on opposite peripheries and oth suffered from aggressive neigh ours who were stronger militarily and more advanced culturally and economically, although England was significantly more developed than &ussia" #n addition, the two kingdoms shared a traditional religious distrust and hatred of &oman 0atholicism" Each country was on the cusp of ma-or territorial e>pansions that would turn oth of them into empires and the dominant reason ehind these e>pansions was similar F a desire to increase the nation=s wealth y gaining access to important resources and especially, in England=s case, controlling the resultant trade" For the English, the discovery and e>ploitation of a maritime route to &ussia rought not only a growth in maritime knowledge and confidence ut also helped develop the vision of England as a nation that e>tended eyond its own shores"

24