May 10 - A search for the Northeast Passage finds Ivan the Terrible instead

On this day in Tudor history, 10th May 1553, near the end of King Edward VI’s reign, the first expedition of the Company of Merchant Adventurers, left London in search of a Northeast passage for Asia.

 

The voyage, with its fleet of three ships, was led by Richard Chancellor, Sebastian Cabot and Sir Hugh Willoughby. It failed in its aim, and Willoughby and his crew died, but Richard Chancellor was able to come to a very beneficial agreement with Ivan the Terrible.

 

Find out more about the company, the voyage and the resulting trade agreement, and Muscovy Company, in today's talk from Claire Ridgway, founder of the Tudor Society.

 

“The principal navigations, voyages, traffiques & discoveries of the English nation” - https://archive.org/details/principalnaviga23haklgoog/page/n242/mode/2up 

  
Also on this day in Tudor history, 10th May 1552, author John Clerk, who had served Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, as his secretary, avoided public shame with a very final act in the Tower of London. What happened? What led Clerk to this end? How had he ended up in the Tower of London? Find out in last year’s video - https://youtu.be/ZzKJTcRUkrM 

Also on this day in 1536, during the fall of Anne Boleyn, the Grand Jury of Middlesex met to decide on whether Queen Anne Boleyn, George Boleyn, Sir Henry Morris, Sir Francis Weston, William Brereton and Mark Smeaton should be sent to trial. But what were the charges? Find out in 10th May 1536 video - https://youtu.be/N5RDVpO7cwI