10 Facts About Richard Chancellor

Richard Chancellor was an English explorer and navigator; the first to penetrate to the White Sea and establish relations with the Tsardom of Russia.

In 1550 Richard Chancellor sailed as an apprentice pilot to the eastern Mediterranean in the bark Aucher commanded by Roger Bodenham.

Richard Chancellor acquired additional geographical and maritime proficiency from the explorer Sebastian Cabot and the geographer John Dee.

Sir Hugh Willoughby was given three ships for the search, and Richard Chancellor went as chief navigator and second-in-command.

Richard Chancellor made the journey of over 600 miles to Moscow by horse-drawn sleigh through snow and ice-covered country.

Richard Chancellor found Moscow large and primitively built, most houses being constructed of wood.

Richard Chancellor was no less optimistic, finding a good market for his English wool, and receiving furs and other Muscovian goods in return.

When Richard 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.

Richard 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.

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