Arel, Maria Salomon. English Trade and Adventure to Russia in the Early Modern Era: The Muscovy Company, 1603-1649. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2019.
As the fog rolls over the port of Archangel, English merchants rush to get goods boarded onto ships. The naval goods bound for England have dried up over the last couple of decades and the tradewinds in Russia are changing for the worst. The Russian government would withdraw the special status enjoyed by English merchants where they did not have to pay Russian customs. The Muscovy Company was originally intended to find a northern passage to Asia. However, Richard Chancellor found the government of Muscovy in Present-day Russia. Chancellor was greeted by Muscovite officials and was sent to Moscow to meet Tsar Ivan IV. After meeting with the Tsar, Chancellor retired to London to discuss his findings with Mary I. Mary charted the Muscovy Company in 1555 and they immediately got to work sending goods between England and Russia.
Maria Salomon Arel is a professor of History at Marianopolis College in Quebec, Canada. English Trade and Adventure is the first book that she has published, but she has written many articles that discuss trade and the Muscovy government in the 17th century. The articles have been published in academic journals and some have been turned into chapters for edited volumes. English Trade and Adventure was published by Lexington Books. Lexington Books specializes in published peer-reviewed books that are not affiliated with a University press. Arel breaks ground in her first book and she makes an outstanding argument that changes how we should view the Muscovy Companies’ decline during the English Civil War.
Arel formats English Trade and Adventure in a chronological form that follows the formation of the company and many of the challenges it had to face over the 16th and 17th centuries. As the narrative progress, a fuller picture is made of the company and how it balanced changes in Russia with changes in England. Arel argues that the Muscovy Company was not pushed out of the region by the Dutch traders, as other historians have argued, but rather that the company took a backseat to the larger markets that opened up to England after the English Civil War. Arel uses unused Russian sources that show that the Muscovy Company was not killed but rather slowly died on the vine. Her argument refutes other arguments made by previous historians and uses sources both from England and Russia for evidence. The Muscovy Company has a complicated story that suffered from developments in both Russia and England that forced the company to decline.
The English and the Dutch engaged in a protracted trade war that spanned the globe. In Russia, it was no different. Both countries vied to control the markets and as Russia consolidated power and turned towards the West, Russia wanted a greater say in their markets. England looked toward Russia as a source for raw materials it needed for the navy. England during the 16th and 17th centuries were on the verge of establishing a global empire and needed the rope to maintain their navy. Through Russia, England imported cheap rope that sustained the Royal Navy throughout this period. England set about constructing the port city of Arkhangelsk, in Northern Russia, to ship their goods. The Russian market also used English to export textiles created in England. The flow of goods between Russia and England was beneficial to both parties.
The Muscovy Company continued to thrive up to the English Civil War. Arel points out that the schism that hit England also hit the Muscovy Company. The older merchants allied themselves with the Royalists, whereas the younger traders allied themselves with Parliament. The English Civil War was a major sticking point for the Russians. The Russian Tsar saw the company as turning their back on their sovereign and relations soured. However, relations did not cease and a new generation of traders was prepared to expand the economic reach of the English state.
Arel points out that the younger generation was using the ever-expanding English Empire to grow their trade partners. While working for the Muscovy Company, merchants would regularly trade for goods that would be shipped to the Americas or the powerful states of the Middle East. The younger merchants of the Muscovy Company were not bound by the traditional rules of an earlier trade. They were not members of elite families and were using new networks of trade to deal with more goods. Taking advantage of the increasing reach of English interests in the 17th century, the Muscovy Company was able to trade in a larger number of goods that were not bound for Russia or England. Some of the goods were destined for the Mediterranian and the Levant through the use of traditional Russian trade routes.
Arel finds new Russian sources that point to English and Dutch cooperation while in Russia. The Dutch and English merchants would work together to pressure the Tsar to preserve special economic status that prevented an export tax. Her new sources fly in the face of previous scholarship that states the Muscovy Company was pummeled to death by the power of the Dutch Merchants. Arel argues that instead the Dutch and the English worked together in some instances until the Russian Tsar was unwilling to work with the English anymore. The Muscovy Company was overshadowed in English thinking by the larger markets and colonies that were established around the globe.
Arel writes an original argument that is supported by both Russian and English sources. Her argument is original and turns away from the previous scholarship to provide a clearer picture. Previous scholarship has only used English sources to examine the Muscovy Company. Arel, on the other hand, uses sources from both countries to create an original argument that complicates the picture of the company. English Trade and Adventure sets out to chart a new course in the history of trade in Russia. Her structure and argument make for a fascinating read that challenges previous scholarship and opens a dialog on the history of the English trade in Russia.
Reviewed by Tyler Thompson
