¹ Chteniia v obshchestve istorii i drevnostei rossiiskikh pri Moskovskom universitete, 1874, book III, part 4, pp. 75–83.Google Scholar

² Liubimenko, Inna, Les Relations commerciales et politiques de l'Angleterre avec la Russie avant Pierre le Grand (Paris, 1933), pp. 137n 1, 141Google Scholar; and idem, “A Project for the Acquisition of Russia by James I,” The English Historical Review 29 (1914): 246–56; and “Angliiskii proekt 1612 goda o podchinenii russkago severa protektoratu korolia Iakova I,” Nauchnyi Istoricheskii Zhurnal 2, part 5 (1914): 1–16.Google Scholar

³ Liubimenko, , Les Relations, pp. 277–78Google Scholar, and “Les projets d'alliance anglo-russe au XVIe et XVIIe siècles (1567–1623),” Revue d'Histoire Diplomatique 38 (1923): 67–68.Google Scholar

⁴ Liubimenko, , Les Relations, p. 280Google Scholar. Cf. Platonov, S. F., Moscow and the West, trans. Wieczynski, Joseph (Hattiesburg, Miss., 1972), pp. 8–9, 53, 76.Google Scholar

⁵ Konovalov, S., “Thomas Chamberlayne's Description of Russia, 1631,” Oxford Slavonic Papers 5 (1954): 107–16.Google Scholar

⁶ Phipps, Geraldine M., Sir John Merrick, English Merchant-Diplomat in Seventeenth-Century Russia (Newtonville, Mass., 1983), ch. 3Google Scholar; Baron, Samuel H., “Thrust and Parry: Anglo-Russian Relations in the Muscovite North,” Oxford Slavonic Papers 21 (1988): 19–40.Google Scholar

⁷ Virginskii, V., “Proekty prevrashcheniia Severovostochnoi Rossii v angliiskuiu koloniiu v XVII veke,” Istoricheskii Zhurnal 11 (November, 1940): 91, 94–95Google Scholar; Kosminskii, E. A. and Levitskii, Ia. A., eds., Angliiskaia burzhuaznaia revoliutsiia XVII veka, 2 vols. (Moscow, 1954), 2: 93Google Scholar; Alpatov, M. A., Russkaia istoricheskaia mysl' i Zapadnaia Evropa, XVII-pervaia chetvert' XVIII veka (Moscow, 1976), pp. 9–10.Google Scholar

⁸ Nakashidze, N. T., Russko-angliiskie otnosheniia vo vtoroi polovine XVI v. (Tbilisi, 1956), pp. 153–55.Google Scholar

⁹ Lur'e, Ia. S., “Russko-angliiskie otnosheniia i mezhdunarodnaia politika vtoroi poloviny XVI v.,” in Zimin, A. A. and Pashuto, V. T., eds., Mezhdunarodnye sviazi Rossii do XVII v. Sbornik statei (Moscow, 1961), pp. 419–43Google Scholar; Paeffgen, Thomas, “English-russische Wirtschaftbeziehungen in der 2. Hàlfte des 16. Jahrhunderts,” Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas (1974), pp. 12–34.Google Scholar

¹⁰ Nasonov, A. N., Cherepnin, L. V., Zimin, A. A., eds., Ocherki istorii SSSR. Period feodalizma. Konets XV v.-nachalo XVII v. (Moscow, 1955), pp. 587–89.Google Scholar

¹¹ Platonov, Moscow and the West, pp. 47–48; Kosminskii, and Levitskii, , Angliiskaia revoliutsiia, 2: 92Google Scholar; Virginskii, , “Proekty,” p. 94Google Scholar; Liubimenko, , Les Relations, pp. 140–41.Google Scholar

¹² Zhordaniia, Givi, Ocherki iz istorii franko-russkikh otnoshenii kontsa XVI i pervoi poloviny XVII v, 2 vols. (Tbilisi, 1959), 1: 297–370.Google Scholar

¹³ Ibid., 1: 302–07, 310, 316–17.

¹⁴ Sobranie gosudarstvennykh gramot i dogovorov, 5 vols. (St.Petersburg, 1813–1894), 2: 604–07Google Scholar. Margeret and Adrian von Flodorf wrote letters to the provisional government early in 1612 offering their services, and Adrian later referred to Margeret as one of his “colonels.” See Zhordaniia, , Ocherki, 1: 291–92, 303–04, 309–14Google Scholar; Ustrialov, N. G., ed., Skazaniia sovremennikov o Dmitrii Samozvantse, 2 vols. (St. Petersburg, 1859), 1: 239Google Scholar; Margeret, Jacques, The Russian Empire and Grand Duchy of Muscovy: A Seventeenth-Century French Account, trans. and ed. Dunning, Chester S. L. (Pittsburgh, 1983), pp. xxi–xxii.Google Scholar

¹⁵ Zhordaniia, , Ocherki, 1: 300–02, 313–19, 323–24, 329–31, 334–39, 353–55, 359, 363–67.Google Scholar

¹⁶ Ibid., 1: 303–09, 316, 325–28, 334–39, 359.

¹⁷ Fedorowicz, J. K., England's Baltic Trade in the Early Seventeenth-Century (Cambridge, 1980), p. 139.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

¹⁸ Zhordaniia, , Ocherki, 1: 309–10, 321–22Google Scholar; Purchas, Samuel, Hakluytus Posthumus, or Purchas His Pilgrimes, 20 vols. (Glasgow, 1905–1907), 14: 225–26.Google Scholar

¹⁹ Public Record Office, State Papers Foreign [hereafter cited as S.P.F.] 91/1, part 2-ff. 250–50v, memorandum on Solovetskii monastery; Aleksandrenko, V. N., “Materialy po Smutnomu vremeni na Rusi XVII v.,” Starina i Novizna 14 (1911): 193–95.Google Scholar

²⁰ Zhordaniia, , Ocherki, 1: 330.Google Scholar

²¹ Ibid., 1: 353n 8; Purchas, , Hakluytus Posthumus, 14: 226Google Scholar; S.P.F. 88/3, Part 1-f. 55, Patrik Gordone (royal agent in Prussia) to James, 20 April 1612.

²² Zhordaniia, , Ocherki, 1: 309.Google Scholar

²³ S.P.F. 91/1-f. 224, Adrian von Flodorf to James, 10 September 1612. Adrian was a vassal of the elector of Brandenburg, a leader of the Protestant cause in Europe who had close ties with the English court.

²⁴ Liubimenko, , “Angliiskii proekt,” p. 14Google Scholar; Baron, “Thrust and Parry.”

²⁵ S.P.F. 91/1-f. 228v, proposition to acquire Russia; Lubimenko, , “Project,” p. 249.Google Scholar

²⁶ Rymer, T., Foedera, Conventiones, Literae et Cojuscunque Generis Acta Publica, inter Reges Angliae, 20 vols. (London, 1726–1735), 14: 747Google Scholar; Calendar of State Papers and Manuscripts, Relating to English Affairs, Existing in the Archives and Collections of Venice, and in other Libraries of Northern Italy, Part XII [1610–13] (London, 1905), p. 538Google Scholar [hereafter cited as C.S.P.V.]; Bibliothèque Nationale, Manuscrits François [hereafter cited as BN, MSS fr.], Ancien fonds 15987-ff. 68–68v, 80–81, Spifame (ambassador to England) to Puysieux (Secretary of State of France), 8 May and 29 May 1613.

²⁷ Ocherki istorii SSSR, pp. 587–88; Alpatov, , Russkaia mysl', pp. 9–10.Google Scholar

²⁸ Liubimenko, , Les Relations, pp. 142–43Google Scholar; Konovalov, , “Chamberlayne's Description,” p. 108.Google Scholar

²⁹ Platonov, , Moscow and the West, p. 47Google Scholar. This false claim is due to Wieczynski's mistranslation of Platonov's original passage in the Russian edition.

³⁰ S.P.F. 91/1-ff. 228–30, proposition to acquire Russia; Liubimenko, , “Project,” pp. 246–56Google Scholar; Liubimenko, , Les Relations, pp. 136–37Google Scholar; Konovalov, , “Chamberlayne's Description,” p. 107Google Scholar; Virginskii, , “Proekty,” p. 91Google Scholar; Historical Manuscripts Commission. Report on the Manuscripts of the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensbury, vol. I (London, 1899), pp. 124–25Google Scholar [hereafter cited as HMC. Buccleuch].

³¹ Chamberlain, John, The Letters of John Chamberlain, 2 vols. (Philadelphia, 1939), 1: 445.Google Scholar

³² S.P.F. 91/2-f. 190v, memorandum by Thomas Chamberlayne, 1631; S.P.F. 91/1-ff. 220–21v, letter to James, spring 1613; Liubimenko, , “Project,” pp. 255–56.Google Scholar

³³ Edmundson, George, Anglo-Dutch Rivalry During the First Half of the Seventeenth Century (Oxford, 1911), pp. 34, 40–41Google Scholar; I.R., The Trades Increase (London, 1615), pp. 3–4, 47–48Google Scholar; Fedorowicz, , England's Baltic Trade, p. 143.Google Scholar

³⁴ Page, William S., The Russia Company from 1553 to 1660 (London, 1911), p. 166Google Scholar; Scott, William R., The Constitution and Finance of English, Scottish, and Irish Joint-Stock Companies to 1720, 3 vols. (Cambridge, 1912), 2: 53.Google Scholar

³⁵ Liubimenko, Inna, “Les Marchands Anglais en Russie au XVIIe siècle,” Revue Historique 141 (1922): 6Google Scholar; Phipps, Geraldine, “Britons in Seventeenth-Century Russia: A Study in the Origins of Modernization” (Ph.D. diss., University of Pennsylvania, 1971), p. 92Google Scholar; Fedorowicz, , England's Baltic Trade, p. 287 n62.Google Scholar

³⁶ Page, , Russia Company, p. 167Google Scholar; Scott, , Joint-Stock Companies, 1: 145Google Scholar; 2: 53; Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Series, of the Reign of James I, 1611–1618 (London, 1858), p. 140Google Scholar; Digges, Dudley, The Defense of Trade (London, 1615), pp. 16–17.Google Scholar

³⁷ Fedorowicz, , England's Baltic Trade, p. 143Google Scholar; Purchas, , Hakluytus Posthumus, 14: 225–26Google Scholar; HMC. Buccleuch, 1: 124–25.Google Scholar

³⁸ Liubimenko, , “Project,” p. 251Google Scholar; S.P.F. 88/3, part 1-f. 55, Patrik Gordone (royal agent in Prussia) to James, 20 April 1612.

³⁹ HMC. Buccleuch, 1: 125Google Scholar; Liubimenko, , “Les projets,” p. 67.Google Scholar

⁴⁰ Liubimenko, , Les Relations, p. 135Google Scholar; Attman, Artur, The Struggle for Baltic Markets: Powers in Conflict 1558–1618 (Göteborg, 1979), pp. 186, 191, 193–94, 196.Google Scholar

⁴¹ S.P.F. 91/1-ff. 220–21v, letter to James, spring 1613; Baron, “Thrust and Parry.”

⁴² Willan, T. S., The Early History of the Russia Company, 1553–1603 (Manchester, 1956), p. 56.Google Scholar

⁴³ Ibid., p. 152; Morgan, E. Delmar and Coote, C. H., eds., Early Voyages and Travels to Russia and Persia by Anthony Jenkinson and other Englishmen, 2 vols. (London, 1886), 2: 419.Google Scholar

⁴⁴ Foster, William, England's Quest for Eastern Trade (London, 1933), pp. 14–47Google Scholar; Scott, , Joint-Stock Companies, 1: 164Google Scholar; Sykes, Percy, A History of Persia, 2 vols. (London, 1963), 2: 169Google Scholar; Willan, , Early History, pp. 152, 176, 179, 225, 235, 239, 242–43, 257.Google Scholar

⁴⁵ Scott, , Joint-Stock Companies, 1: 43n, 69–70Google Scholar; 2: 47; Page, , Russia Company, pp. 162–63Google Scholar; Willan, , Early History, pp. 56, 147–48, 152, 154–55.Google Scholar

⁴⁶ Attman, , Struggle for Baltic Markets, p. 200Google Scholar; Liubimenko, , Les Relations, p. 126Google Scholar; Massa, Isaac, A Short History of the Beginnings and Origins of These Present Wars in Moscow, trans. Orchard, G. Edward (Toronto, 1982), p. xii.Google Scholar

⁴⁷ Digges, , Defense of Trade, p. 17Google Scholar; Phipps, , “Britons in Russia,” pp. 107–08, 111–12Google Scholar; Cawston, George and Keane, A. H., The Early Chartered Companies (A.D. 1296–1858) (London, 1896), pp. 49–51.Google Scholar

⁴⁸ Spurting, Stanley, Sir Thomas Smythe, knt. (15587–1625): Governor of the East India Company and Patron of Bermuda (New York, 1955), p. 10Google Scholar; Rabb, Theodore K., Enterprise & Empire: Merchant and Gentry Investment in the Expansion of England, 1575–1630 (Cambridge, Mass., 1967), pp. 38, 40, 85, 125, 173CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Scott, , Joint-Stock Companies, 2: 52.Google Scholar

⁴⁹ Digges, , Defense of Trade, p. 17.Google Scholar

⁵⁰ Scott, , Joint-Stock Companies, 1: 71Google Scholar; Foster, , England's Quest, p. 111Google Scholar; Rabb, , Enterprise & Empire, pp. 108, 110, 113 n8, 232–410Google Scholar passim; Dictionary of National Biography, 18: 536–37Google Scholar [hereafter cited as DNB]; Spurling, , Sir Thomas Smythe, p. 18Google Scholar. Both John Merrick and William Russell of the Russia Company were involved. Russell even served as a director of the Northwest Passage Company.

⁵¹ Aleksandrenko, , “Materialy,” pp. 220–21.Google Scholar

⁵² Digges, , Defense of Trade, pp. 16–17Google Scholar; Scott, , Joint-Stock Companies, 1: 127; 2: 54Google Scholar; Page, , Russia Company, p. 173.Google Scholar

⁵³ Historical Manuscripts Commission 9. Calendar of the Manuscripts of the Most Honorable The Marquess of Salisbury, Part XXI [1609–1612] (London, 1970), p. 325Google Scholar; Sykes, , History of Persia, 2: 189.Google Scholar

⁵⁴ Wood, Alfred C., A History of the Levant Company (London, 1964), p. 48.Google Scholar

⁵⁵ S.P.F. 91/1-f. 229v, proposition to acquire Russia; Liubimenko, , “Project,” pp. 250–52.Google Scholar

⁵⁶ Cawston, and Keane, , Early Chartered Companies, pp. 44–45Google Scholar; Chamberlain, , Letters, 1: 445, 448Google Scholar; Scott, , Joint-Stock Companies, 2: 53–54Google Scholar; Page, , Russia Company, pp. 167–73.Google Scholar

⁵⁷ C.S.P.V., no. 79.

⁵⁸ Fedorowicz, , England's Baltic Trade, pp. 27, 139, 151Google Scholar; C.S.P.V., nos. 91, 132; Pierling, Paul, La Russie et le Saint-Siège: Études diplomatiques, 3 vols. (Paris, 1896–1901), 3: 364–66.Google Scholar

⁵⁹ Adrian was close to the elector of Brandenburg, and Margeret was close to Prince Janusz Radziwill and the margraves of Brandenburg. See S.P.F. 91/1-f. 224, Adrian to James, 10 September 1612; Margeret, , Russian Empire, pp. xvi, xxiii.Google Scholar

⁶⁰ S.P.F. 91/1-ff. 220–21v, letter to James, spring 1613; S.P.F. 91/1-f. 224, Adrian to James, 10 September 1612.

⁶¹ Historical Manuscripts Commission 77. Report on the Manuscripts of the Right Honorable Viscount de l'Isle, V [Sidney Papers, 1611–1626] (London, 1962), pp. 77, 97Google Scholar; Fedorowicz, , England's Baltic Trade, pp. 143–44Google Scholar; S.P.F. 88/3-f.61, Patrik Gordone (royal agent in Prussia) to James, January 1613.

⁶² HMC. Buccleuch, 1: 124–25, 130, 132Google Scholar; Liubimenko, , Les Relations, pp. 134–35Google Scholar; S.P.F. 88/3-f. 55, Patrik Gordone (royal agent in Prussia) to James, 20 April 1612.

⁶³ Scott, , Joint-Stock Companies, 1: 140–41.Google Scholar

⁶⁴ S.P.F. 91/1-f. 229v, proposition to acquire Russia; Liubimenko, , “Project,” pp. 253–56Google Scholar; S.P.F. 91/1-ff. 220–21v, letter to James, spring 1613; BN, MSS fr, Ancien fonds 15987-ff. 80–81, Spifame to Puysieux, 29 May 1613; Konovalov, , “Chamberlayne's Description,” pp. 111–12Google Scholar. Baron has pointed out that James may have been influenced by optimistic reports about English explorations along Russia's northeastern coasts (“Thrust and Parry”).

⁶⁵ Rabb, , Enterprise & Empire, p. 40Google Scholar; Spurling, , Sir Thomas Smythe, p. 10Google Scholar; Chamberlain, , Letters, 1: 445, 448Google Scholar; Steensgaard, Niels, The Asian Trade Revolution of the Seventeenth Century (Chicago, 1974), pp. 299–300.Google Scholar

⁶⁶ S.P.F. 91/1-ff. 220–21v, letter to James, spring 1613; BN, MSS fr., Ancien fonds 15987, ff. 68–68v, 80–81, Spifame to Puysieux, 8 May and 29 May 1613; S.P.F. 91/1-f. 230, proposition to acquire Russia; Liubimenko, , “Project,” pp. 252–53.Google Scholar

⁶⁷ Scott, , Joint-Stock Companies, 1: 126Google Scholar; 2: 50; Willan, , Early History, pp. 55–56, 79, 184.Google Scholar

⁶⁸ Wretts-Smith, Mildred, “The English in Russia During the Second Half of the Sixteenth Century,” Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 4th ser., 3 (1920): 95CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Morgan, and Coote, , Early Voyages, 1: 208–09Google Scholar; Willan, , Early History, pp. 82, 185, 254–55.Google Scholar

⁶⁹ Liubimenko, , “Les Marchands Anglais,” p. 22Google Scholar; Phipps, , “Britons in Russia,” p. 92.Google Scholar

⁷⁰ I. R., Trades Increase, p. 52Google Scholar; Lindsay, William S., History of Merchant Shipping and Ancient Commerce, 4 vols. (London, 1874–1876), 2: 556.Google Scholar

⁷¹ S.P.F. 91/1-ff. 228v–29, proposition to acquire Russia; Liubimenko, , “Project,” pp. 250–51.Google Scholar

⁷² BN, MSS fr., Ancien fonds 15987, ff. 80–81, Spifame to Puysieux, 29 May 1613.

⁷³ British Library, Lansdowne MSS 142-f. 395.

⁷⁴ Chamberlain, , Letters, 1: 445, 448Google Scholar; Konovalov, , “Chamberlayne's Description,” pp. 109–10Google Scholar; Phipps, , Sir John Merrick, pp. 70–71.Google Scholar

⁷⁵ C.S.P.V., p. 538; BN, MSS fr., Ancien fonds 15987, ff. 68, 81, Spifame to Puysieux, 8 May and 29 May 1613.

⁷⁶ BL, Lansdowne MSS 142-f. 395; Rabb, , Enterprise & Empire, p. 258.Google Scholar

⁷⁷ Privy Council members who joined one or more of Smith's various companies included Thomas Cecil, Thomas Egerton, Henry Howard, Ludovic Stuart, Charles Howard, Thomas Howard, Gilbert Talbot, Edward Somerset, William Herbert, Robert Carr, William Knowles, John Stanhope, George Abbot, Julius Caesar, Thomas Parry, Thomas Lake, Edward Zouche, and Ralph Winwood (then serving as ambassador to the Dutch Republic). George Calvert could be included; he was a clerk of the Council in 1613. Sir Henry Neville could be included; he was then a candidate for Secretary of State. See Acts of the Privy Council of England, 1613–1614, 33 (London, 1921), pp. 3–4Google Scholar; Rabb, , Enterprise & Empire, pp. 232–410Google Scholar; DNB, 21: 1331.

⁷⁸ Among the most active investors on the Privy Council were Charles Howard, Edward Zouche, Gilbert Talbot, William Knowles, George Abbot, and William Herbert. Henry Neville was also active. See Rabb, , Enterprise & Empire, pp. 224–25Google Scholar and passim; DNB, 21: 1331.

⁷⁹ Edmundson, , Anglo-Dutch Rivalry, pp. 39–40.Google Scholar

⁸⁰ Willan, , Early History, p. 257Google Scholar; Evans, N. E., “The Anglo-Russian Royal Marriage Negotiations of 1600–1603,” The Slavonic and East European Review 61, 3 (1983): 373.Google Scholar

⁸¹ Lockyer, Roger, Tudor and Stuart Britain, 1471–1714 (New York, 1969), pp. 231–32Google Scholar; DNB, 10:30.

⁸² Ashley, Maurice, The Stuarts in Love (London, 1963), p. 113Google Scholar; White, Beatrice, Cast of Ravens: The Strange Case of Sir Thomas Overbury (New York, 1965), pp. 33–34.Google Scholar

⁸³ Carryle, Thomas, Historical Sketches of Notable Persons and Events in the Reigns of James I and Charles I (London, 1895), p. 113Google Scholar; Rowse, A. L., Shakespeare's Southampton (London, 1965), pp. 211, 216.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁸⁴ Akrigg, G. P. V., Jacobean Pageant (Cambridge, Mass., 1962), p. 181CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Gibbs, Philip, King's Favourite: The Love Story of Robert Carr and Lady Essex (London, 1909), pp. 94–96Google Scholar; The Harleian Miscellany (London, 1808), 1: 398.Google Scholar

⁸⁵ McElwee, William, The Murder of Sir Thomas Overbury (New York, 1952), pp. 16–17, 22, 43–44Google Scholar; White, , Cast of Ravens, p. 7.Google Scholar

⁸⁶ Gibbs, , King's Favourite, pp. 91–92Google Scholar; White, , Cast of Ravens, pp. 21, 23, 45Google Scholar; Rowse, , Shakespeare's Southampton, pp. 204, 211.Google Scholar

⁸⁷ McElwee, , The Murder of Sir Thomas Overbury, pp. 60–61Google Scholar; White, , Cast of Ravens, p. 34Google Scholar; Gibbs, , King's Favourite, p. 95Google Scholar; Gardiner, Samuel R., History of England from the Accession of James I to the Outbreak of the Civil War, 1603–1642, 10 vols. (London, 1895–1905), 2: 176.Google Scholar

⁸⁸ Montague, F. C., The History of England from the Accession of James I to the Restoration (London, 1907), p. 65Google Scholar; Willson, D. H., James VI and I (New York, 1956), p. 342Google Scholar; McElwee, , The Murder of Sir Thomas Overbury, pp. 50, 57–58Google Scholar; Gibbs, , King's Favourite, p. 134.Google Scholar

⁸⁹ S.P.F. 91/2-f. 190v, memorandum by Thomas Chamberlayne, 1631; Liubimenko, , “Project,” p. 248Google Scholar; Konovalov, , “Chamberlayne's Description,” p. 109.Google Scholar

⁹⁰ Chamberlain, , Letters, 1: 445, 448Google Scholar; Cawston, and Keane, , Early Chartered Companies, pp. 44–45.Google Scholar

⁹¹ S.P.F. 91/1-ff. 220–21v, letter to James, spring 1613; f. 224, Adrian von Flodorf to James, 10 September 1612; ff. 228–31, proposition to acquire Russia.

⁹² Akrigg, , Jacobean Pageant, p. 182Google Scholar; McElwee, , The Murder of Sir Thomas Overbury, pp. 44, 62Google Scholar; White, , Cast of Ravens, pp. 45, 48.Google Scholar

⁹³ The three leaders of the Protestant party who presented the king's offer to Overbury were George Abbot (archbishop of Canterbury), Chancellor Egerton (lord Ellesmere), and William Herbert (earl of Pembroke). See Smith, Logan P., The Life and Letters of Sir Henry Wotton, 2 vols. (Oxford, 1907), 2: 19–20Google Scholar; White, , Cast of Ravens, pp. 14, 34–35, 48–49, 87Google Scholar; Gibbs, , King's Favourite, p. 92Google Scholar; Rowse, , Shakespeare's Southampton, p. 213.Google Scholar

⁹⁴ Chamberlain, , Letters, 1: 445Google Scholar; BN, MSS fr., Ancien fonds 15987-ff. 68, 80v, Spifame to Puysieux, 8 May and 29 May 1613. It would have been very difficult for the English government to recruit and maintain ten to twelve thousand troops for service in Muscovy. One soldier with prior military experience in Muscovy suggested to the king that three thousand men would actually be enough to establish a protectorate as far south as Vologda or Iaroslavl (see S.P.F. 91/1-ff. 220–21 v, letter to James, spring 1613). The cautious Sir Julius Caesar seemed to think that a thousand men would be enough to fortify Arkhangel'sk. See BL, Lansdowne MSS 142-f. 395.

⁹⁵ Liubimenko, , Les Relations, p. 141Google Scholar; Virginskii, , “Proekty,” p. 94Google Scholar; Aleksandrenko, , “Materialy,” pp. 193–95Google Scholar; S.P.F. 91/1-ff. 250–50v, memorandum on Solovetskii monestery.

⁹⁶ Chamberlain, , Letters, 1: 445.Google Scholar

⁹⁷ There has been considerable confusion in English historical literature concerning the king's offer to make Overbury ambassador to Muscovy in 1613, but there can be no doubt that the offer was made. See BL, Sloane Manuscripts 1002 (State Trials 1613–1616), ff. 20v, 50; Calendar of State Papers Domestic, 1611–18, p. 307; Howell, T. B., ed., A Collection of State Trials and Proceedings for High Treason and other Crimes and Misdemeanors From the Earliest Period to the Year 1783 (London, 1816), cols. 916, 934Google Scholar; Historical Manuscripts Commission. Calendar of the Manuscripts of the Most Honorable The Marquess of Salisbury, Part XXII (London, 1971), p. 20Google Scholar; Chamberlain, , Letters, 1: 445, 448Google Scholar. It was only after Overbury refused the embassy and was sent to the Tower of London (where he was later poisoned to death by the Howard faction) that John Merrick was chosen by the king to negotiate with the Russians. No doubt Merrick, England's leading expert on Russia, would have accompanied Overbury on the mission as principal adviser had the latter not made the fatal mistake of refusing the assignment.

⁹⁸ Phipps, , Sir John Merrick, pp. 71–72.Google Scholar

⁹⁹ Tsar Mikhail was forced to request that Merrick send the royal instructions to him. See HMC. Buccleuch, 1: 136–37.Google Scholar

¹⁰⁰ Liubimenko, , “Project,” p. 256.Google Scholar

¹⁰¹ S.FF. 91/1-ff. 220–21v. Until recently, this document was tentatively described in the PRO's Descriptive List of State Papers, Foreign: Russia (S.P. 91) as “an invitation to the King of Sweden to attack Russia” and was tentatively dated 1610. Internal evidence, however, shows that it was written in 1613 to James. Although this letter written in French is unsigned, close analysis of the handwriting reveals striking similarities to Margeret's (cf. BN, MSS fr., Ancien fonds 4117, ff. 131–32, Margeret to Ambassador Ste. Catherine, 9 May and 9 July 1619). Internal evidence from the letter also suggests that the author, who was well informed about events in Poland and Muscovy, was Captain Margeret. See Dunning, Chester, “A Letter to James I Concerning the English Plan for Military Intervention in Russia,” The Slavonic and East European Review 67, 1 (1989).Google Scholar

¹⁰² The letter contains information about the Diet summoned by King Sigismund in late March 1613. See Reddaway, W. F., et al., The Cambridge History of Poland to 1696 (Cambridge, 1950), p. 468.Google Scholar

¹⁰³ On Margeret's knowledge of Muscovy, his military experience, and his prior contact with Merrick, John, see Margeret, , Russian Empire, pp. xvi–xxiii.Google Scholar

¹⁰⁴ C.S.P.V., no. 728, p. 470.

¹⁰⁵ Zhordaniia, , Ocherki, 1: 299, 353, 355, 360–62, 367Google Scholar. Liubimenko incorrectly guessed that the English had succeeded in hiding the project from the Russians. See Liubimenko, , “Project,” p. 256.Google Scholar

¹⁰⁶ It is hardly surprising that the Dutch discovered the English project by spring 1613. By then the Venetian and French governments had also received reports about James' plans to annex North Russia. See C.S.P.V., p. 538; BN, MSS fr., Ancien fonds 15987, ff. 67–68, 80–81, Spifame to Puysieux, 8 May and 29 May 1613.

¹⁰⁷ Zhordaniia, , Ocherki, 1: 359–60Google Scholar. I have found no evidence to support the Soviet historian Got'e's contention that Merrick and Russell were denied permission to visit Moscow in 1613. See Ocherki istorii SSSR, p. 589. On the contrary, Tsar Mikhail actually gave Merrick permission to visit the capital. See HMC. Buccleuch, 1: 137.Google Scholar

¹⁰⁸ Zhordaniia, , Ocherki, 1: 331, 363–67Google Scholar

¹⁰⁹ Phipps, , “Britons in Russia,” pp. 99–108.Google Scholar