Jerome Horsey - at The Court of Ivan IV

At The Court of Ivan IV

Jerome was apprenticed to the Russia Company in 1571, but the latter was prevented from trading in Russia for a period and his first experience was of trading with the Dutch. Initially he went to Russia in May 1573 on the resumption of trade and was an interpreter. On his way to Moscow he was given gold and jewels by the gentry and clergy of Kostroma for saving the town from the Tsar.

On arriving in Moscow he supposedly rescued Madelyn van Uxell from being sent to a brothel by the Tsar, an act which served him well later. The Russia Company asked Jerome to negotiate a new charter and to use his influence to get extra land for the English compound (which still stands on Varvarka Street in Zaryadye). Part of this land was set aside for his own house, where he entertained Russian noblemen and had personal servants.

He later boasted of saving a number of German prisoners taken when the colony was supposedly massacred. The merchants of Hamburg later gave him a damask tablecloth and napkins while those of Lübeck gave him a "great silver loving cup". He also befriended the 1200 Scots (and a few English) prisoners that were in Moscow. He arranged for them to get paid employment in the Russian Army and got permission for them to build a church.

During his time in Moscow, Jerome seems to have carried out private trading on behalf of members of the English Court, such as Leicester and Walsingham, which was against the rules of the Russia Company. This later caused a dispute with the company, but eventually the problem was resolved by his giving up the property he owned in Moscow, and it was found that they owed him money rather than the other way around.