Exploration

• Henry VIII was uninterested in exploration and made no attempt to build on the early achievements of Cabot and the Bristol merchants at the end of the fifteenth century
• Robert Thorne, a Bristol trader, continued his involvement in an Iceland and Newfoundland fishery
• Other merchants that showed an interest in further exploration found themselves unable to win royal support for any venture
• Sebastian Cabot remained in Spain for most of Henry VIII's reign apart from two short visits to England
• It was only after Edward VI took the throne that Sebastian Cabot returned to England