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The Sultan and the Queen: The Untold Story of Elizabeth and Islam
The fascinating story of Queen Elizabeth’s secret outreach to the Muslim world, which set England on the path to empire, by The New York Times bestselling author of A History of the World in Twelve Maps
We think of England as a great power whose empire once stretched from India to the Americas, but when Elizabeth Tudor was crowned Queen, it was just a tiny and rebellious Protestant island on the fringes of Europe, confronting the combined power of the papacy and of Catholic Spain. Broke and under siege, the young queen sought to build new alliances with the great powers of the Muslim world. She sent an emissary to the Shah of Iran, wooed the king of Morocco, and entered into an unprecedented alliance with the Ottoman Sultan Murad III, with whom she shared a lively correspondence.
The Sultan and the Queen tells the riveting and largely unknown story of the traders and adventurers who first went East to seek their fortunes—and reveals how Elizabeth’s fruitful alignment with the Islamic world, financed by England’s first joint stock companies, paved the way for its transformation into a global commercial empire.
We think of England as a great power whose empire once stretched from India to the Americas, but when Elizabeth Tudor was crowned Queen, it was just a tiny and rebellious Protestant island on the fringes of Europe, confronting the combined power of the papacy and of Catholic Spain. Broke and under siege, the young queen sought to build new alliances with the great powers of the Muslim world. She sent an emissary to the Shah of Iran, wooed the king of Morocco, and entered into an unprecedented alliance with the Ottoman Sultan Murad III, with whom she shared a lively correspondence.
The Sultan and the Queen tells the riveting and largely unknown story of the traders and adventurers who first went East to seek their fortunes—and reveals how Elizabeth’s fruitful alignment with the Islamic world, financed by England’s first joint stock companies, paved the way for its transformation into a global commercial empire.
338 pages, Hardcover
First published March 24, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 130 reviews
December 1, 2016
If you hadn't heard, America and the Islamic world haven't been getting along too well lately. Whenever something like that happens it makes me want to learn more about "the other side," whatever that may entail. So, with that in mind, I recently read The Sultan and the Queen.
I was quite unaware of the connection between Elizabethan England and Islam. I suppose if I were English, reading Jerry Brotton's book would feel like opening a door to a backyard you didn't know existed.
The setting is this: Queen Elizabeth has followed in her father, King Henry VIII's footsteps, pushing on with the Protestant thing, much to the chagrin of Catholic Europe. This means that round about the mid to late 16th century England didn't have many European friends. In an effort to increase trade and stockpile allies, QE1 sent off envoys to the Mediterranean from Turkey to Morocco in search of new pals. Well, honestly, she just wanted a someone with a bit of money and power to stick a thumb in Spain's eye, so that the impending Spanish invasion of England might fail.
Fail it did, but mostly for other reasons. The Ottoman Empire was reluctant to enter into any agreements with a small, weak nation essentially on the other side of the world. Morocco was generally down with it though, and that might've hampered Spain's domination somewhat.
Anywho, you get plenty of this sort of thing and many other "fun" facts in The Sultan and the Queen. My sarcastic quotes there are because this is a texty history book about trade relations. That's only going to appeal to a certain kind of reader. I mean, I enjoyed it...at least to a certain extent. It did drag on at times and so I found myself putting it down and moving on to other things all too readily.
I also found Brotton's tendency to linger on Shakespeare and Marlow's plays with Moors as the subject to be distracting and unnecessary. Yes, I'm sure historians are a bit pressed for examples of English/Ottoman relations and interactions, so relying on fiction of the period must be tempting, but it goes on too long, well beyond its usefulness. Time and again Brotton dives into the dissection of plays to the point where you wonder if that wasn't the book he really wanted to write.
It's all good reading, mind you. The writing is solid. It's just that the topic, and/or manipulation of the topic, is occasionally tedious. In the end, any boredom I felt in that regards is my own damn fault. I knew what I was getting myself in for. Hell, it's all right there in the title! So read that title and if it sounds good to you, then I highly recommend this!
Side Note: This book clears up that whole fallacy about Shakespeare and whether he wrote Othello among other things, because "how would an Englishman who never visited the Middle East know all those details about them?!" Well, he didn't need to visit such foreign lands. The foreigners came to him. Diplomats, especially from Morocco, were in London in the years prior to him (and Marlowe) writing such works.
I received this from Viking, but I don't accept freebie books from anyone unless they're aware that I'll give it an unbiased, honest review.
I was quite unaware of the connection between Elizabethan England and Islam. I suppose if I were English, reading Jerry Brotton's book would feel like opening a door to a backyard you didn't know existed.
The setting is this: Queen Elizabeth has followed in her father, King Henry VIII's footsteps, pushing on with the Protestant thing, much to the chagrin of Catholic Europe. This means that round about the mid to late 16th century England didn't have many European friends. In an effort to increase trade and stockpile allies, QE1 sent off envoys to the Mediterranean from Turkey to Morocco in search of new pals. Well, honestly, she just wanted a someone with a bit of money and power to stick a thumb in Spain's eye, so that the impending Spanish invasion of England might fail.
Fail it did, but mostly for other reasons. The Ottoman Empire was reluctant to enter into any agreements with a small, weak nation essentially on the other side of the world. Morocco was generally down with it though, and that might've hampered Spain's domination somewhat.
Anywho, you get plenty of this sort of thing and many other "fun" facts in The Sultan and the Queen. My sarcastic quotes there are because this is a texty history book about trade relations. That's only going to appeal to a certain kind of reader. I mean, I enjoyed it...at least to a certain extent. It did drag on at times and so I found myself putting it down and moving on to other things all too readily.
I also found Brotton's tendency to linger on Shakespeare and Marlow's plays with Moors as the subject to be distracting and unnecessary. Yes, I'm sure historians are a bit pressed for examples of English/Ottoman relations and interactions, so relying on fiction of the period must be tempting, but it goes on too long, well beyond its usefulness. Time and again Brotton dives into the dissection of plays to the point where you wonder if that wasn't the book he really wanted to write.
It's all good reading, mind you. The writing is solid. It's just that the topic, and/or manipulation of the topic, is occasionally tedious. In the end, any boredom I felt in that regards is my own damn fault. I knew what I was getting myself in for. Hell, it's all right there in the title! So read that title and if it sounds good to you, then I highly recommend this!
Side Note: This book clears up that whole fallacy about Shakespeare and whether he wrote Othello among other things, because "how would an Englishman who never visited the Middle East know all those details about them?!" Well, he didn't need to visit such foreign lands. The foreigners came to him. Diplomats, especially from Morocco, were in London in the years prior to him (and Marlowe) writing such works.
I received this from Viking, but I don't accept freebie books from anyone unless they're aware that I'll give it an unbiased, honest review.
April 1, 2016
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b074w30mDescription: Professor Jerry Brotton, one of the UK's leading experts on cultural exchange, examines Queen Elizabeth I's fascination with the Orient. He shows that England's relations with the Muslim world were far more extensive, and often more amicable, than we have ever appreciated, and that their influence was felt across the political, commercial and domestic landscape of Elizabethan England.
Derek Jacobi reads the captivating account of how Britain sent ships, treaties and gifts to the royal families of Morocco and Turkey, including a gold carriage and a full-size pipe organ.
1/5: discover the origins of our taste for Oriental imports - including the sugar which rotted the teeth of our sovereign. 2/5: A merchant voyage ends in tragedy when the crew is captured3/5: the sights and sounds of a royal pageant held in Whitehall in the year 1600 for the Moroccan ambassador.4/5: Queen Elizabeth I's advisers debate how to satisfy yet again the sultan of Turkey's demands for elaborate royal presents.5/5: we visit the London stage to discover the Elizabethan fascination with the little-known world of Islam, particularly by Shakespeare and Marlowe.
December 31, 2017
Through the long reign of Elizabeth I, Protestant England was isolated in Europe and needed economic and military help to survive the powerful enmity of Catholic Europe - especially the Spain of Philip II. To achieve some balance of power, Elizabeth took advantage of an evolving trade with Islamic powers (Ottomans, Moroccans, even Persians) to secure a limited level of collaboration against the common enemy - Spain. Both trade and diplomacy provide the setting for colourful and highly entertaining stories and adventures, while English theatre - with Shakespeare at its peak - relished the exotic and troubling novelties of exposure to a strange and little understood world beyond the narrow boundaries of the Christian west. {English students may welcome his detailed discussions of a number of plays, not least Othello, which I think may give an unusual insight into many passages.]
Brotton expresses the sincere hope that his book will improve understanding between British Muslims and Christians. In a rational world I am sure it would. I have settled for the more limited achievement of using some of this excellent material to reinforce my internet arguments against islamaphobes. I also appreciated the detailed discussion of government approaches to managing trading relationships, including arguments about the regulation of trade and the baleful effect of monopolies. It surprised me to find how relevant the book is to some heated arguments that are heard today, despite its apparently obscure and distant subject matter. It is a useful reminder that all history is a history of the present.
But it is not a dense or academic book. It is also a compendium of crazy adventures and lurid escapades - they keep the pages turning.
The impetus towards cultural integration that (mostly) followed the mass immigration of various communities into Britain as its empire collapsed in the mid-Twentieth Century, including Muslim communities from South East Asia, is now being questioned as politicians and the media of various persuasions accuse British Muslims of failure to assimilate into the national culture. Born in Bradford in the late 1960s, I went to school in Leeds with Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs and we hardly ever spoke about relgious belief and sectarian divisions as we played and learned together. It was not a multicultural idyll, but neither was it defined by theological absolutes. This was my experience of Englishness, and I realize now that it partly explains why I wrote this book. If what I have written makes a small contribution to understanding the long and often difficult history of connections between Islam and England, then it will have been worth the while." [p306]
A three way trade between English merchants, Muslim rulers and Jewish intermediaries had been going on in Morocco for decades, with hardly a murmer of religious or sectarian conflict, but once the private trade came under threat, the regulators opposed the monopolists by playing their trump card, theology, disclosing lurid tales of unscrupulous English merchants in league with villainous Muslim kings and greedy Jewish moneylenders. The problem, however, was not really caused by Muslims or Jews, but by English interlopers like Symcot. [Symcot was the agent for the wealthy Earl of Leicester, a speculator keen to get control of the profitable trade with Morocco.] He was condemned in the merchants' complaints for trading in 'forbidden commodities, with such others that there doth asssociate them about some new and secret contract' with al-Masur [the Muslim ruler] that threatened to end commercial competition and by extension the unregulated trade. The complainants begged Walsingham to write to Symcot as well as to apply presssure on Leicester to stop their high-handed interference. As a close associate of Leicester, Walsingham was unlikely to uphold a protest against the Queen's favourite...." [p121]
Venetian overland trade with South East Asia had been hard hit by the Portuguese discovery of a sea route to the same markets following Vasca de Gama’s voyage to India in 1497-9. Since Portugal’s annexation by Spain in 1580, Philip II’s empire had monopolised the seaborne eastern trade. Its Portuguese fortress at Hormuz on the Persian Gulf controlled maritime traffic in and out of the Gulf and much of the Red Sea, which was ruining Venice. However, in 1597 news reached London and Venice that a Dutch fleet had broken the monopoly by sailing to Java via the Cape and returning to Holland with a consignment of spice and pepper. Essex, always keen to develop an international strategy that would expand his political influence at home and challenge Spain, began to explore the feasibility of an Anglo Dutch maritime alliance that could establish seaborne and overland relations with Persia and break the Iberian stranglehold over the region. The result was an Anglo-Dutch-Persian coalition capable of challenging the dominance of not only the Spanish and Portuguese but also the Ottomans. [p241]
Brotton expresses the sincere hope that his book will improve understanding between British Muslims and Christians. In a rational world I am sure it would. I have settled for the more limited achievement of using some of this excellent material to reinforce my internet arguments against islamaphobes. I also appreciated the detailed discussion of government approaches to managing trading relationships, including arguments about the regulation of trade and the baleful effect of monopolies. It surprised me to find how relevant the book is to some heated arguments that are heard today, despite its apparently obscure and distant subject matter. It is a useful reminder that all history is a history of the present.
But it is not a dense or academic book. It is also a compendium of crazy adventures and lurid escapades - they keep the pages turning.
The impetus towards cultural integration that (mostly) followed the mass immigration of various communities into Britain as its empire collapsed in the mid-Twentieth Century, including Muslim communities from South East Asia, is now being questioned as politicians and the media of various persuasions accuse British Muslims of failure to assimilate into the national culture. Born in Bradford in the late 1960s, I went to school in Leeds with Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs and we hardly ever spoke about relgious belief and sectarian divisions as we played and learned together. It was not a multicultural idyll, but neither was it defined by theological absolutes. This was my experience of Englishness, and I realize now that it partly explains why I wrote this book. If what I have written makes a small contribution to understanding the long and often difficult history of connections between Islam and England, then it will have been worth the while." [p306]
A three way trade between English merchants, Muslim rulers and Jewish intermediaries had been going on in Morocco for decades, with hardly a murmer of religious or sectarian conflict, but once the private trade came under threat, the regulators opposed the monopolists by playing their trump card, theology, disclosing lurid tales of unscrupulous English merchants in league with villainous Muslim kings and greedy Jewish moneylenders. The problem, however, was not really caused by Muslims or Jews, but by English interlopers like Symcot. [Symcot was the agent for the wealthy Earl of Leicester, a speculator keen to get control of the profitable trade with Morocco.] He was condemned in the merchants' complaints for trading in 'forbidden commodities, with such others that there doth asssociate them about some new and secret contract' with al-Masur [the Muslim ruler] that threatened to end commercial competition and by extension the unregulated trade. The complainants begged Walsingham to write to Symcot as well as to apply presssure on Leicester to stop their high-handed interference. As a close associate of Leicester, Walsingham was unlikely to uphold a protest against the Queen's favourite...." [p121]
Venetian overland trade with South East Asia had been hard hit by the Portuguese discovery of a sea route to the same markets following Vasca de Gama’s voyage to India in 1497-9. Since Portugal’s annexation by Spain in 1580, Philip II’s empire had monopolised the seaborne eastern trade. Its Portuguese fortress at Hormuz on the Persian Gulf controlled maritime traffic in and out of the Gulf and much of the Red Sea, which was ruining Venice. However, in 1597 news reached London and Venice that a Dutch fleet had broken the monopoly by sailing to Java via the Cape and returning to Holland with a consignment of spice and pepper. Essex, always keen to develop an international strategy that would expand his political influence at home and challenge Spain, began to explore the feasibility of an Anglo Dutch maritime alliance that could establish seaborne and overland relations with Persia and break the Iberian stranglehold over the region. The result was an Anglo-Dutch-Persian coalition capable of challenging the dominance of not only the Spanish and Portuguese but also the Ottomans. [p241]
April 21, 2017
I would LOVE it if historians would drop the expression the "Clash of Civilizations." All it does is create division and this relatively new release debunks this expression anyhow.
The Sultan and the Queen: The Untold Story of Elizabeth and Islam gives new light on the relationship between Islam and the West and what historians call the "Clash of Civilizations." Sultan Murad III, a 16th Century Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, and yes "the" Golden Age Queen Elizabeth I of England corresponded about politics and commerce for more than two decades, joined in trade, and established an unprecedented alliance and friendship. When Ottoman forces were up against Spain and the Holy Roman Empire, Elizabeth's merchants were supplying the Ottomans with guns.
This book clearly shows that there certainly is no "Clash of Civilizations" when one of the greatest powers of the Western world and one of the greatest powers of the Muslim world get together and have a beautiful friendship (not without bumps of course!).
The Sultan and the Queen: The Untold Story of Elizabeth and Islam gives new light on the relationship between Islam and the West and what historians call the "Clash of Civilizations." Sultan Murad III, a 16th Century Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, and yes "the" Golden Age Queen Elizabeth I of England corresponded about politics and commerce for more than two decades, joined in trade, and established an unprecedented alliance and friendship. When Ottoman forces were up against Spain and the Holy Roman Empire, Elizabeth's merchants were supplying the Ottomans with guns.
This book clearly shows that there certainly is no "Clash of Civilizations" when one of the greatest powers of the Western world and one of the greatest powers of the Muslim world get together and have a beautiful friendship (not without bumps of course!).
October 28, 2017
This book was basically a recount of all of Elizabeth’s attempts to create a trading relation with the Islamic powers of her age (the ottomans, the Moroccans and the Persians) , after finding herself shut out of Continental Europe because of her Protestantism , all along the books we’ll find some quirky characters that attempted to create such a relationship with various degrees of success, the narrative was boring and I had a hard time following along with the format , and also towards the end the author goes on to talk all about how all of this situation influenced Shakespeare and the effect it had on his plays . Why he decided to give such an amount of attention to that , I don’t know .
July 13, 2022
صنعت الملكة إليزابيث الأولى (ت ١٦٠٣) صورة إنجلترا التي نعرفها اليوم، بمذهبها البروتستانتي وبوادر قوتها الاستعمارية. لكن ما سر علاقتها السياسية والاقتصادية القوية بالعالم الإسلامي؟
يحكي هذا الكتاب كيف سعت بريطانيا لكسر عزلتها الأوروبية عبر خلق روابط استثنائية مع العثمانيين، والصفويين في فارس، والسعديين في المغرب الأقصى. وكيف تحالفت مع تلك القوى الإسلامية لتضرب أعداءها الكاثوليك في إسبانيا والبرتغال والبابا في روما.
بشكل ما، شكل التقارب مع العالم الإسلامي ملامح الحياة الاقتصادية والثقافية في إنجلترا الإلزبيثية. وشكلت محاولة التقريب بين الإسلام والبروتستانتية أقصى درجات البراگماتية لا سيما مع محاولات الخليفة السعدي المنصور (الذهبي) التحالف مع إنجلترا لاسترداد الأندلس بعد سحقه البرتغاليين في معركة وادي المخازن سنة ١٥٧٨ . وفتح أسواق فاس، وقبلها إسطنبول، أمام التجار الإنجليز في اختراق لافت للعلاقة المتوترة مع باقي أوروبا.
ثقافياً، شكل "المحمديون" عنصراً أكيدًا في المزاج الانجليزي، لا سيما مع توالي السفارات بين سليم الثاني واليزابيث من جهة، وبينها وبلاط السعديين من جهة أخرى (أبرزهم محمد الأنّوري الأندلسي). وتجلى ذلك في أعمال الشعراء والمسرحيين الذين استلهموا من الشخصية التركية/المغاربية في أعمالهم وأشهرهم شكسبير (ت ١٦١٦) صاحب «تاجر البندقية» و «عُطيل».
يدمج الكتاب هذا التأريخ السياسي والاقتصادي والاجتماعي على نحو ممتع، ويعيد تذكيرنا بأن التاريخ ليس فيه حد فاصل ولا هو بالقطعية التي نحسبها لأول وهلة، بل هو -وهوياتنا الناتجة عنه- عبارة عن نسيج شديد التداخل بين المصالح والأعراق والثقافات.
يحكي هذا الكتاب كيف سعت بريطانيا لكسر عزلتها الأوروبية عبر خلق روابط استثنائية مع العثمانيين، والصفويين في فارس، والسعديين في المغرب الأقصى. وكيف تحالفت مع تلك القوى الإسلامية لتضرب أعداءها الكاثوليك في إسبانيا والبرتغال والبابا في روما.
بشكل ما، شكل التقارب مع العالم الإسلامي ملامح الحياة الاقتصادية والثقافية في إنجلترا الإلزبيثية. وشكلت محاولة التقريب بين الإسلام والبروتستانتية أقصى درجات البراگماتية لا سيما مع محاولات الخليفة السعدي المنصور (الذهبي) التحالف مع إنجلترا لاسترداد الأندلس بعد سحقه البرتغاليين في معركة وادي المخازن سنة ١٥٧٨ . وفتح أسواق فاس، وقبلها إسطنبول، أمام التجار الإنجليز في اختراق لافت للعلاقة المتوترة مع باقي أوروبا.
ثقافياً، شكل "المحمديون" عنصراً أكيدًا في المزاج الانجليزي، لا سيما مع توالي السفارات بين سليم الثاني واليزابيث من جهة، وبينها وبلاط السعديين من جهة أخرى (أبرزهم محمد الأنّوري الأندلسي). وتجلى ذلك في أعمال الشعراء والمسرحيين الذين استلهموا من الشخصية التركية/المغاربية في أعمالهم وأشهرهم شكسبير (ت ١٦١٦) صاحب «تاجر البندقية» و «عُطيل».
يدمج الكتاب هذا التأريخ السياسي والاقتصادي والاجتماعي على نحو ممتع، ويعيد تذكيرنا بأن التاريخ ليس فيه حد فاصل ولا هو بالقطعية التي نحسبها لأول وهلة، بل هو -وهوياتنا الناتجة عنه- عبارة عن نسيج شديد التداخل بين المصالح والأعراق والثقافات.
June 24, 2016
I wish I could escape the irony of reviewing this book on such a day, but I can't. It wouldn't be honest. Today weighs heavy on me: a day on which it became clear that a slight majority of the British people voted for isolation / independence from Europe.
This Orient Isle is about a time when Protestant England was isolated from Catholic Europe. Elizabeth and her people turned to trading with, and developing political relationships with, the Islamic world. This is a part of history that is usually overlooked. I have read fairly widely about Elizabethan England, and this is not something I'd really encountered before in any kind of detail. I remember seeing the portrait of Moroccan ambassador Muhammad al-Annuri, though darned if I can remember the context now. And of course we're all aware of the plays such as Tamburlaine, The Jew of Malta, Othello and so on, that deal with 'Turks' and 'Moors', but I suppose I had thought of them as exotic flights of fancy that were even less grounded in reality than Shakespeare's plays set in Italy.
The reality was far richer than I'd thought, with thousands of English merchants busily importing and exporting goods, and many of them living in the ports and cities of the Moroccan, Ottoman and Persian Empires. As Brotton explains, the reality was not one of perfect understanding or accord, but there was a respect and a shared interest that amounted at times to friendship, if a wary one.
When Elizabeth died, James came to the throne with a mission of uniting Christianity - and the relationship between English Protestants and various Muslim peoples slipped away into a mere acquaintanceship.
I hope that no one today would take this as a cautionary tale. I find hope in it. The relationship between Christians and Muslims - and indeed Jews, as the other People of the Book - has been more richly and deeply entwined, with more mutual benefit, than is generally supposed. Let's learn more about our history, and strive to do better still in our shared future.
This Orient Isle is about a time when Protestant England was isolated from Catholic Europe. Elizabeth and her people turned to trading with, and developing political relationships with, the Islamic world. This is a part of history that is usually overlooked. I have read fairly widely about Elizabethan England, and this is not something I'd really encountered before in any kind of detail. I remember seeing the portrait of Moroccan ambassador Muhammad al-Annuri, though darned if I can remember the context now. And of course we're all aware of the plays such as Tamburlaine, The Jew of Malta, Othello and so on, that deal with 'Turks' and 'Moors', but I suppose I had thought of them as exotic flights of fancy that were even less grounded in reality than Shakespeare's plays set in Italy.
The reality was far richer than I'd thought, with thousands of English merchants busily importing and exporting goods, and many of them living in the ports and cities of the Moroccan, Ottoman and Persian Empires. As Brotton explains, the reality was not one of perfect understanding or accord, but there was a respect and a shared interest that amounted at times to friendship, if a wary one.
When Elizabeth died, James came to the throne with a mission of uniting Christianity - and the relationship between English Protestants and various Muslim peoples slipped away into a mere acquaintanceship.
I hope that no one today would take this as a cautionary tale. I find hope in it. The relationship between Christians and Muslims - and indeed Jews, as the other People of the Book - has been more richly and deeply entwined, with more mutual benefit, than is generally supposed. Let's learn more about our history, and strive to do better still in our shared future.
July 11, 2016
This was really interesting, if a bit dense—the author used a large number (and wide variety) of primary source materials and wading through the 16th-century verbiage took a little time. But worth it, I think, for a very vivid and far-reaching picture of all the political vicissitudes of the time.
LJ review on the way.
LJ review on the way.
April 2, 2016
From BBC Radio 4 - Book of the Week:
Professor Jerry Brotton, one of the UK's leading experts on cultural exchange, examines Queen Elizabeth I's fascination with the Orient. He shows that England's relations with the Muslim world were far more extensive, and often more amicable, than we have ever appreciated, and that their influence was felt across the political, commercial and domestic landscape of Elizabethan England.
Derek Jacobi reads the captivating account of how Britain sent ships, treaties and gifts to the royal families of Morocco and Turkey, including a gold carriage and a full-size pipe organ.
1/5: In this episode, we discover the origins of our taste for Oriental imports - including the sugar which rotted the teeth of our sovereign.
2/5: In this episode, one merchant voyage ends in tragedy when the English crew are captured and turned into galley slaves.
3/5: In this episode, we are taken into the sights and sounds of a royal pageant held in Whitehall in the year 1600 for the Moroccan ambassador.
4/5: In this episode, Queen Elizabeth I's advisers debate how to satisfy yet again the sultan of Turkey's demands for elaborate royal presents.
5/5: In this episode, we visit the London stage to discover the Elizabethan fascination with the little-known world of Islam, particularly by Shakespeare and Marlowe.
Producer: David Roper
A Heavy Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b074w30m
Professor Jerry Brotton, one of the UK's leading experts on cultural exchange, examines Queen Elizabeth I's fascination with the Orient. He shows that England's relations with the Muslim world were far more extensive, and often more amicable, than we have ever appreciated, and that their influence was felt across the political, commercial and domestic landscape of Elizabethan England.
Derek Jacobi reads the captivating account of how Britain sent ships, treaties and gifts to the royal families of Morocco and Turkey, including a gold carriage and a full-size pipe organ.
1/5: In this episode, we discover the origins of our taste for Oriental imports - including the sugar which rotted the teeth of our sovereign.
2/5: In this episode, one merchant voyage ends in tragedy when the English crew are captured and turned into galley slaves.
3/5: In this episode, we are taken into the sights and sounds of a royal pageant held in Whitehall in the year 1600 for the Moroccan ambassador.
4/5: In this episode, Queen Elizabeth I's advisers debate how to satisfy yet again the sultan of Turkey's demands for elaborate royal presents.
5/5: In this episode, we visit the London stage to discover the Elizabethan fascination with the little-known world of Islam, particularly by Shakespeare and Marlowe.
Producer: David Roper
A Heavy Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b074w30m
June 6, 2020
the past is another country, the old saying goes, they do things differently there. that saying should best be modified to acknowledge how often we think we know, but are truly ignorant of, other countries. despite having earned a degree from yale that focused on elizabethan theater and having written my senior dissertation on Othello, i was completely ignorant of the close ties and desperate alliances that elizabethan england made with morroco, turkey, and persia. in addition to being a fascinating read, this book is a important reminder that we are all more connected to each other in both our own present but in the unknown country of the past.
March 6, 2018
An ambitious book in terms of what it set out to do. The font was small and this took almost five months (with frequent travel) to complete.
Still, I enjoyed the interpretations of Shakespeare.
I agree with the reviewers who raise the Brexit analogy.
If Elizabethan England could overlook differences in terms of seeking out new markets with which to trade, then -hello - what degree of weirdness brought aboutBrexit?
On prosperity, even the Elizabethans got it more right!
Still, I enjoyed the interpretations of Shakespeare.
I agree with the reviewers who raise the Brexit analogy.
If Elizabethan England could overlook differences in terms of seeking out new markets with which to trade, then -hello - what degree of weirdness brought aboutBrexit?
On prosperity, even the Elizabethans got it more right!
December 22, 2024
Blurb: "The fascinating story of Queen Elizabeth’s secret outreach to the Muslim world, which set England on the path to empire, by The New York Times bestselling author of A History of the World in Twelve Maps". This sounded god but couldn't get into it. Maybe another time.
March 5, 2017
I received a free copy of this book through the Goodreads Giveaways.
Once I saw the title, I thought this book would be fascinating! It details the relationship between England and the Middle East during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. The relationship reaches its height during her life and ends quickly after her death. During her reign, England becomes involved in commerce and politics with both the Ottoman Empire and the Persian Empire. The story of various characters that make these contacts as well as the rise and fall of the relationship is really interesting. There's also a lot of information in the book about plays written about Muslims. I'm a little confused as to the inclusion of this content, but perhaps that's the best contemporary commentary available on what people thought of Muslim culture and relationships. While the book reveals the ignorance of the English it also shows that they were quite willing to put aside religious differences (or try to downplay them) so that they could form partnerships. The world could learn quite a lot from this story.
Despite the interesting content, the book is very scholarly and it will probably be hard for a casual reader to get through it. There are numerous quotes from plays and contemporary people that are tough to read despite the modernized language. This is an exciting story, but the author's voice is very factual and sometimes hides the potential interest the story could bring. This led to me liking the book instead of feeling something stronger. It is well researched and the content is important, but I was hoping for a nonfiction book that read a bit more like fiction here. Just be aware of that if you're going to read this one. The effort, though, is worth it because you'll learn a lot about Muslim and Christian relations during this period.
Once I saw the title, I thought this book would be fascinating! It details the relationship between England and the Middle East during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. The relationship reaches its height during her life and ends quickly after her death. During her reign, England becomes involved in commerce and politics with both the Ottoman Empire and the Persian Empire. The story of various characters that make these contacts as well as the rise and fall of the relationship is really interesting. There's also a lot of information in the book about plays written about Muslims. I'm a little confused as to the inclusion of this content, but perhaps that's the best contemporary commentary available on what people thought of Muslim culture and relationships. While the book reveals the ignorance of the English it also shows that they were quite willing to put aside religious differences (or try to downplay them) so that they could form partnerships. The world could learn quite a lot from this story.
Despite the interesting content, the book is very scholarly and it will probably be hard for a casual reader to get through it. There are numerous quotes from plays and contemporary people that are tough to read despite the modernized language. This is an exciting story, but the author's voice is very factual and sometimes hides the potential interest the story could bring. This led to me liking the book instead of feeling something stronger. It is well researched and the content is important, but I was hoping for a nonfiction book that read a bit more like fiction here. Just be aware of that if you're going to read this one. The effort, though, is worth it because you'll learn a lot about Muslim and Christian relations during this period.
July 15, 2020
This book is fascinating, though it regularly gets bogged down in details. It includes back stories for Shakespeare plays, the tale of the English mechanic sent to rebuild an animated clock, who was given a rare glimpse of the harem, and the gossip that Queen Elizabeth's teeth were blackened by a lifetime of eating Turkish sugar.
Brotton's mission is not just to inform and amuse, however. He writes in his conclusion: "Now, when much is made of the 'clash of civilizations' between Islam and Christianity, seems to me a good time to remember that the connections between the two faiths are much deeper and more entangled than many contemporary commentators appreciate."
This book reminds us that we have lived through periods of intolerance before, and artists like Shakespeare show us a mirror of our ignorance in lines like these, attributed to him as partial author of Decker's Sir Thomas More:
... Would you be pleased
To find a nation of such barbarous temper
That, breaking out in hideous violence,
Would not afford you an abode on earth,
Whet their detested knives against your throats,
Spurn you like dogs, and like as if that God
Owed not nor made you, nor that the elements
Were not all appropriate to your comforts
But chartered unto them? What would you think
To be thus used?"
Brotton's mission is not just to inform and amuse, however. He writes in his conclusion: "Now, when much is made of the 'clash of civilizations' between Islam and Christianity, seems to me a good time to remember that the connections between the two faiths are much deeper and more entangled than many contemporary commentators appreciate."
This book reminds us that we have lived through periods of intolerance before, and artists like Shakespeare show us a mirror of our ignorance in lines like these, attributed to him as partial author of Decker's Sir Thomas More:
... Would you be pleased
To find a nation of such barbarous temper
That, breaking out in hideous violence,
Would not afford you an abode on earth,
Whet their detested knives against your throats,
Spurn you like dogs, and like as if that God
Owed not nor made you, nor that the elements
Were not all appropriate to your comforts
But chartered unto them? What would you think
To be thus used?"
April 3, 2016
26 MAR 2016 - joining the Ladies.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b074w30m
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b074w30m
Read
July 6, 2019Against white nationalist fantasies of some ill-defined past in which European Christendom stood united against the Other, a helpful reminder of how things actually stood; even the velvet, silk and jewels style which we associate with the Tudors was recognised at the time as a Moroccan import. Obviously there was a degree of realpolitik behind the idea of allying Protestant England with the Moors against the enemy sat between them both, Catholic Spain. But theologically too, Protestantism was such a new thing that it wasn't yet clear whether it was any closer to Catholicism than Islam* was. The mirror of which, of course, was the spectre of 'turning Turk'; when most of the English had already changed faith once within living memory, the prospect that they might do so again was not unrealistic, as unlikely as hindsight might make it seem, especially when individual captives or renegades did do exactly that. Remembering also and always that the world of Islam had its own schism and accompanying wars. I don't wholly buy Brotton's early attempts to map the Sunni/Shi'ite division to Catholic/Protestant, particularly since it's not how the later alliances fall out; equally, you have the Sunni Ottomans drawing parallels between themselves and Protestantism on the grounds of iconoclasm, and really, you could find the justification for any combination if you had reason to look for it, which someone generally did. Hell, there were even a few times when all Christendom did unite as one as per the fever dreams of the fash, as in the immediate aftermath of Lepanto – though given how quickly that evaporated, this is just one more way in which Lepanto belongs in the dictionary as the definition of a false dawn. Still, I did like the first English account of the big division within Islam, courtesy of one Anthony Jenkinson, who concluded that the whole Sunni/Shia dispute was about moustaches. Which, let's face it, is still probably a better account than the average rural Brit could manage today. Jenkinson is a key player in this account, a man who despite coming from Market Harborough** had an astonishing knack for talking himself into audiences with distant potentates, then winning great deals; I picture him played by David Tennant. Other stars of the story include Thomas Stukely, essentially a less plausible Lord Flasheart, and the Portuguese king Sebastian I, who apparently remains a figure of great national mourning and nostalgia despite being singularly inept even by the standards of daft bastard monarchs. Other chapters focus on the influence of all this on playwrights, especially Marlowe and his heirs (many of whom were dreadful, but one of whom would go on to a certain renown). Though even the worst of the pre-Marlowe playwrights, the sententious Robert Wilson, would struggle to have come up with an image as startling to notions of Christian unity as the bells from churches being sold for gun-metal to Islamic states which would then go on to use them against other Christians, and that was real. To think people say our modern arms deals lack scruples! Mercifully, though, at least until the end Brotton never feels the need to stress these modern resonances, nor those with Brexit, avoiding such 'Hey kids!' embarrassments and trusting readers to draw their own inferences. There's a final chapter on Othello, but the story pretty much concludes with the antics of the appalling Sherley brothers, who scrapped and scammed their way around Europe while also providing the Bard with a chance to beat Airplane! to the classic 'surely' pun. Indeed, one particularly witless anti-Stratfordian was convinced Anthony Sherley must have been the real author of the plays. But he seems rather more reminiscent of another British politicker, what with the getting into needless scraps with Persians, and being not unfairly summarised thus: "The Englishman is doubtless a liar and unreliable though a great talker and well informed."
*Brotton reminds us, of course, that no European of the period would have used the term; the mangling of such words as they had sort-of-grasped, like the name of the Koran, is also a recurring detail.
**I do love the emphasis on people's specific origins, because it's so much funnier when someone from Great Yarmouth ends up as a converted eunuch treasurer, or a lad from Warrington gets a go in the Ottoman seraglio because of his impressive prowess with his organ (not like that. But then again, presumably a bit like that when it comes to the reward).
*Brotton reminds us, of course, that no European of the period would have used the term; the mangling of such words as they had sort-of-grasped, like the name of the Koran, is also a recurring detail.
**I do love the emphasis on people's specific origins, because it's so much funnier when someone from Great Yarmouth ends up as a converted eunuch treasurer, or a lad from Warrington gets a go in the Ottoman seraglio because of his impressive prowess with his organ (not like that. But then again, presumably a bit like that when it comes to the reward).
June 18, 2020
Elizabethan England meets strange new people and puts them in plays and plots
I tend to prefer the Stuart / Cromwellian period to the Tudors. However this book weaves together Tudor diplomatic history, Elizabethan adventure travelogue, and theatrical history, to open up a subject that was almost entirely new to me. That being how Elizabethan England engaged with, and learned about, the three major Islamic power centres that seemed to be at the edges of the known world for most English people of that time.
A whole new world of history. In fact, as this book notes at one point, it may even have been a very different New World had Elizabeth agreed to one proposed alliance which would have seen Islamic colonists setting up in the Americas.
I tend to prefer the Stuart / Cromwellian period to the Tudors. However this book weaves together Tudor diplomatic history, Elizabethan adventure travelogue, and theatrical history, to open up a subject that was almost entirely new to me. That being how Elizabethan England engaged with, and learned about, the three major Islamic power centres that seemed to be at the edges of the known world for most English people of that time.
A whole new world of history. In fact, as this book notes at one point, it may even have been a very different New World had Elizabeth agreed to one proposed alliance which would have seen Islamic colonists setting up in the Americas.
August 16, 2020
Brotton's approach is perfect for fans of renaissance drama (especially Shakespeare). The books ends with an extensive consideration of the creation of Othello during the time the Moroccan diplomat, a-Annuri, was in England to propose a military campaign against Spain. This episode was one of many that enhanced my appreciation of Queen Elizabeth as a canny negotiator on a political stage with some daunting heavies. Brotton books also offers a thoughtful exploration of the ways in which England thought about Islam. I struggled to keep up with all the characters, but that is mainly because this was new territory for me.
January 26, 2020
A decent attempt to try and find the roots of Islam’s positon in England’s history. Good interweaving with Shakespeare and Marlowe among others. Quite a fun journey looking at the different attempts by English adventurers, politicians and travellers to establish strong links with the mighty Moroccan, ottoman and Safavid empires.
January 27, 2018
Excellent history: the sort we weren't taught at school. How Queen Elizabeth I forged trading alliances with Morocco and the Ottoman Empire (cloth for sugar) - and how those racial Islamic stereotypes ('the Moor') made their way onto the Elizabethan stage,(Tamburlaine,Othello). England needed these alliances to try and contain the Spanish,who Drake failed to see off after the Armada. Flagwavers,take note.
March 25, 2024
So interesting. Lots of names and places to keep track of. I was glad for the maps and the pictures. I found the part about Marlowe and Shakespeare really fascinating.
July 7, 2019
Good. Interesting to read about how Elizabeth I allied with the Islamic world and how we worked together to promote trade. This is a good book to show that even though there were differences in religion and race that was put aside to create unity as that was Elizabeth's ultimate goal. Shows that it is possible for unity to happen which in this time is a good book to read. Thank you Netgalley for giving me a proof copy.
October 3, 2017
Interesting book highlighting the extent of the contact between Elizabethan England and the Ottomans, well set in the background is the relevance of Shakespeare's plays which drew heavily on the characters and events of this period. While perhaps distracting it set the stage to understand better plays like Othello and The Merchant of Venice.
A good read...
A good read...
Read
July 6, 2023When the Habsburgs were stomping their feet all over Europe, and Elizabethan England was in their bucket list to be conquered, Elizabeth found allies on the Habsburgs' eastern and southern fronts. The Ottoman Empire swept as far north as Vienna, and various Islamic kingdoms in Northern Africa attacked Spanish shipping, even aiming to reconquer Spain.
The English government recognized its upper class's demands on the exotic luxury trade, and did its best to economize by combining the functions of diplomacy with import-export. During this time English culture was fascinated by the Islamic exotic goods, and, more conflictedly, with the images of their occasional embassies to London. Brotton tracks their impact on English culture by studying the popular plays produced in London. Characters of Turks and Moors developed over decades from simple villains to multilayered human beings.
I had expected to read more about human contact between Elizabeth and the Sultan, but diplomatic relations required that she be too careful to allow for actual friendly relations. There is no pen pal correspondence such as between Catherine the Great and Voltaire, for example. There are interesting continental reports to Walsingham and Burghley as part of their information networks.
The English government recognized its upper class's demands on the exotic luxury trade, and did its best to economize by combining the functions of diplomacy with import-export. During this time English culture was fascinated by the Islamic exotic goods, and, more conflictedly, with the images of their occasional embassies to London. Brotton tracks their impact on English culture by studying the popular plays produced in London. Characters of Turks and Moors developed over decades from simple villains to multilayered human beings.
I had expected to read more about human contact between Elizabeth and the Sultan, but diplomatic relations required that she be too careful to allow for actual friendly relations. There is no pen pal correspondence such as between Catherine the Great and Voltaire, for example. There are interesting continental reports to Walsingham and Burghley as part of their information networks.
May 3, 2019
Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century was a defining moment in the history of England. Henry VIII’s adoption of the faith which the popish clergy termed as apostasy forced the country’s destiny to diverge from that of continental Europe where Pope’s writ reigned supreme. The catholic world devised all means in their power to browbeat England away from Protestantism. However, Queen Elizabeth I turned into a bulwark of national pride and prestige. Her subjects boldly stood behind their monarch in fighting off the forces of Catholicism. However, England needed to have allies in their war and trade efforts. Who else can be more apt than the Muslim powers that rimmed the Mediterranean littoral who were themselves enemies of the catholic states? England soon established relations with the Ottoman, Moroccan and Persian empires. Trade and cultural interactions with them flourished towards the close of sixteenth century. English theater came to be a mirror of public opinion of the impact created by the increased interchange with Muslims. This book is a summary of the brief period of Elizabeth’s reign, how England obtained a good commercial rapport with Islamic kingdoms and how it all tumbled down after the death of Elizabeth. Jerry Brotton is a professor of Renaissance studies at Queen Mary University of London. He is a renowned broadcaster and critic, as well as the author of many books on East-West relations and history of early-Modern age.
Religion is a powerful factor in state formation and further developing their interactions. Christianity had an old score to settle against Islam for conquering the Holy Land. After its ultimately futile crusades, a working relationship seems to have originated after the fall of Constantinople to Ottomans in 1453. Close on its heels came the Reformation which rent the Christian body politic into Catholics and Protestants. All political equations changed in a few decades. Catholic states under the spiritual – and often temporal too – guidance of the Pope tried their best to score over their Protestant rivals, while the Protestants were not averse to enlist the alliance of the Muslim empires of the Ottoman, Moroccan and Persian to defeat the Pope’s forces. Brotton begins the book in an atmosphere of intrigue and Christian fraternal antagonism, when Queen Elizabeth I receive a letter from Ottoman Sultan Murad III offering to allow English merchants to trade with his country. Charles II of Spain and the Papal interests lay in the middle of both and hence treated as a common enemy. The Protestants equated Islamic aniconism in religious worship to their own iconoclasm that separated them from their Catholic brethren. Similarly, the Ottomans observed a kindred spirit in the Protestants’ fierce opposition against Catholic rituals venerating saints and adoring graven images of Christ and the Madonna. Deriving maximum mileage out of the prevalent perceptions, the English established trading relations with all three major Islamic regimes. The book introduces detailed narratives of how the trade agents faced very heavy odds in foreign lands where they were initially torn between the hostility of ambassadors of European catholic states and the condescending indifference of the sultan. Anglo-Ottoman relations began with the trade concessions obtained by the young adventurer Anthony Jenkinson from Suleyman the Magnificent in 1554. William Harborne consolidated the trading relations under Murad III in 1579. England was driven to the wall when Pope Pius V excommunicated Elizabeth in 1570 and ordered his supporters to isolate and dethrone her. England orchestrated attacks against the Spanish with active help of Moroccans, who were in turn became so impressed as to let Elizabeth known by the affectionate sobriquet of Sultana Isabel.
England’s increased involvement in Mediterranean politics produced its echo in the cultural context as well. English writers were increasingly attracted to Islamic themes and experimented with a cast of characters which drastically differed from the established canon. Anti-heroes in the guise of Moors (an epithet of Muslims that came to be associated with them in the sense of inhabitants of Morocco) came on the stage with thunderous impact on the masses. Its greatest influence was seen in theatre. It all began with Christopher Marlowe’s play Tamburlaine in 1587 and Jew of Malta just three years later. The floodgates of creativity were opened wide with these sensational plays. Of more than sixty plays featuring Turks, Moors and Persians performed in London’s public theaters between 1576 and 1603, forty were staged between 1588 and 1599. More than ten of them acknowledged explicit debts to Tamburlaine. William Shakespeare was another glorious entrant to this branch of drama that enacted plays which transcended established boundaries of morality, religion and ethnicity. While Marlowe emphasized his characters’ relentless will to power, Shakespeare made historic failures into figures of empathy, interest and pathos. This book examines several Shakespearean plays with a critical eye to their historical inspiration. Plays such as Merchant of Venice, Titus Andronicus and Othello have a strong Moorish influence on the storyline. Othello, in fact, was a Moor whose uncertain entry into Venetian aristocracy through his marriage with Desdemona was marred by the intrigues caused by racial hatred personified in the character of Iago. Brotton makes a memorable review of these plays and exposes the defining parameter of its motivation to Mediterranean concerns that caused a stir in contemporary London.
Strangely, the Anglo-Islamic alliance collapsed as swiftly as it began. Elizabeth died in 1603 and within a year, King Ahmad al-Mansur of Morocco died of plague and Sultan Mehmed III of Turkey of a heart attack. James I who succeeded Elizabeth wanted to resurrect closer ties with Christian kingdoms, catholic or not. Continental kingdoms supporting the Pope had also learned the hard lesson in trying to humble the English whose might stood unchallenged in the sea. A quick rapprochement between England and Spain made the position of Muslim ambassadors precarious in London. James turned towards the west, to America while the Ottoman sultan turned east, to Persia as the next battleground to expand their empires, creating an uncanny inactivity in the Mediterranean. The sharp polarization on religious lines helped European Christians take a lead over the Near Eastern Muslims with rapid progress in scientific knowledge and giant strides in technology. Muslim culture began its downward slide to stagnancy when they were driven out of the gates of Vienna in 1683. They were never to raise their heads again in Europe for a long, long time. Islamic motifs ceased to inspire English playwrights around the time of Elizabeth’s death. Shakespeare didn’t use Moorish characters after Othello. Brotton paints a closely followed picture of how the curtain fell on Islamic influence and the era of Orientalism began. The book includes a good collection of colour plates depicting portraits and other scenes related to the narrative.
The book is highly recommended.
Religion is a powerful factor in state formation and further developing their interactions. Christianity had an old score to settle against Islam for conquering the Holy Land. After its ultimately futile crusades, a working relationship seems to have originated after the fall of Constantinople to Ottomans in 1453. Close on its heels came the Reformation which rent the Christian body politic into Catholics and Protestants. All political equations changed in a few decades. Catholic states under the spiritual – and often temporal too – guidance of the Pope tried their best to score over their Protestant rivals, while the Protestants were not averse to enlist the alliance of the Muslim empires of the Ottoman, Moroccan and Persian to defeat the Pope’s forces. Brotton begins the book in an atmosphere of intrigue and Christian fraternal antagonism, when Queen Elizabeth I receive a letter from Ottoman Sultan Murad III offering to allow English merchants to trade with his country. Charles II of Spain and the Papal interests lay in the middle of both and hence treated as a common enemy. The Protestants equated Islamic aniconism in religious worship to their own iconoclasm that separated them from their Catholic brethren. Similarly, the Ottomans observed a kindred spirit in the Protestants’ fierce opposition against Catholic rituals venerating saints and adoring graven images of Christ and the Madonna. Deriving maximum mileage out of the prevalent perceptions, the English established trading relations with all three major Islamic regimes. The book introduces detailed narratives of how the trade agents faced very heavy odds in foreign lands where they were initially torn between the hostility of ambassadors of European catholic states and the condescending indifference of the sultan. Anglo-Ottoman relations began with the trade concessions obtained by the young adventurer Anthony Jenkinson from Suleyman the Magnificent in 1554. William Harborne consolidated the trading relations under Murad III in 1579. England was driven to the wall when Pope Pius V excommunicated Elizabeth in 1570 and ordered his supporters to isolate and dethrone her. England orchestrated attacks against the Spanish with active help of Moroccans, who were in turn became so impressed as to let Elizabeth known by the affectionate sobriquet of Sultana Isabel.
England’s increased involvement in Mediterranean politics produced its echo in the cultural context as well. English writers were increasingly attracted to Islamic themes and experimented with a cast of characters which drastically differed from the established canon. Anti-heroes in the guise of Moors (an epithet of Muslims that came to be associated with them in the sense of inhabitants of Morocco) came on the stage with thunderous impact on the masses. Its greatest influence was seen in theatre. It all began with Christopher Marlowe’s play Tamburlaine in 1587 and Jew of Malta just three years later. The floodgates of creativity were opened wide with these sensational plays. Of more than sixty plays featuring Turks, Moors and Persians performed in London’s public theaters between 1576 and 1603, forty were staged between 1588 and 1599. More than ten of them acknowledged explicit debts to Tamburlaine. William Shakespeare was another glorious entrant to this branch of drama that enacted plays which transcended established boundaries of morality, religion and ethnicity. While Marlowe emphasized his characters’ relentless will to power, Shakespeare made historic failures into figures of empathy, interest and pathos. This book examines several Shakespearean plays with a critical eye to their historical inspiration. Plays such as Merchant of Venice, Titus Andronicus and Othello have a strong Moorish influence on the storyline. Othello, in fact, was a Moor whose uncertain entry into Venetian aristocracy through his marriage with Desdemona was marred by the intrigues caused by racial hatred personified in the character of Iago. Brotton makes a memorable review of these plays and exposes the defining parameter of its motivation to Mediterranean concerns that caused a stir in contemporary London.
Strangely, the Anglo-Islamic alliance collapsed as swiftly as it began. Elizabeth died in 1603 and within a year, King Ahmad al-Mansur of Morocco died of plague and Sultan Mehmed III of Turkey of a heart attack. James I who succeeded Elizabeth wanted to resurrect closer ties with Christian kingdoms, catholic or not. Continental kingdoms supporting the Pope had also learned the hard lesson in trying to humble the English whose might stood unchallenged in the sea. A quick rapprochement between England and Spain made the position of Muslim ambassadors precarious in London. James turned towards the west, to America while the Ottoman sultan turned east, to Persia as the next battleground to expand their empires, creating an uncanny inactivity in the Mediterranean. The sharp polarization on religious lines helped European Christians take a lead over the Near Eastern Muslims with rapid progress in scientific knowledge and giant strides in technology. Muslim culture began its downward slide to stagnancy when they were driven out of the gates of Vienna in 1683. They were never to raise their heads again in Europe for a long, long time. Islamic motifs ceased to inspire English playwrights around the time of Elizabeth’s death. Shakespeare didn’t use Moorish characters after Othello. Brotton paints a closely followed picture of how the curtain fell on Islamic influence and the era of Orientalism began. The book includes a good collection of colour plates depicting portraits and other scenes related to the narrative.
The book is highly recommended.
February 5, 2017
A fascinating account. I had had no idea of the degree of communication between the English queen and her nation and the rulers of north Africa and the Ottoman Empire. The period of Elizabeth's reign was not only full of constant warfare between and among Protestant, Catholic, and Muslim entities, but a period of new economic ideas and the opening of new trading partnerships as well. The complications of her relationships with those of different faiths--ones with whom theoretically she was entirely at odds--were great, and greatly resonant now. Elizabeth found, desperately in need of military support in her isolation from most of the rest of Europe (she had been excommunicated a decade into her reign), a modus vivendi for dealing with Islamic kingdoms.
Mr. Brotton is a very lucid writer, who brings to life the many participants in his story (some of whom were very eccentric indeed--numbers of British, Islamic, and other, rulers, diplomats, merchants, and adventurers inhabit these pages). He writes with intelligence of the cultural effects of Islamic influence on England, especially on its literature. It must be said, however, that Mr. Brotton could have used the services of a better copyeditor: A few obvious errors in the text, and overly long exegesis of Shakespeare's plays as they relate to Islam and the English view of various Moroccan, Persian, and Turkish peoples, mar the book. Small criticisms, however.
This is not a biography of Queen Elizabeth, nor of the various Eastern potentates with whom she deals. It deals with their lives only in the connection of their own and their nations' off-and-on trade and military alliances. However, that rarely explored slice of Queen Elizabeth's life is of great interest--and perhaps of relevance in the clash of cultures in which we find ourselves in the 21st century as well.
Mr. Brotton is a very lucid writer, who brings to life the many participants in his story (some of whom were very eccentric indeed--numbers of British, Islamic, and other, rulers, diplomats, merchants, and adventurers inhabit these pages). He writes with intelligence of the cultural effects of Islamic influence on England, especially on its literature. It must be said, however, that Mr. Brotton could have used the services of a better copyeditor: A few obvious errors in the text, and overly long exegesis of Shakespeare's plays as they relate to Islam and the English view of various Moroccan, Persian, and Turkish peoples, mar the book. Small criticisms, however.
This is not a biography of Queen Elizabeth, nor of the various Eastern potentates with whom she deals. It deals with their lives only in the connection of their own and their nations' off-and-on trade and military alliances. However, that rarely explored slice of Queen Elizabeth's life is of great interest--and perhaps of relevance in the clash of cultures in which we find ourselves in the 21st century as well.
July 18, 2017
Tudor England is my favorite era in history and finding something new is always a treat. This book is amazing on so many levels because it introduces a side of Tudor history that is rarely discussed, but is also reflective in modern news. While the focus is on England and the Islamic kingdoms, it also discusses the world at large, which I rather enjoyed instead of the usual England + France + Hapsburg domains kerfuffles. The book also answered some basic questions about Islam and explored a fascinating mercantile history of which ended when Elizabeth I died. Overall, I enjoyed the descriptive scenes, the global viewpoints, and the influence the trade had on society and literature of the time.
June 5, 2023
Wow this was boring. Even the person who picked this book for our book club said he couldn't get through more than 10 pages without nodding off. I think the topic had potential to be interesting, but it was about 250 pages too long for that. On the other hand, if you need a cold shower after reading a bunch of faerie smut, this is your book.
August 18, 2023
England’s forgotten dalliance with Islam
Have you read Shakespeare’s plays? And if you have, have you wondered at the number of plays which include a character dark of skin, shady of origin, duplicitous in character, and described as a ‘moor’? The quaint word referred to a person of Turkish or Moroccan origin, and in later years was used to describe any North African, and within the Indian context any person of the Muslim faith. Why did plays written in Elizabethan England, meant for an English audience contain a Moorish character- often in a minor but pivoting role?
Elizabethan England was divided by the violent fissures between its minority Catholic, and majority Protestant populations (see Faith and Treason by Antonia Fraser). Even as Elizabeth put down the Catholics, and in particular the Jesuits with vengeance, the Pope excommunicated her. The Catholic countries of Europe not only waged war against England, but more effectively brought all trade with England to a halt- in what in contemporary parlance would pass for an economic blockade. With no choice left, England, in those days a small ‘oriental’ island, was forced to send embassies to the Ottoman Sultan (Suleyman the Magnificent, and later Murad III), and the King of Morocco. Elizabeth was particularly short of salt petre to manufacture gun powder, and this commodity was sourced from Morocco. Private trade always existed long before Elizabeth’s attempts to formalize it, and these trade relations brought Moors to England- as Ambassadors, traders, adventurers, and travelers.
It is amusing to read how both Catholic Europe and Protestant England, wooed the Moors, while being at loggerheads with each other. So deeply were the co-religionists divided, that each party of this divide imagined a closer theological proximity towards Islam, than to each other. Protestants were impressed by the Islamic hatred for idolatory, while Catholics saw a lot in common between some of their Saints and Islamic heroes who had made similar conquests. All such theological contortions were simply a mechanism to justify trade relations. With typical British duplicity, England managed to cultivate trade interests with both Shia Persia, and Sunni Ottomans, who were themselves on the opposite sides of a divide as deep as the one between Catholics and Protestants. As Brotton writes (page 71):
“There is a long, undistinguished history of states, whatever their religious or ideological beliefs, being economical with the truth when it comes to selling arms to apparent adversaries, and the Elizabethans were no different.”
Brotton’s observations about the illegitimate arms trade between Elizabethan England and Morocco can be generalized to trade in other goods as well. Is it any wonder then, that Elizabeth’s portraits show her sporting veils of diaphanous silk and oriental chintz, than English broadcloth?
It is an entirely different matter that King James I who succeeded Elizabeth, by deft diplomacy reestablished England’s connections with Catholic Europe, while pushing trade further East towards India, thereby giving a quiet burial to England’s Moorish connections. Fans of popular history should thank Brotton for resurrecting the story of England’s forgotten dalliance with Islamic empires.
Have you read Shakespeare’s plays? And if you have, have you wondered at the number of plays which include a character dark of skin, shady of origin, duplicitous in character, and described as a ‘moor’? The quaint word referred to a person of Turkish or Moroccan origin, and in later years was used to describe any North African, and within the Indian context any person of the Muslim faith. Why did plays written in Elizabethan England, meant for an English audience contain a Moorish character- often in a minor but pivoting role?
Elizabethan England was divided by the violent fissures between its minority Catholic, and majority Protestant populations (see Faith and Treason by Antonia Fraser). Even as Elizabeth put down the Catholics, and in particular the Jesuits with vengeance, the Pope excommunicated her. The Catholic countries of Europe not only waged war against England, but more effectively brought all trade with England to a halt- in what in contemporary parlance would pass for an economic blockade. With no choice left, England, in those days a small ‘oriental’ island, was forced to send embassies to the Ottoman Sultan (Suleyman the Magnificent, and later Murad III), and the King of Morocco. Elizabeth was particularly short of salt petre to manufacture gun powder, and this commodity was sourced from Morocco. Private trade always existed long before Elizabeth’s attempts to formalize it, and these trade relations brought Moors to England- as Ambassadors, traders, adventurers, and travelers.
It is amusing to read how both Catholic Europe and Protestant England, wooed the Moors, while being at loggerheads with each other. So deeply were the co-religionists divided, that each party of this divide imagined a closer theological proximity towards Islam, than to each other. Protestants were impressed by the Islamic hatred for idolatory, while Catholics saw a lot in common between some of their Saints and Islamic heroes who had made similar conquests. All such theological contortions were simply a mechanism to justify trade relations. With typical British duplicity, England managed to cultivate trade interests with both Shia Persia, and Sunni Ottomans, who were themselves on the opposite sides of a divide as deep as the one between Catholics and Protestants. As Brotton writes (page 71):
“There is a long, undistinguished history of states, whatever their religious or ideological beliefs, being economical with the truth when it comes to selling arms to apparent adversaries, and the Elizabethans were no different.”
Brotton’s observations about the illegitimate arms trade between Elizabethan England and Morocco can be generalized to trade in other goods as well. Is it any wonder then, that Elizabeth’s portraits show her sporting veils of diaphanous silk and oriental chintz, than English broadcloth?
It is an entirely different matter that King James I who succeeded Elizabeth, by deft diplomacy reestablished England’s connections with Catholic Europe, while pushing trade further East towards India, thereby giving a quiet burial to England’s Moorish connections. Fans of popular history should thank Brotton for resurrecting the story of England’s forgotten dalliance with Islamic empires.
April 14, 2018
In this book, Jerry Brotton pursues two parallel tracks to describe the relationship between the England of Elizabeth I and the muslim states of the Mediterranean. In the first, he tells us about the travellers, those who went there to experience it for themselves. In the second, he tells us about the men who imagined the east, with a focus on the playwrights who brought it to the stage, especially (of course) William Shakespeare. It was a good idea that did not work very well in practice, because the two tracks are very loosely connected, and Brotton is reduced to speculating that a Moroccan diplomat may have gone to the theatre, and a mining of text for real-world references that sometimes feels a little desperate.
The traveller's story plunges the reader in the twilight world of Elizabethan foreign politics, where a man might be trader, diplomat, spy, mercenary, con-artist and traitor all at once. Adventurers who tried to reach foreign capitals the long way round, such as the journey from the White Sea over Moscow and down the Volga to reach Persia. It's an enjoyable story of diplomatic backstabbing and unenjoyable rogues, such as the baffling Sherley brothers. Brotton makes an obvious Brexit reference when he describes protestant England as at war with (most of) Europe and seeking alliances far away, in Ottoman Turkey, Persia, and Morocco. But for politicians at both ends of the deal these were peripheral relationships, clearly secondary to problems closer to home, and involving a minimal commitment of blood, time and money. Apparently that didn't stop them from imaging a Anglo-Moroccan alliance to invade Spanish South America, but so much was gathering wool. Brotton puts a full stop at the death of Elizabeth I and the accession to the throne of James I.
The playwright's track, as said above, often feels a little desperate. It is easy enough for Brotton to convince us that there was a fashion for exotic characters on stage, and it is not even surprising when so many of these plays were set in the Mediterranean or even more eastern lands. It is harder to sell the reader the idea that a few lines in Henry V are clearly a reference to Eastern politics. Obvious to Brotton perhaps, but did the 16th century theatregoer really have Turkey on his mind to the same degree as Brotton? And when Shakespeare set a scene in Venice or Cyprus, was it because he wanted to tell us something about the East, or just because the same scene would have been too shocking if set in, say, London? Brotton's argumentation is often laborious enough to trigger disbelief. Is really it a coincidence, he wonders, that Al-Annuri had his portrait painted at age 42, when it was also the 42nd year of Elizabeth's reign? Apparently not considering that it might have been rather difficult for Al-Annuri to avoid such a coincidence.
This is a mixed bag, then. It merits a good rating by itself, but with the nagging suspicion that someone else probably did this better. If not, then someone should.
The traveller's story plunges the reader in the twilight world of Elizabethan foreign politics, where a man might be trader, diplomat, spy, mercenary, con-artist and traitor all at once. Adventurers who tried to reach foreign capitals the long way round, such as the journey from the White Sea over Moscow and down the Volga to reach Persia. It's an enjoyable story of diplomatic backstabbing and unenjoyable rogues, such as the baffling Sherley brothers. Brotton makes an obvious Brexit reference when he describes protestant England as at war with (most of) Europe and seeking alliances far away, in Ottoman Turkey, Persia, and Morocco. But for politicians at both ends of the deal these were peripheral relationships, clearly secondary to problems closer to home, and involving a minimal commitment of blood, time and money. Apparently that didn't stop them from imaging a Anglo-Moroccan alliance to invade Spanish South America, but so much was gathering wool. Brotton puts a full stop at the death of Elizabeth I and the accession to the throne of James I.
The playwright's track, as said above, often feels a little desperate. It is easy enough for Brotton to convince us that there was a fashion for exotic characters on stage, and it is not even surprising when so many of these plays were set in the Mediterranean or even more eastern lands. It is harder to sell the reader the idea that a few lines in Henry V are clearly a reference to Eastern politics. Obvious to Brotton perhaps, but did the 16th century theatregoer really have Turkey on his mind to the same degree as Brotton? And when Shakespeare set a scene in Venice or Cyprus, was it because he wanted to tell us something about the East, or just because the same scene would have been too shocking if set in, say, London? Brotton's argumentation is often laborious enough to trigger disbelief. Is really it a coincidence, he wonders, that Al-Annuri had his portrait painted at age 42, when it was also the 42nd year of Elizabeth's reign? Apparently not considering that it might have been rather difficult for Al-Annuri to avoid such a coincidence.
This is a mixed bag, then. It merits a good rating by itself, but with the nagging suspicion that someone else probably did this better. If not, then someone should.
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