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. The gripping story of Queen Elizabeth's bold alliance with the Ottoman sultan by The New York Times bestselling author of A History of the World in Twelve Maps (published in the UK as This Orient Isle) Long before Thomas Jefferson confronted the Barbary Pirates, Queen Elizabeth sent a secret message to the Ottoman Sultan Murad II, inviting him to open his markets to her merchants and to embark on a pathbreaking new alliance. Islam and the West crossed paths much earlier than we think-and originally the Muslims had the upper hand. When Elizabeth was excommunicated by the pope in 1570, she found herself in an awkward predicament. England had always depended on trade. Now its key markets were suddenly closed to her Protestant merchants, while the staunchly Catholic king of Spain vowed to take her throne. In a bold decision with far-reaching consequences, she set her sights on the East. She sent an emissary to the shah of Iran, wooed the king of Morocco, and entered into an unprecedented alliance with the powerful Ottoman Sultan Murad III. This marked the beginning of an extraordinary alignment with Muslim powers and of economic and political exchanges with the Islamic world of a depth not again experienced until the modern age. By the late 1580s, thousands of English merchants, diplomats, sailors, and privateers were plying their trade from Morocco to Persia. To finance these expeditions, they created the first ever joint stock company, a revolutionary new business model that balanced risk and reward. Londoners were gripped with a passion for the Orient. Elizabeth became hooked on sugar as new words like candy, turquoise, and tulip entered the English language. Marlowe offered up Tamburlaine and Shakespeare wrote Othello six months after the first Moroccan ambassador's visit. Jerry Brotton reveals that Elizabethan England's relationship with the Muslim world was far more amicable-and far more extensive-than we have ever appreciated as he tells the riveting story of the traders and adventurers who first went East to seek their fortunes. From the Hardcover edition "Long before the Barbary pirates challenged Thomas Jefferson, English merchants traveled to Marrakesh to trade gunpowder for sugar. Islam and the West crossed paths much earlier than we think--and originally the Muslims had the upper hand. When Queen Elizabeth was excommunicated by the pope in 1570, she found herself in an awkward predicament. England had always depended on trade. Now its key markets were closed to her Protestant merchants, while the staunchly Catholic king of Spain vowed to take her throne. In a bold decision, she set her sights on the East. She sent an emissary to the shah of Iran, wooed the king of Morocco, and entered into an unprecedented alliance with the powerful Ottoman sultan Murad III. This marked the beginning of an extraordinary alignment with Muslim powers and of economic and political exchanges with the Islamic world of a depth not again experienced until the modern age. By the late 1580s, thousands of English merchants, diplomats, sailors, and privateers were plying their trade from Morocco to Persia. To finance these expeditions, they created the first-ever joint stock company, a revolutionary new business model that balanced risk and reward. Londoners were gripped with a passion for the Orient. Elizabeth became hooked on sugar as new words like "candy," "turquoise," and "tulip" entered the English language. Marlowe offered up Tamburlaine and Shakespeare wrote Othello six month after the first Moroccan ambassador's visit. In this groundbreaking book, Jerry Brotton reveals that Elizabethan England's relationship with the Muslim world was far more amicable--and far more extensive--than we have ever appreciated as he tells the riveting story of the traders and adventurers who first went East to seek their fortunes."--Inside jacket flaps The gripping story of Queen Elizabeth's bold alliance with the Ottoman sultan by The New York Times bestselling author of A History of the World in Twelve Maps Published in the UK as This Orient Isle When Queen Elizabeth was excommunicated by the pope in 1570, she found herself in an awkward predicament. England had always depended on trade. Now its key markets would be closed to her Protestant merchants. To complicate matters the staunchly Catholic king of Spain was determined to destroy her, bolstered by the gold pouring in from the New World. In a bold decision with far-reaching consequences, Elizabeth set her sights on the East. She sent an emissary to the shah of Iran (by way of Ivan the Terrible in Moscow), wooed the king of Morocco, trading gunpowder for sugar, and entered into an unprecedented alliance with the powerful Ottoman Sultan Murad III. This marked the beginning of an extraordinary alignment with Muslim powers and of... "In 1570, when it became clear she would never be gathered into the Catholic fold, Elizabeth I was excommunicated by the Pope. On the principle that 'my enemy's enemy is my friend', this marked the beginning of an extraordinary English alignment with the Muslim powers who were fighting Catholic Spain in the Mediterranean, and of cultural, economic and political exchanges with the Islamic world of a depth not again experienced until the modern age. England signed treaties with the Ottoman Porte, received ambassadors from the kings of Morocco and shipped munitions to Marrakesh. By the late 1580s hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Elizabethan merchants, diplomats, sailors, artisans and privateers were plying their trade from Morocco to Persia."--Publisher's description -- The New York Times? "Brotton is a gifted writer who presents this history as an exciting series of critical and suspense-filled encounters."--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 Conquering Tunis The sultan, the tsar and the shah The Battle for Barbary An apt man in Constantinople Unholy alliances Sultana Isabel London turns Turk Mahomet's dove Escape from the Seraglio Sherley fever More than a Moor Epilogue.