Another good read "This Orient Isle"

"This Orient Isle", Jerry Brotton, (pub Allen Lane 2016). ( A fine book thanks to Mr. Brotton's superb scholarship and skilled writing)

An intriguing and detailed telling of some of the history we don't know.  English rascals, adventurers, explorers and brilliant diplomats all in the service of Gloriana  (Queen Elizabeth I).  They set out to establish trade and diplomatic relationships with the "Moors" * of North West Africa (Morocco/Marrakesh); with the Ottoman (Turkish **) Empire in Constantinople; and with Persia.

There was something in it for all.  Islamic/English Christian trade and diplomatic ties could have been a mighty deterrent to the domination of the western Mediterranean by the all might Spain.

That the endeavour ultimately failed has more to do with the decline of Spanish power and the accession of James I and VI to the English throne,  than to the wiles, treachery, courage, brilliance, wisdom, skill and stupidity of the English explorers and their Islamic counterparts.

The sight of the Moroccan ambassador Muhammed al-Annuri in the streets of London must have been truly amazing.

Muhammed al-Annuri (University of Birmingham UK)

Brotton devotes an entire chapter "London turns Turk" to the various portrayals of Muslims on the contemporary London stage, including works by playwrights Marlowe ("Tamburlaine") and Shakespeare ("Othello" etc).

Well, who knew about this encounter of the Elizabethan world and the Islamic world.  They certainly did not tell us about this in High School.

Here is Brotton's last word (taken from the Guardian Review - below)

There are powerful lessons for modern Elizabethans here, and Brotton is conscious of them. “Despite the sometimes intemperate religious rhetoric,” he writes, “the conflict between Christian Europe and the Islamic world was then, as now, defined as much by the struggle for power and precedence as by theology. This story is part of the heritage of Christians, Muslims and any others who call themselves English.” At a time when many see Islam as a recent and strange intruder, Brotton’s excellent history is a reminder that a careful study of England’s “island story” shows just how wrong they are.

*  "Moor" is derived from a Greek word which refers first  to the inhabitants of Mauretania;  and then as an adjective meaning "dark" or "dim".  It became a synonym for Muslims.

(The following is extracted from the book) Elizabethan playwright George Peele drew on sources which argued that Moors are of two kinds - white or tawny Moors , an Negroes or Black Moors. (Hence the dreadful soubriquet "Blackamoor")

** "Turk" was often used as a synonym for Muslim.  I believe that the English 1662 Book of Common Prayer included a petition for the conversion  of the Turks (i,.e. Muslims),

Two reviews worth reading, one of the British "Guardian", the other from the Egyptian "Al-Ahram Weekly"

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/apr/13/this-orient-isle-elizabethan-england-and-the-islamic-world-by-jerry-brotton-review

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/News/19528.aspx