Istanbul bazaar
Merchants in
Constantinople
c1580, when England
was establishing
a string of lucrative
trading posts across
the Muslim worlda burgeoning trade in English tin, lead
(stripped from deconsecrated English
churches) and wool. He negotiated the
release of hundreds of English men and
women captured by pirates and slavers, all
while acting as Walsingham’s loyal spy. He
was also the intermediary in the first formal
exchanges of letters between an English
monarch and an Ottoman sultan.
In the spring of 1579 Murad sent letters
addressed to “most renowned
Elizabeth, most sacred queen, and
noble prince of the most mighty
worshippers of Jesus, most wise
governor of the causes and affairs of the
people and family of Nazareth”.
Elizabeth responded with equal flattery,
dispatching a letter from “the most
invincible and most mighty defender of
the Christian faith against all kind of
idolatries, of all that live among the
Christians, and falsely profess the
name of Christ, unto the most
imperial and most invincible prince,
Zuldan Murad Chan [Murad III],
the most mighty ruler of the
kingdom of Turkey”. Both rulers saw
the strategic benefits of celebrating the
shared tenets of their faith in contrast
to the ‘idolatry’ of Catholic rites and
intercession, even though their ends
were more pragmatic and political.Trading expands
At the height of Harborne’s embassy
the Turkey Company was dispatching
19 ships weighing 100–300 tonnes
and crewed by nearly 800 seamen
on an average of five voyages a year
to trade in 10 Ottoman-controlled
Mediterranean ports. The profits
on some voyages were estimated at
over £70,000, producing returns of
nearly 300 per cent. Unsurprisingly,
Elizabeth was encouraged to grant
another royal charter in 1585, this
time creating the Barbary Company,
importing Moroccan saltpetre, almonds,
gold and sugar.
By the 1590s, prosperous Elizabethans
were able to consume the fruits of the Anglo-
Islamic trade, ranging from pearls, dia-
monds, sapphires, silks, brocades and
damasks to rugs, carpets, embroideries and
even Iznik pottery made in Bursa in Turkey.
The importation of cotton wool from
Turkish merchants stimulated Lancashire’s
textile industry, and the manufacture of
Iranian raw silk provided employment for
hundreds of workers who produced clothes
‘in the Turkish manner’ and household
furnishings. The Turkey and Barbary
imports enabled Elizabethans to wear silkThe profits on some
voyages were estimated
at £70,000, producing
returns of 30 0 per cent
Sultan Murad III
and Elizabeth
exchanged
flattering letters
at the height of
their commer-
cial allianceThe Islamic World in 1550 By the mid-16th century, vast swathes of Europe,
north Africa and Asia had been swallowed up in the irresistible rise of Muslim power■ Capital cities