They were all Clad in the Moorish habite Cassocks of Colourd Cloth or silk with buttons and loopes

January 13, 2012 9:40 AM

The Anglo-Moroccan connection originates in the quarrels between the two half-sisters Queen Elizabeth i and Queen Mary i. Elizabeth suspected that Mary's husband, Philip ii of Spain, had designs on England, and she was consequently interested in an ally who could join in attacking Spain. On the Moroccan side, there was considerable enthusiasm for expelling the Spanish and Portuguese from the several Moroccan coastal cities they had conquered. The Moroccans also wanted naval support in case of further encroachment by the Ottoman Turks, who were eager to extend their empire west from Algiers into Morocco. It was for this last reason that the Moroccan sultan Ahmad al-Mansur was unwilling to collaborate with the Ottomans despite Ottoman consideration of an invasion of Spain: He preferred instead an alliance with the English.

An 'Extreamly Civile' Diplomacy: a short history of early Anglo-Moroccan relations
via the always wonderful @bintbattuta
posted by timshel (7 comments total)

Have you ever read a post and been fascinated by the topic but have nothing of weight to add or comment on, yet you with that someone would so you could continue reading?
That's me right now.
Thank you, timshel. The rest of you . . . come one, I'm boooooored.
posted by Seamus at 10:42 AM on January 13, 2012 [2 favorites]

Right there with you, Seamus.
posted by timshel at 10:43 AM on January 13, 2012

Will have a look at my bookshelves when I get home tonight - Fernand Braudel's two volume "The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Phillip II" and RB Wernham's "The Making of Elizabethan Foreign Policy 1558-1603" will likely have information about the subject and I suspect my copy of JF Guilmartin's "Gunpowder and Galleys" will have a fair bit about the Ottoman navy (it has the best research of the 1571 Battle of Lepanto which signalled the end of Ottoman dominance in the Med).
posted by longbaugh at 11:22 AM on January 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

On another note, Morocco has quite the historical connection to the United States, as well, with the former being the first nation to diplomatically recognize the latter in 1777, and upholding the Union against the Confederates during the American Civil War.
posted by Apocryphon at 11:59 AM on January 13, 2012

Have you ever read a post and been fascinated by the topic but have nothing of weight to add or comment on, yet you with that someone would so you could continue reading?
That's me right now.

Completely agreed. This is of great personal interest to me; thanks for posting it, timshel.
posted by Amanojaku at 1:22 PM on January 13, 2012

I'm setting this aside to read when I have some time to digest it. Nice find!
posted by immlass at 4:00 PM on January 13, 2012

Fascinating reading on an aspect of British history that never made it into my school curriculum, thanks.
posted by arcticseal at 5:33 PM on January 14, 2012