Elizabeth I’s Muslim ties ‘held off a Catholic invasion’, says a New York Times piece. It’s a myth

Sixteenth-century England did have links with the Ottoman Empire. But let's not overstate their importance



Sultan Murad III, the Ottoman Emperor from 1574 to 1595, and Queen Elizabeth I

by Francois Soyer
posted Friday, 23 Sep 2016

How did Elizabeth I manage to avoid invasion by the Catholic Philip II of Spain? According to Professor Jerry Brotton of Queen Mary’s, London, “Elizabeth’s Islamic policy held off a Catholic invasion”. Prof Brotton made this claim in a recent article for the New York Times. Like his new book, it places him in a recent scholarly movement which – quite understandably – aims to depart from Eurocentric historical narratives. But unfortunately, the claim about “Elizabeth’s Islamic policy” is not merely simplistic but manifestly erroneous. The historical facts just don’t support it.

England’s ties with the Muslim Ottoman Empire did indeed make an impact on military events but in a very different way. They must be studied within the wider background of diplomatic and military developments elsewhere in Europe, the Mediterranean and even the Middle East.

In the second half of the sixteenth century, the Mediterranean saw a period of open warfare followed by a period of truces and relative calm. Before 1571, the Ottoman Empire and Spain (and its Italian allies) were locked in a bitter struggle for naval domination. Despite the famous Christian victory at Lepanto in October 1571, neither side was able to secure a decisive victory; and so in 1580, the King of Spain and the Sultan concluded the first of a series of truces. For the next two decades, the Mediterranean was divided into a Spanish-dominated west and Ottoman-dominated east. After the mid-1570s, the King of Spain and the Ottoman Sultan thus largely disengaged from one another and turned their eyes away from the Mediterranean. They focused their bellicose energies instead against adversaries who were identified as greater threats.

For Philip II of Spain, the heretical Protestants in Northern Europe came to dominate all other issues: the Calvinist rebels in the Netherlands, their English allies, and the Protestants in France posed a danger to the Catholic Church and Philip’s own authority.

http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/commentandblogs/2016/09/23/elizabeth-is-muslim-ties-held-off-a-catholic-invasion-says-a-new-york-times-piece-its-a-myth/

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/18/opinion/sunday/englands-forgotten-muslim-history.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0

https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/259497/this-orient-isle/