BRITAIN AND BARBARY, 1589-1689

Following an incisive re-appraisal of “The Moor on the Elizabethan Stage”–vital reading for anyone interested in the plays of Shakespeare and his contemporaries – Professor Matar offers a groundbreaking study of Britain's response to Barbary in matters of state and stage from 1589-1689. This is an exceptional final volume to an inestimable trilogy."--Patrick Spottiswoode, Shakespeare's Globe "Unique for its command of English and Islamic primary sources and for its grasp of literary, cultural, and political history, 'Britain and Barbary, 1589 - 1689' marks another indispensable contribution by Nabil Matar to our understanding of the relationship between Britain and Islam in the early modern period. Written with unusual clarity, Matar's book organizes a wealth of fascinating detail within a narrative that informs our understanding and challenges preconceptions. While firmly grounded in the literature and history of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the book has much to offer any reader who seeks to develop a better understanding of the multi-faceted history of Christian Europe and Islamic North Africa."--Jack D'Amico, Canisius College Matar examines the influence of Mediterranean piracy and diplomacy on early modern British history and identity. Drawing on published and unpublished literary, commercial, and epistolary sources, he situates British maritime activity and national politics, especially in relation to the Civil War, within the international context of Anglo-Magharibi encounters. Before there was the British encounter with America, there was the much more complex and destabilizing encounter with Islam in North Africa.

Focusing on specific case studies, Matar examines the impact of early visits of Moroccan officials on English playwrights such as Peele, Shakespeare, and Heywood; the captivity of thousands of British sailors in North Africa and its domestic consequences in the first women’s protest movement in English history; the captivity of British women in Barbary, especially the English sultana Balqees; the absorption of thousands of "moors" into the British slave trade; and the aftermath of the colonization and desertion of Tangier. Matar shows that when Barbary was militarily and diplomatically powerful, its relations with and impact on Britain were extensive.