Encountering Islam in Elizabethan England

Despite the recent move back to remote learning, our 4s history collaboration lectures are still in full swing! This week our students were joined by Head of Religion and Philosophy, Dr Munro, with a fascinating lecture on ‘Encountering Islam in Elizabethan England’.

Although religion and philosophy lessons cover the study of a wide range of religions and faiths, it is not so often that we learn about the historical and cultural interactions between faiths (in this case Christianity and Islam), and so this topic was an ideal way for our students to enrich their understanding of both history and religion and philosophy.

The Elizabethan Era took place from 1558 to 1603, and Dr Munro gave a brief history of Britain’s Islamic neighbours up to this time. From the 10^th century the Islamic Kingdom of Al-Andalus, in Spain, was a flourishing hub of learning and innovation. In particular was the city of Cordoba, which was a huge centre of Islamic learning, primarily in mathematics and astronomy. Knowledge from the Islamic Kingdom of Al-Andalus was passed by travellers from Spain, through France, and to Great Britain, where British intellectuals of the time became well aware of Islamic scholars and their work.

Dr Munro introduced figures of particular significance to our girls.

Adelard of Bath, a 12^th century English scholar who was educated in France, was fascinated by the Arab world. He set off on a seven year journey to North Africa and Asia Minor, and translated many important scientific works on astronomy, philosophy and mathematics from Arabic into Latin.

Robert of Ketton was the first person to translate the whole Qur’an into Latin the 1143, and his version of the translation was used right up until the 18^th century.

The Elizabethan period was also the height of the Ottoman empire in the East, and Queen Elizabeth I was the first English monarch to really engage in trade with Ottomans. Dr Munro told our students how Queen Elizabeth made great relations with Muslim royalty, and saw the power that the Islamic Kingdom held.

With these great connections from the Islamic world, Queen Elizabeth hosted many important Islamic ambassadors at her court. So, when Muslim ambassadors first came to visit Britain, they were often perceived with authority and legitimacy. Her visitors came with large entourages, and presented the Queen with many lavish gifts, such as horses and fine clothing. Dr Munro shared some historical accounts of these visits, which showed that the Queen’s Islamic visitors were treated with the utmost respect. They were freely able to practice their religion, follow their specific diets, wear national dress and were highly celebrated on their visits.

However, royals and ambassadors weren’t the only Muslims that British people had contact with in the Elizabethan Era. Due to the huge influx of trade relations Queen Elizabeth I had established with the Ottoman Empire, merchants often came to visit and trade. The increase in trade also brought about a large amount of piracy. Both British and Muslims were captured by each other and made slaves or prisoners, and so British people also encountered prisoners and freed slaves from the Islamic Kingdoms.

Dr Munro left out girls with one final question to think about as the lecture ended: “What do you think the general public would have thought of Muslims at this time?”

Perhaps they were fascinated by the Queen’s royal guests, or wary of their new foreign visitors.

A big thank you goes to the history department, and Dr Munro for this fascinating lecture, which our 4s thoroughly enjoyed! Please do keep a look out for more of our exciting history collaboration lectures, with subjects such as religion and philosophy, geography and English.