Anglo-Ottoman bilateral relations gained impetus in 1654, which coincided with the publication of a message in the same year. A Message Sent From His Highness the Lord Protector, to the Great Turk (1654) was written to ensure the implementation of the Ahdname of 1580, which guaranteed freedom of trade and movement to the English, at least on paper. With the aim to safeguard England’s commercial interests and her citizens, the message refers to Admiral Robert Blake’s (1598-1657) agreement with the Dey, the local ruler, of Algeria about the release of some English prisoners, possibly in exchange for ammunition. Before the publication of the message, Blake, who was an important naval commander of the Interregnum period and contributed to England’s ascending influence in the seas, had been sent on a special mission to the Mediterranean to show England’s military power to both Christian and Muslim powers.

A

Message

Sent From

His Highness the Lord Protector,

To the

Great Turk,

With

His Demands and Proposals; and the

releasing of the English Captives.

Likewise,

The new Edict, and Decree of the Go-

vernor of Argier, the redeeming of all English men

from Thraldom and Slavery, and the bringing of them

in to Gen. Blake; the seizing of the Salley men of

War, and a Narrative of the general proceed-

ings of the English, in order to the French,

Dutch, and Spaniards.

Extracted out of the Original Papers; Licen-

sed and published by special Authority.

London, printed for Peter Mitchel, 1654.

[Title Page of the Printed Message]

Although we have not yet unearthed the Ottoman version of this message, if there is any, it refers to an important turning point in which some of the demands, even though few had been granted in the region, opened up a healthier exchange of further correspondence, to which I will refer in my upcoming blog posts.

Being an interesting document of its time, the printed message maintains that Cromwell’s wishes were accepted as orders and a command was given that no English prisoners would be captured from then on, apart from the release of the already captured ones. What is more, the Algerians and the Ottoman Turks became partners and associates of the English. The agreement was admired by all Christians and the message ends with a statement that the supposedly unchallenged Blake was victoriously sailing in the Mediterranean.

John Speed’s Map of Europ (1626) available via Wikipedia

The reasons which prompted the publication of this message are manifold, which is based on the way in which Anglo-Ottoman relations in the Interregnum period developed. Apart from the mutually improving cultural and commercial traffic, there was a strained relationship because of piracy. As for the latter, the Muslim principalities of North Africa, which were linked to the Ottoman Empire, had always caused problems in the implementation of the principles of Anglo-Ottoman relations determined by the said 1580 Ahdname. Some reasons for this were the distance of these principalities from the Sublime Porte, conflicts among these principalities, and the presence of irregular and multi-cultural pirate groups in North Africa. In particular, prisoners taken by pirates put the English in political and economic difficulties both within and without England.

Therefore, the Cromwellian administration gave importance to trade with the North African principalities, and thus the Ottoman Empire, and used diplomatic correspondence in the Mediterranean for the development of commercial relations. England’s problems with both the French and the Spanish became obstacles for the English who wanted to open to the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. In this context, the commercial and political relations established with the Ottoman Empire through the Levant Company and North Africa became pivotal. Apart from imports and exports, the support of the Ottoman Empire against the common enemy Spain could strengthen the hand of the English in foreign policy.

The start of the Anglo-Dutch War (1652-1654) further restricted the English in foreign policy, but it prompted Oliver Cromwell to pursue a more active policy in the Mediterranean. Accordingly, Cromwell assigned Admiral Robert Blake to patrol the Mediterranean in 1654 to challenge the French, the Dutch and the Spanish. Apart from showing England’s power to her European neighbours, the presence of England in the Mediterranean also aimed to show her power to the North African principalities of the Ottoman Empire. Yet, the English fleet under Blake, which consisted of 26 ships, had frequent close contact with Ottoman ships from Algeria, Tunisia and Libya, which resulted in the capture of many English sailors. This actually undermined Cromwell’s policy to open to the Mediterranean and marred England’s reputation. In particular, the attacks of the Barbary pirates who were stationed in the port city of Salé in present day Morocco, damaged English merchant and military ships and led to the captivity of many English sailors/pirates.

It was under these conditions that the Message Sent From His Highness the Lord Protector, to the Great Turk was published. Nevertheless, we should not take the message’s content at face value. For instance, the message’s thoroughly optimistic tone is striking and invites further scrutiny. Despite Blake’s assurance that no English would be captured anymore after Cromwell’s message was read to the Dey of Algeria, between the years 1655 and 1658 at least 323 English were captured by the same pirates. Therefore, far from the realities of that time, the narrative of the message seems to be exaggerated as a means to attempt affecting domestic politics, and to appease the growing tensions against the Cromwellian regime regarding the English prisoners and the problems of trade in the Mediterranean. Despite the fact that the incident referred to in the message changed the direction of Anglo-Ottoman relations in the Interregnum period, which I will further explore in my upcoming blogs, the printing of the ‘authorised’ and ‘licensed’ message should rather be seen as a political move to shape received information and public opinion.

 Image: A Painting of Oliver Cromwell by Samuel Cooper, available from Wikipedia.

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Selected Bibliography

Anon. A Message Sent from His Highness the Lord Protector, To the Great Turk. London: Peter Mitchel, 1654. STC Wing C7117.

Birchwood, Matthew. Staging Islam in England: Drama and Culture, 1640-1685. Woodbridge: D. S. Brewer, 2007.

Blake, Robert. The Letters of Robert Blake. Ed. J. R. Powell. London: Navy Records Society, 1937.

Calendar of State Papers and Manuscripts Relating to English Affairs Existing in the Archives and Collections of Venice and in other Libraries of Northern Italy. Vol. 29. Burlington: Tanner Ritchie, 2009.

Carlton, Charles. Charles I, the Personal Monarch. London: Routledge, 1983.

Coward, Barry. The Cromwellian Protectorate. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2002.

Jones, J. R. The Anglo-Dutch Wars of the Seventeenth Century. London: Longman, 1996.

Matar, Nabil. British Captives from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic, 1663-1760. Leiden: Brill, 2014.

Tedder, Arthur William. The Navy of The Restoration from The Death of Cromwell to the Treaty of Breda: From the Death of Cromwell to the Treaty of Breda, Its Work, Growth and Influence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.

Uzunçarşılı, İsmail Hakkı. Osmanlı Tarihi. Vol. 3, Part 2. Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu, 1977.

Yücel, Yaşar, and Ali Sevim. Türkiye Tarihi. Vol. 3. Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu, 1991.