"With characteristic pragmatism as well as a keen eye for symbolic revenge, Elizabeth stripped lead and tin from deconsecrated Catholic churches to export to the Ottomans as munitions in their wars with the Shia Persian empire—“which the Turk buys of them,” wrote an outraged Spanish ambassador to England, “almost for its weight in gold, the tin being vitally necessary for the casting of guns and the lead for purposes of war.” The trade was so successful that it was replicated in the Barbary states of North Africa, where again English armaments were traded for gold and sugar (hence Elizabeth’s infamously bad teeth). English merchants also traveled as far as Persia, playing the Shah off against his Ottoman adversaries in a dangerous geopolitical game, aimed at neutralizing the Catholic threat of imminent Spanish invasion and keeping the ailing English economy afloat."
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Poets from EnglandTranslators from EnglandAnglicans from the United KingdomWomen from EnglandMonarchs from England
Original Language: English
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Sources
Jerry Brotton, “The First Brexit Was Theological”, The Atlantic, (Sep 13, 2017)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Elizabeth_I_of_England
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Elizabeth I of England
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