Power players beyond England

The Tudor court was like a consulate, frequented by merchants, ambassadors, and diplomats from around the world. It was also like a newsroom, with flurries of international letters, gifts, and dispatches sent and received. These connections were key to the crown’s ability to stay relevant, manage reputations, and expand English influence—as well as English pocketbooks—on a global scale. 

The power players described in this section represent just a few of the hundreds of foreigners who circulated in and out of court. Terrified of foreign invasion but also worried that England was being left behind in the race to globalize, capitalize, and colonize, monarchs weren’t always cooperative, or even consistent, with international visitors. Some global power players found themselves welcomed with open arms. Others were killed for their trouble.

Catherine de Medici, French queen and power broker 

Although they never met in person, Queen Elizabeth viewed Catherine de Medici (1519–89) as a formidable, intelligent, and shrewd political rival. Wife to one king and mother to three others, Catherine de Medici was at a turning point in her life when she wrote this letter in September 1559. Her husband, King Henry II of France, had just died in a jousting accident, shortly after signing a controversial peace treaty with Elizabeth.  

Here, Catherine de Medici accepts her cousin’s condolences and describes her grief and suffering. As Queen Mother, she went on to successfully manage the difficult Anglo-French relationship for many years, negotiating trade agreements, political alliances, religious compromises, and potential marriage matches. In fact, in 1579, her youngest son, Francis, Duke of Anjou, became one of Elizabeth’s most significant suitors, despite their age difference.

Corsini Brothers, Italian merchants

England was part of an interconnected global marketplace, and the Florentine brothers Phillipo and Bartholomew Corsini (1538–1601 and 1545–1613, respectively) were at the center of it. Wealthy financiers and merchants based in London, they ran the largest import-export business in late 16th-century England. The Folger has hundreds of letters to them from traders, agents, and merchants across Europe.  

In this letter, a merchant updates Phillipo Corsini on a shipment from Livorno, Italy of 253 elephant tusks (ivory), weighing almost 5,746 pounds. He also alerts him to the imminent arrival of a ship from Guinea (on the West African coast) laden with more elephant tusks as well as ambergris—a waxy substance created in the intestines of sperm whales and used in perfume. The trade of luxury goods such as ivory and ambergris was intertwined with the trafficking of enslaved people, sharing the same ports, ships, and trade routes.  

Roderigo Lopez, Portuguese physician 

Roderigo Lopez (approximately 1517–94) was a Portuguese physician who tended to Queen Elizabeth and many of the power players in her inner circle. Lopez secretly adhered to Judaism, the religion of his parents, despite outwardly conforming to Protestantism by baptizing his children.   

Lopez made powerful enemies when he became embroiled in diplomatic intrigues between the Portuguese, Spanish, and English courts. Two Portuguese associates in London, facing interrogation and torture, dubiously implicated him in a plot to poison Queen Elizabeth. All three men were convicted of high treason and hanged, drawn, and quartered, with the attorney general highlighting Lopez’s secret Judaism as a sign of his guilt. The alleged betrayal of the queen’s trusted physician shocked Londoners. This manuscript provides the texts of the examinations and confessions of Lopez and two other defendants in the treason trial.  

Ṣafiyye Sulṭān and her son, Ottoman rulers

While Queen Elizabeth addressed this letter to the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed III, she knew that the Sultan’s savvy and influential mother, Ṣafiyye Sulṭān (approximately 1550–1619), would also read it. Ṣafiyye Sulṭān was in regular contact with Queen Elizabeth, exchanging lavish gifts and letters with her. Their friendship resulted in mutually beneficial political and commercial alliances. 

 In this letter, Elizabeth mediates the return of two Scottish gentlemen who were rumored to have been captured by pirates and sold into slavery in the Ottoman Empire. She also assures the Sultan (and his mother) that their countries are united in their mutual distrust of “Idolators falsely professing the name of Christ”: the Spanish Catholic Empire.  

‘Abd al-Wāḥid bin Mas‘ud bin Moḥammed ‘Anūn, Sā‘di ambassador

‘Abd al-Wāḥid bin Mas‘ud bin Moḥammed ‘Anūn represented the Sā‘di Sultanate—an early modern state spread across present-day Morocco, Algeria, Western Sahara, Mauritania, and Mali. He was sent to Elizabeth’s court in the summer of 1600 to discuss trade and to explore an alliance against their common enemy, Spain. With expertise in multiple languages and a keen sense of military strategy, the Sā‘di ambassador deftly negotiated with the queen for six months. He also had his portrait painted by an English artist.

An account of ‘Abd al-Wāḥid ‘Anūn’s diplomatic trip to England was printed almost immediately after it happened in John Stow’s Annals of England. Stow emphasizes the respect and hospitality shown to the ambassador by Queen Elizabeth and prominent London citizens.

Matoaka, also known as Pocahontas, Powhatan representative

As Elizabeth’s successor, King James continued to welcome diplomats, ambassadors, and travelers, including Matoaka (approximately 1595–1617), an influential Powhatan woman. The beloved child of leader Wahunsenacawh, Matoaka helped her people communicate, negotiate, and trade with English colonizers at James Fort in Virginia. Kidnapped by the English, Matoaka faced a series of painful choices and circumstances. After converting to Christianity and marrying an Englishman, Matoaka was sent to London. Celebrated at James’s court, she met and spoke with mariners and merchants who hoped to enrich themselves on American trade. Her time in England was short—she died within a year of her arrival—but impactful.

This image of Matoaka circulated widely in England as a loose print. She is dressed as an English gentlewoman. Here the print has been cut and pasted to a blank page in John Smith’s The generall historie of Virginia.