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Some very interesting quotes from E.W. Bovill, The Golden Trade of the Moors OUP (1958) 2nd edition, 1968. From the footnotes, I think he used excellent sources. 1578, Battle of al-Ksar al-Kabir – Morocco defeats the Portuguese; Don Sebastian and Abd-el-Malik both die; Mulai Ahmed becomes Sharif of Fez…’added al-Mansur, the Victorious, to his name…Elizabeth of England, anxious to continue her illicit exchange of arms for Moroccan saltpetre, sent an ambassador, but, not altogether surprisingly, without a present of sufficient consequence to be recorded. Nevertheless, at court there were advocates for an alliance between her and al-Mansur…. Don Antonio, the Pretender to the throne of Portugal, whose needs were granted (by al-Mansur) at the urgent request of Queen Elizabeth…. There was a rumour that the English had designs on the more southerly port of Mogador whence they got the sugar which was a staple of their trade with the Moors… Abd al-Malik had got all the timber for his galleys and the arms he needed for his army from Elizabeth, the only Christian sovereign prepared to defy the papal ban on trafficking with Muslims in war material. She had only done so because of her pressing need for saltpetre for making gunpowder, which she could only get from the Moors… Before long Spain and the rest of the Catholic world became aware that the Moors were obtaining from England not only ship timber, cannon balls, and oars, but also shipwrights which they had never done before. [p.157-9] Al-Mansur is preparing a large army to invade the Sudan ’…three thousand yards of English cloth which reached Marrakech in February 1584 required “for lining the tents of the arquebusiers of the victorious army” had been especially order for the great enterprise’… (p.163)…request of the Sharif’s ambassador in London for permission to hire English carpenters and shipwrights, “for the building of certain foysts and fregates in tymes of war…” This was in March 1589.’ [p.169] ‘al-Mansur had promised to send supplies to the English fleet (wanting to attack Lisbon) but had failed to do so. Nevertheless Elizabeth spent a special envoy to Marrakech, to solicit his aid in a second attack on Portugal. Her envoy was coldly received and her request refused. In spite of this rebuff the Queen now renewed her demands on the Sharif for aid for her protégé Don Antonio. On 23 July 1590, al-Mansur wrote to her excusing his neglect of her importunate ambassador on the grounds of his pre-occupation with the expedition which would be leaving for the Sudan in a few days’ time.’ [p169 – 179] In Morocco, ‘The foreign mercantile communities were principally English, French, and Dutch, but the English merchants predominated and enjoyed a virtual monopoly of trade passing through Santa Cruz du Cap de Ghir (Agadir) and Safi, whence the Portuguese had been driven by the Moors in 1541…. The English agreed to surrender their claims in Guinea, where they had traded since the middle of the 16th century, but stubbornly refused to abandon their lucrative trade with Morocco. The staples of the English trade were saltpetre, and sugar from Sus, in the preparation of both of which al-Mansur had found it advantageous to employ skilled Englishmen. During the civil war following his death many of the sugar plantations were destroyed, much to England’s cost. Other exports to England included gold, ostrich feathers, indigo, beeswax, dates, horses and hawks… With the gold, …from the Sudan went Moorish sequins which Moroccan Jews were shipping to London for reminting into coin of the realm.’ [p.201] ‘In 1600 a high official of the Sharifian court…. arrived secretly in London. He and his entourage of two merchants, an interpreter, and twelve servants were lodged by the mystified Queen in a reluctant alderman’s house in the City. On being granted an audience, the ambassador astonished Elizabeth by disclosing that he had come to propose that she and al-Mansur should make a joint attack on Spain, and then seize and divide between them all Phillip’s possessions in the Old and the New Worlds… Having no wish to jeopardise her supplies of saltpetre, Elizabeth returned a diplomatic answer…. In spite of mounting resentment and undisguised hostility which the uncouth behaviour of the Moors widely excited, it took months to rid the kingdom of its unwelcome guests… ‘ [p.202] ‘in the 17th century… numbers of English seamen who, thrown out of employment when the turbulent days of Elizabeth gave place to the peaceful reign of James I, sought service with the corsairs to save themselves from starvation. Equipped with betters ships and experienced navigators, the African pirates began raiding the shores of Britain, Denmark and Iceland.’ [pp.208-9]