M
MarysLurker
Guest
England didn’t send galleys or men to Lepanto, they sent money and material to the Turks while making war and piracy themselves on the Catholic powers.I looked through the Wiki article on Lepanto that you linked to, and I failed to spot the name “England” anywhere in it. Perhaps I was going too quickly. Can you please tell me where to find it, exactly
Source - History Extra, division of BBC World History (certainly not a biased source)With Harborne’s help, Elizabeth’s merchants began a contraband trade shipping scrap-metal to Constantinople [Istanbul] which was then made into munitions for the Ottomans’ wars with the Spanish and Persians. The metal came from the roofs and bells stripped from deconsecrated Catholic churches and monasteries.
The Spanish were outraged. In 1582 their London ambassador, Bernadino de Mendoza, wrote to his superior, Philip II, complaining that the English trade “is extremely profitable to them, as they take great quantities of tin and lead thither, which the Turk buys of them almost for its weight in gold, the tin being vitally necessary for the casting of guns and the lead for purposes of war”.
Bernadino de Mendoza concluded that it “is of double importance to the Turk now, in consequence of the excommunication proposed ipse facto by the Pope upon any person who provides or sells to infidels such materials as these”.
Again, this is common knowledge found with a little googling of reputable sources. No need to ask. Just look.