Elizabeth was initially reluctant to develop an arms trade with Morocco, for fear of criticism by other Christian powers, as was communicated by Hogan to the Sultan in 1577. In 1581, Elizabeth authorized the exportation of naval-grade timber to Morocco in exchange for
saltpeter, In 1585–1588, through the embassy of Henry Roberts, Elizabeth tried to obtain the Sultan's help in backing
Dom António. In 1588, Al-Mansur granted special privileges to English traders. In January 1589, Al-Mansur through his ambassador to the Queen,
Marzuq Rais (Mushac Reyz), requested the supply of oars, carpenters and shipwrights, as well as transportation on English ships, in exchange for his contribution of 150,000 ducats and his military help for an Anglo-Moroccan expedition against Spain in favour of the Portuguese claimant. The 1589
English expedition to Portugal moved ahead nonetheless, and ended in failure with the English fleet hoping in vain for reinforcements from England or Morocco. Only the Moroccan ambassador Marzuq Rais was accompanying the expedition, on board the flagship of Dom António, disguised as a Portuguese nobleman, and stayed until summer 1589. England entered in a trading relationship with Morocco detrimental to Spain, selling armour, ammunition, timber, metal in exchange for Moroccan sugar, in spite of a
Papal ban, prompting the Papal
Nuncio in Spain to say of Elizabeth:
"there is no evil that is not devised by that woman, who, it is perfectly plain, succoured Mulocco (Abd-el-Malek) with arms, and especially with artillery". In 1600,
Abd el-Ouahed ben Messaoud, the principal secretary to the Moroccan ruler
Mulai Ahmad al-Mansur, visited England as an ambassador to the court of Queen Elizabeth I. Abd el-Ouahed ben Messaoud spent 6 months at the court of Elizabeth, in order to negotiate an alliance against
Spain. The Moroccan ruler wanted the help of an English fleet to invade Spain, Elizabeth refused, but welcomed the embassy as a sign of insurance, and instead accepted to establish commercial agreements. Discussions however remained inconclusive, and both rulers died within two years of the embassy.
James I and Charles I from the period 1603–1613,
standing on an Oriental carpet, by
Paul van Somer I (1576–1621). Morocco had been falling into a state of anarchy following the death of Ahmed al-Mansur in 1603, and local warlords had been on the rise, making the alliance with the Sultanate less and less meaningful. English privateers such as
Jack Ward continued to prosper in collaboration with the Barbary states, including Morocco. , 1637. During the
Thirty Years' War under the rule of
Charles I, England sought Moroccan military help against Spain in
Tetouan and
Salé. On May 13, 1637, a Convention was signed between Charles I and Sidi Mohammed el-Ayachi, master of
Salé, allowing for the supply of military armament to the Sultan.
Embassies of Mulay Ismail ,
Mulay Ismail's Moroccan ambassador to England in 1682. Relations continued under the Moroccan ruler
Mulay Ismail. In 1682, he sent
Mohammed bin Hadou as Moroccan ambassador sent to the English court of
Charles II. Mohammed spent six months in England, in a highly commented visit. He visited
Oxford,
Cambridge and the
Royal Society among many other places. These exchanges forty years of shifting alliances between England and Morocco, related to European conflicts, trade issues,
Barbary Coast pirates and the exchange of captives. , 1723–1737. One of the high points of these contacts occurred in 1720–21, when English ambassadors
John Windus and Commodore
Hon. Charles Stewart visited Morocco. They succeeded in signing a diplomatic treaty with Morocco for the first time, and returned home with 296 released British slaves. Moroccan ambassadors were again sent to England in 1726 ("Mahomet" and "Bo-ally"), and in 1727 a new treaty was signed by
John Russel with Mulay Ismail's successor. A
further treaty was signed by
John Drummond-Hay in 1865. ==Impact on literature==