Book review: This Orient Isle: Elizabethan England and the Islamic World

The reign of Elizabeth I was the first time that Muslims began openly living in England. It stemmed from the queen’s isolation from Catholic Europe and her excommunication by Pope Pius V in 1570. Attitudes towards Islam then have parallels for us today, writes Josephine Fenton.

But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make

Of hammered gold and gold enamelling