THE LEWKENOR CIRCLE · BIOGRAPHY
Abd el-Ouahed ben Messaoud: The Moroccan Embassy
A Moroccan ambassador at Elizabeth’s court, a confidential audience at Nonsuch and Lewes Lewkenor interpreting Spanish: the embassy of 1600 brings a distinguished North African visitor directly into the diplomatic world explored in the investigation of Othello.
Unknown artist; oil on oak.
University of Birmingham, Research and Cultural Collections, A0427.
Public-domain reproduction via Wikimedia Commons.
Life and historical setting
Abd el-Ouahed ben Messaoud was the Moroccan ambassador sent to the court of Elizabeth I in 1600. A secretary to the Moroccan ruler Ahmad al-Mansur, he came to England to advance a relationship shaped by trade, Mediterranean politics and opposition to Spanish power.
English merchants had long exchanged cloth for Moroccan commodities. Sugar, saltpetre and the movement of goods through North African ports gave the relationship practical value to both kingdoms.
Al-Mansur sought to carry that cooperation further. The embassy explored military collaboration against Spain, bringing strategic proposals into a relationship already sustained by commerce.
The manuscript describes a delegation of sixteen travelling aboard The Eagle and arriving at Dover in August 1600. Nine released prisoners accompanied the visitors as a gesture of goodwill. Merchants met the party at Gravesend before its arrival in London.
The embassy placed North African diplomacy visibly within the London court world. Its members were received, lodged, entertained and discussed in the correspondence of English observers.
The Lewkenor connection
Lewes Lewkenor acted as a Spanish interpreter at an audience with Elizabeth. This is a more specific connection than shared proximity to court: it describes an actual diplomatic function.
Rowland White’s account, reproduced in the manuscript, places him at the ambassador’s reception at Nonsuch. Rich furnishings had been brought from Hampton Court; guards, Gentlemen Pensioners, lords and ladies formed the ceremonial setting through which the visitor approached the Queen.
Mr. Lewkner was interpreter for the Spanish tongue; but here they departed, the Interpreter of the Embassy spoke in Italian, and desired to deliver some thing in private, which her Majesty granted. On which Mr. Lewkner and the Lords removed further off.
Rowland White’s account of the audience, as transcribed in The Master of the Ceremonies, expanded master manuscript, 18 October 2026, “The Moor”.
The passage records the practical movement between languages. Lewkenor interpreted Spanish; the delegation’s own interpreter then addressed Elizabeth in Italian and requested a private exchange.
In 1600 Lewkenor was a Gentleman Pensioner. His knighthood and appointment as Master of the Ceremonies followed under James I in 1603. The Moroccan audience belongs to the earlier diplomatic work through which his linguistic skills entered royal service.
The audience and the embassy
Unknown artist; National Portrait Gallery, NPG 2082.
Public-domain reproduction via Wikimedia Commons.
The reception joined ceremonial display to practical diplomacy. The ambassador moved through successive court spaces before reaching the gallery where Elizabeth received him in state.
The returned prisoners formed part of the proceedings. The account quoted in the manuscript describes Elizabeth receiving them from the ambassador and passing them to the representative of the States.
The embassy continued beyond that first audience. The manuscript follows a further meeting at Oatlands, confidential negotiations, correspondence about the visitors’ departure and the expense of maintaining their household.
The visitors also attended the Queen’s Day celebrations at Whitehall, where a place was prepared for them to watch the spectacle. Their stay combined the private business of negotiation with the public display of royal hospitality.
The ambassador’s portrait
The surviving portrait gives this diplomatic encounter an identifiable human presence. Painted in 1600, it depicts the ambassador in a white turban and dark robes, with his sword at his side.
The University of Birmingham’s collection record identifies the sitter as Abd el-Ouahed ben Messaoud ben Mohammed Anoun, secretary and ambassador of Ahmad al-Mansur to Elizabeth I. The painting commemorates the embassy of 1600–1601.
His dress, bearing and the identifying inscriptions make the image a particularly important companion to the written accounts. The visitor whom English correspondents described can also be encountered through a portrait made during his time in London.
Portrait identification:
University of Birmingham, Online Collections.
See also the University’s account of
the portrait and its possible connection with Othello.
Why this matters
The episode enriches the Othello dossier by bringing together Lewkenor’s knowledge of Venice, his military experience and contact with a North African embassy.
In 1599 he had published The Commonwealth and Government of Venice, the book later identified by Shakespeare scholars as a source for the Venetian plays. Within it he acknowledged service under Baptista del Monte, the foreign commander employed by the republic.
The following year he stood at Elizabeth’s court as an interpreter during the reception of the Moroccan ambassador. The writer who described Venice’s government and knew its commander was also engaged in the practical reception of a distinguished North African visitor.
The manuscript develops the conjunction of these experiences into an argument about the making of Othello. The ambassador’s possible influence on the character is considered alongside the Venetian institutions and military relationships already present in Lewkenor’s writing and life.
The embassy’s existence alone does not establish a literary source for Shakespeare’s Moor. Its significance here lies in Lewkenor’s documented participation and in the way that participation joins the other strands of the investigation.
Documentary source trail
The manuscript. The Master of the Ceremonies, expanded master manuscript, 18 October 2026, “The Moor”: the embassy’s commercial and political background, its reception, Lewkenor’s interpreting role and the proposed relationship with Othello.
Contemporary accounts reproduced in the manuscript. Rowland White’s description of the royal audience; John Chamberlain’s correspondence with Dudley Carleton; the Lord Mayor’s letter to Cecil concerning the delegation’s expenses; and John Stow’s account of the visitors. Their reports preserve different perspectives on the embassy.
Portrait. Unknown artist, Portrait of Abd el-Ouahed ben Messaoud ben Mohammed Anoun, 1600, oil on oak, University of Birmingham, Research and Cultural Collections, A0427. The collection record and reproduction source are linked above.
The Venetian connection. Gasparo Contarini, translated and supplemented by Lewes Lewkenor, The Commonwealth and Government of Venice (1599), including Lewkenor’s acknowledgement of service under Baptista del Monte.
Related Shakespeare investigation
The full investigation brings the Moroccan embassy together with Lewkenor’s Venetian translation, his service under del Monte and the performance history of the tragedy.