the Levant Company had been converted to a regulated monopoly on an established trade route, from its initial character as a joint-stock company. The prime movers in the conversion were Sir Edward Osborne and Richard Staper. In January 1592, a new charter was granted and by 1595 its character as a regulated company had become clear. In the early days of the company there were threats not just from Barbary pirates but also from Spain during the 1585 to 1604 war. In that conflict however the Company with its heavily armed ships managed to repel the Spanish galleys intent on capturing the cargo in a number of pitched naval battles, in 1586, 1590, 1591 and 1600 The Company as a result surrendered some of their ships to the English Crown and were used during the Spanish Armada campaign proving their worth. James I (1603–25) renewed and confirmed the company's charter in 1606, adding new privileges. However he engaged in a verbal anti-Turk crusade and neglected direct relations with the Turks. The government did not interfere with trade, which expanded. Especially profitable was the arms trade as the Porte modernised and re-equipped its forces. Of growing importance was textile exports. Between 1609 and 1619, the export of cloth to the Turks increased from 46% to 79% of total cloth exports. The business was highly lucrative. Piracy continued to be a threat. Despite the anti-Ottoman rhetoric of the king, commercial relations with the Turks expanded. The king's finances were increasingly based on the revenues derived from this trade, and English diplomacy was complicated by this trade. For example, James refused to provide financial support to Poland for its war against the Turks. During the English Civil War (1642–1651), some innovations were made in the government of the company, allowing many people to become members who were not qualified by the charters of Elizabeth and James, or who did not conform to the regulations prescribed. Charles II, upon his restoration, endeavored to set the company upon its original basis; to which end, he gave them a charter, containing not only a confirmation of their old one, but also several new articles of reformation. Organisation in 1661 By the charter of King Charles II in 1661, the company was erected into a body politic, capable of making laws, under the title of the Company of Merchants of England trading to the Seas of the