himself as the rival, rather than subordinate, of the Ottomans, and even as the rightful leader of the Muslim world. Al-Mansur would also pursue careful diplomatic relations with Europe. He was widely perceived as friendly to Spain, presumably seeing it as a counterweight to Ottoman influence and seeking to play the two against each other. Nonetheless, he also sought alternatives to Spain by pursuing relations with the northern European states. Most notably, he increased friendly relations with England when the latter made diplomatic overtures to him after 1580 with a view to find allies against Spain at the time. This led to the development of an Anglo-Moroccan alliance. Early relations focused on trade as English merchants, despite the objections of the Portuguese, had been trading in Morocco since the early 16th century. This trade initially consisted of English cloth for Moroccan sugar, but after 1572 the English learned that they could find saltpeter and mainly sought to obtain this material. At that time, Sultan al-Mutawakkil demanded cannonballs in exchange, and from this time on the English were often supplying the Saadians with weapons and military equipment. John Williams, the first English merchant to buy saltpeter in Morocco, was initially unable to obtain permission to provide the Moroccans with ammunition as Queen Elizabeth worried that this would invite resentment from other Christian states. However, after Spain's annexation of Portugal in 1580 the Queen accorded more importance to securing cordial relations with the Saadian sultan and in 1581 she allowed English naval timber to be exported to Morocco in return for saltpeter. John Symcot, an agent of the Earl of Leicester, was able to obtain in 1585 a royal charter to found the English Barbary Company, which managed the activities of English traders in Morocco and obtained trading privileges from the sultan. The English also attempted to convince Al-Mansur to support Don Antonio, the claimant to the Portuguese throne against the Spanish, but Al-Mansur was evasive in his responses. The exchanges were kept secret, allowing him to continue relations with Spain at the same time. In the last decade or so of his reign, however, Al-Mansur seemed to shift his views about an alliance with England. In 1595 he had been forced to suppress a dangerous rebellion in the north led by his nephew Al-Nasir, who had received some support from Spain. In 1600 Al-Mansur sent his Secretary Abd el-Ouahed ben Messaoud