What Could a Tudor Royal Meaningfully Learn About Cultures From Outside Europe?
In Peter Ackroyd's book on the Tudors, he has a tantalizing line about courtiers in the Safavid Empire referencing London when talking about the extent of trade in Elizabethan England. It made me wonder- had any of the Tudor royals had an interest in cultural information from outside Christian Europe, would they reasonably be able to access it? Elizabeth was known to be particularly interested in learning languages and translations, and I can see a scenario where she wants to learn the Turkish language of the Ottomans, or if she heard of the Safavids and demanded to know their language. Or if Mary I was curious, could she access the Koran? Even if they couldn't for one reason or another, is there evidence of any of them trying to find out more?
I specify royals because of resources and avoiding religious policing for having what I'm sure would be contraband materials (I mean, if they're as aggressive as they were on prayer books and translated bibles, I can't imagine Islamic or Hindu texts would be acceptable). It feels like an easy question to answer, but I actually am not even really sure how to search for it. I know religious practice was heavily policed, but they read Greek texts from pagans for educational purposes, so if further afield things really were unacceptable, was that explicitly legislated? I am asking specifically what they had access to, both legally and practically, and could even be expected to know about the broader world, not an alternate history.