Anthony Shirley

Sir Anthony Shirley (1565 – 1633/1635/1638) also spelled Sherley, was an English adventurer, soldier, diplomat, and political theorist who became a prominent figure in early modern European and Middle Eastern affairs.

Initially rising to prominence through military service under the Earl of Essex, he later led a failed privateering expedition and subsequently entered the service of Shah Abbas of Safavid Iran, becoming one of the first Englishmen to hold an official diplomatic role in Safavid Iran. Over the following decades, Shirley operated as a freelance envoy, spy, and political adviser across Europe and North Africa, offering his services to multiple courts, including the Habsburgs and the Spanish crown, often simultaneously. Though never formally trusted by the English government, he remained in contact with Robert Cecil and other high officials while maintaining parallel allegiances abroad.

A convert to Catholicism, Shirley styled himself “Count of the East” (Spanish: Conde de Leste) and ended his life in Spain, where he authored Peso Político de todo el mundo, an expansive geopolitical treatise assessing the relative strength of global powers. His career, marked by opportunism, shifting loyalties, and diplomatic ambition, reflected the fluid allegiances and imperial rivalries of the early 17th century.