Robert Shirley

For other people named Robert Shirley, see Robert Shirley (disambiguation).

Double portrait of Robert Shirley and his Circassian wife Teresia, c.1624–1627. He wears the exotic Persian clothes which so impressed his European hosts upon his return to Europe from Persia; she wears her native style of dress but also holds a flintlock pistol and a pocket watch, symbols of the technologies Europe was introducing to Persia.

Sir Robert Shirley (or Sherley; c. 1581 – 13 July 1628) was an English traveller and adventurer, younger brother of Sir Anthony Shirley and Sir Thomas Shirley. He is notable for his help modernising and improving the Persian Safavid army according to the British model, by the request of Shah Abbas the Great. This proved to be highly successful, as from then on the Safavids proved to be an equal force to their archrival, the Ottoman Empire.[1]

  1. ^ Spencer C. Tucker, ed. A Global Chronology of Conflict: From the Ancient World to the Modern Middle East. 6 vols. Santa Barbara: ABC-Clio, 23 dec. 2009 ISBN 1851096728; p. 544