Jerome Maurand Itineraire d Antibes a Constantinonple 1544

Antoine Escalin des Aimars (1516 - 1578), also known as Captain Polin or Captain Paulin, later Baron de La Garde, was French ambassador to the Ottoman Empire from 1541 to 1547, and ''"Général des Galères"'' ("General of the galleys") from 1544.

Italian Wars

Polin was noticed by

Guillaume du Bellay Guillaume du Bellay, seigneur de Langey (1491 – 9 January 1543), was a French diplomat and general from a notable Angevin family under King Francis I. He was born at the château of Glatigny, near Souday, in 1491. His father, Louis du Bella ...

as a valuable officer of the French Army during the Italian Wars in the Piedmont.

Ottoman alliance

Polin succeeded ambassador Antoine de Rincon (1538–1541) in Constantinople. In early 1542, Polin successfully negotiated the details of a Franco-Ottoman alliance for the Italian War of 1542–1546, with the Ottoman Empire promising to send 27,500 troops against the territories of the Spanish king Ferdinand, as well as 110 galleys against Charles, while France promised to attack Flanders, harass the coasts of Spain with a naval force, and send 40 galleys to assist the Turks for operations in the Levant. Polin tried to convince

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

to join the alliance, but in vain. The execution of the alliance would most notably lead to the Franco-Ottoman

Siege of Nice The siege of Nice occurred in 1543 and was part of the Italian War of 1542–46 in which Francis I and Suleiman the Magnificent collaborated as part of the Franco-Ottoman alliance against the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, and Henry VIII of Eng ...

in 1543. In July 1543, Polin sailed on board the Ottoman fleet of Barbarossa to the Île Saint-Honorat in the

Lérins Islands The Lérins Islands (in french: les Îles de Lérins, ) are a group of four Mediterranean islands off the French Riviera, in Cannes. The two largest islands in this group are the Île Sainte-Marguerite and the Île Saint-Honorat. The smaller ...

off Cannes on 5 July 1543, only to find very little ready for the offensive on the French side. Polin went to see king Francis I of France to obtain troops, which led to the Siege of Nice in August 1543. Polin supervised the wintering of the Ottomans at Toulon. French galleys of Captain Polin in front of Pera at Constantinople in August 1544

French galleys of Captain Polin in front of Pera at Constantinople in August 1544

Then, in 1544, five French galleys under Polin, including the superb '' Réale'', accompanied Barbarossa's fleet, on a diplomatic mission to Suleiman. The French fleet accompanied Barbarossa during his attacks on the west coast of Italy on the way to Constantinople, as he laid waste to the cities of

Porto Ercole Porto Ercole () is an Italian town located in the municipality of Monte Argentario, in the Province of Grosseto, Tuscany. It is one of the two major towns that form the township, along with Porto Santo Stefano. Its name means "Port Hercules". Ge ...

, Giglio, Talamona, Lipari and took about 6,000 captives, but separated in Sicily from Barbarossa's fleet to continue alone to the Ottoman capital. Jerôme Maurand, a priest of

Antibes Antibes (, also , ; oc, label=Provençal dialect, Provençal, Antíbol) is a coastal city in the Alpes-Maritimes Departments of France, department of southeastern France, on the French Riviera, Côte d'Azur between Cannes and Nice. The town of ...

who accompanied Polin and the Ottoman fleet in 1544, wrote a detailed account in ''Itinéraire d'Antibes à Constantinople''. They arrived in Constantinople on 10 August 1544 to meet with Suleiman and give him an account of the campaign.Garnier, p.240 Polin was back to Toulon on 2 October 1544.

Massacre of the Waldensians

In 1545, Polin was on his way to fight against the English in the area of

Boulogne Boulogne-sur-Mer (; pcd, Boulonne-su-Mér; nl, Bonen; la, Gesoriacum or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department of Pas-de-Calais. Boulogne lies on the ...

. While in Marseilles in 1545, Polin was involved as a leader in the massacre of the Protestant Waldensians (Vaudois).''Francis I'' R. J. Knecht p.405
/ref> Outside the Piedmont the Waldenses joined the local Protestant churches in Bohemia, France and Germany. After they came out of clandestinity and reports were made of sedition on their part, the French king,

Francis I Francis I or Francis the First may refer to: * Francesco I Gonzaga (1366–1407) * Francis I, Duke of Brittany (1414–1450), reigned 1442–1450 * Francis I of France (1494–1547), King of France, reigned 1515–1547 * Francis I, Duke of Saxe-Lau ...

issued on 1 January 1545 the "Arrêt de Mérindol", and armed a crusade against the Waldensians of Provence. The leaders in the 1545 massacres were

Jean Maynier d'Oppède Jean Maynier, baron d'Oppède (1495 – 1558) was a French public official. He served as the First President of the Parliament of Aix-en-Provence in 1543. Biography Early life Jean Maynier was born in 1495. His father, Accurse Maynier (1450-1 ...

, First President of the parlement of Provence, and Antoine Escalin des Aimars who was returning from the Italian Wars with 2,000 veterans, the ''Bandes de Piémont''. Deaths ranged from hundreds to thousands, depending on the estimates, and several villages were devastated.

England campaign

After these deeds, Polin participated to the French invasion of the Isle of Wight that same year. He was succeeded as ambassador to the

Porte Porte may refer to: *Sublime Porte, the central government of the Ottoman empire *Porte, Piedmont, a municipality in the Piedmont region of Italy *John Cyril Porte, British/Irish aviator *Richie Porte, Australian professional cyclist who competes ...

by Gabriel de Luetz in 1547. In 1553, Polin again cooperated with the Ottoman fleet in the Mediterranean, in the events surrounding the Invasion of Corsica (1553). In 1571, Polin was involved in the conflict against the Huguenots in La Rochelle as a commander in the French Navy fleet which was making a blockade of the city, together with Filippo di Piero Strozzi.''Memoirs of Maximilian de Bethune, duke of Sully'' p. 20
/ref>

Notes

References