Ritratto dell ambasciatore Gabriel de Luetz d Aramont Tiziano Vecellio 1541 1542 oil on canvas 76 x 74 cm

Letter of Francis I to the Drogman Janus Bey 28 December 1546 delivered by Aramon

Encoded letter of Gabriel Luetz d Aramon after 1546 with partial deciphering

Gabriel de Luetz, Baron et Seigneur d'Aramon et de Vallabregues (died 1553), often also abbreviated to Gabriel d'Aramon, was the

French Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire France had a permanent embassy to the Ottoman Empire beginning in 1535, during the time of King Francis I and Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. It is considered to have been the direct predecessor of the modern-day embassy to the Republic of Tu ...

from 1546 to 1553, in the service first of

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 ...

, who dispatched him to the Ottoman Empire, and then of the French king Henry II. Gabriel de Luetz was accompanied by a vast suite of scientists,

Jean de Monluc Jean de Monluc, 1508 to 12 April 1579, was a French nobleman, clergyman, diplomat and courtier. He was the second son of François de Lasseran de Massencome, a member of the Monluc family; and Françoise d' Estillac. His birthplace is unknown ...

, philosopher

Guillaume Postel Guillaume Postel (25 March 1510 – 6 September 1581) was a French linguist, astronomer, Christian Kabbalist, diplomat, polyglot, professor, religious universalist, and writer. Born in the village of Barenton in Normandy, Postel made his w ...

, botanist

Pierre Belon Pierre Belon (1517–1564) was a French traveller, naturalist, writer and diplomat. Like many others of the Renaissance period, he studied and wrote on a range of topics including ichthyology, ornithology, botany, comparative anatomy, architectur ...

, naturalist Pierre Gilles d'Albi, the future cosmographer

André Thévet André — sometimes transliterated as Andre — is the French and Portuguese form of the name Andrew, and is now also used in the English-speaking world. It used in France, Quebec, Canada and other French-speaking countries. It is a variation ...

, traveler

Nicolas de Nicolay Nicolas de Nicolay, Sieur d'Arfeville & de Belair, (1517–1583) of the Nicolay (family) was a French geographer. Biography Born at la Grave in Oisans, in the Dauphiné, he left France in 1542 to participate in the siege of Perpignan which was ...

who would publish their findings upon their return to France and contribute greatly to the development of early science in France.McCabe ''Orientalism in early modern France'', p.48 Jean Chesneau 19th century edition

Ottoman Safavid War

In 1547, he accompanied

Suleiman the Magnificent Suleiman I ( ota, سليمان اول, Süleyman-ı Evvel; tr, I. Süleyman; 6 November 14946 September 1566), commonly known as Suleiman the Magnificent in the West and Suleiman the Lawgiver ( ota, قانونى سلطان سليمان, Ḳ ...

in the Ottoman–Safavid War (1532–55), with two of his secretaries, Jacques Gassut and Jean Chesneau, and is recorded as having given advice to the Sultan on some aspects of the campaign. Chesneau wrote ''Le Voyage de Monsieur d'Aramon dans le Levant'', an interesting account of the travels of Gabriel de Luetz.

Siege of Tripoli

In 1551, Gabriel de Luetz joined the Ottoman fleet to attend to the

Siege of Tripoli The siege of Tripoli lasted from 1102 until July 12, 1109. It took place on the site of the present day Lebanese city of Tripoli, in the aftermath of the First Crusade. It led to the establishment of the fourth crusader state, the County of Tri ...

, with two galleys and a

galliot A galiot, galliot or galiote, was a small galley boat propelled by sail or oars. There are three different types of naval galiots that sailed on different seas. A ''galiote'' was a type of French flat-bottom river boat or barge and also a flat- ...

.''The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean world in the age of Philip II'' by Fernand Braudel p.920

/ref>''The Papacy and the Levant (1204-1571)'' by Kenneth M. Setton p.555-
/ref>

Calabrian Raid

Gabriel de Luetz is also known to have convinced Suleiman to send a fleet against Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, for a combined Franco-Turkish action in 1552. In July 1552, the fleet raided

Rhegium Reggio di Calabria ( scn, label= Southern Calabrian, Riggiu; el, label= Calabrian Greek, Ρήγι, Rìji), usually referred to as Reggio Calabria, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, is the largest city in Calabria. It has an estimated pop ...

in Calabria, laying waste to 30 miles of coast, with Gabriel de Luetz onboard who reported the devastation in a dispatch to the king of France on 22 July:''The History of England'' Sharon Turner, p.311
/ref> Gabriel de Luetz was succeeded by

Michel de Codignac Michel de Codignac was French Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire from 1553 to 1556, and successor to Gabriel de Luetz d'Aramon. Michel de Codignac lobbied for Ottoman support during the Invasion of Corsica (1553). He is known to have participated ...

as ambassador to the

Sublime Porte The Sublime Porte, also known as the Ottoman Porte or High Porte ( ota, باب عالی, Bāb-ı Ālī or ''Babıali'', from ar, باب, bāb, gate and , , ), was a synecdoche for the central government of the Ottoman Empire. History The name ...

, who himself was succeeded by

Jean Cavenac de la Vigne Jean Cavenac de la Vigne, seigneur d'Auvilliers, was French Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire from 1556 to 1566. He was the successor of Michel de Codignac, who had returned to Europe in 1558, passing through Venice in July 1558, and betrayed the ...

.Setton, p.692
/ref>

Representation in fiction

Gabriel de Luetz (as M. d'Aramon, Baron de Luetz) plays a small but significant role in the books ''The Disorderly Knights'' and ''Pawn in Frankincense'', volumes three and four of the historical fiction series known as the

Lymond Chronicles The ''Lymond Chronicles'' is a series of six historical novels written by Dorothy Dunnett and first published between 1961 and 1975. Set in mid-16th-century Europe and the Mediterranean area, the series tells the story of a young Scottish noblem ...

, by

Dorothy Dunnett Dorothy, Lady Dunnett (née Halliday, 25 August 1923 – 9 November 2001) was a Scottish novelist best known for her historical fiction. Dunnett is most famous for her six novel series set during the 16th century, which concern the fictiti ...

. ''The Disorderly Knights'' is partly set in

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

among the. Knights Hospitaller of St. John and on

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to: Cities and other geographic units Greece *Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...

at the time of that city's surrender to the Ottoman Turks in 1551. ''Pawn in Frankincense'' is partly set in

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...

and Pera in 1553.

Notes

References