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 The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

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 The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (french: Armée de Terre, ), is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces. It is responsible to the Government of France, along with the other components of the Armed Force ...

during the

Italian Wars The Italian Wars, also known as the Habsburg–Valois Wars, were a series of conflicts covering the period 1494 to 1559, fought mostly in the Italian peninsula, but later expanding into Flanders, the Rhineland and the Mediterranean Sea. The pr ...

in the

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

Ottoman alliance

Polin succeeded ambassador Antoine de Rincon (1538–1541) 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 ( ...

. In early 1542, Polin successfully negotiated the details of a

Franco-Ottoman alliance The Franco-Ottoman Alliance, also known as the Franco-Turkish Alliance, was an alliance established in 1536 between the King of France Francis I and the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire Suleiman I. The strategic and sometimes tactical alliance was o ...

for the

Italian War of 1542–1546 The Italian War of 1542–1546 was a conflict late in the Italian Wars, pitting Francis I of France and Suleiman I of the Ottoman Empire against the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and Henry VIII of England. The course of the war saw extensive ...

, 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 Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to cultu ...

, 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 region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

to join the alliance, but in vain. The execution of the alliance would most notably lead to the Franco-Ottoman Siege of Nice in 1543. In July 1543, Polin sailed on board the Ottoman fleet of

Barbarossa Barbarossa, a name meaning "red beard" in Italian, primarily refers to: * Frederick Barbarossa (1122–1190), Holy Roman Emperor * Hayreddin Barbarossa (c. 1478–1546), Ottoman admiral * Operation Barbarossa, the Axis invasion of the Soviet Un ...

to the

Île Saint-Honorat The Île Saint-Honorat is the second largest of the Lérins Islands, about off shore from the French Riviera town of Cannes. The island is approximately in length (East to West) and wide. Since the fifth century, the island has been home to ...

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 Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. T ...

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 Francis I (french: François Ier; frm, Francoys; 12 September 1494 – 31 March 1547) was King of France from 1515 until his death in 1547. He was the son of Charles, Count of Angoulême, and Louise of Savoy. He succeeded his first cousin on ...

to obtain troops, which led to the Siege of Nice in August 1543. Polin supervised the wintering of the Ottomans at

Toulon Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is th ...

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 Talamona ( Lombard: ''Talamuna'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Sondrio in the Italian region Lombardy, located about northeast of Milan and about west of Sondrio. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 4,623 and an a ...

Lipari Lipari (; scn, Lìpari) is the largest of the Aeolian Islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the northern coast of Sicily, southern Italy; it is also the name of the island's main town and ''comune'', which is administratively part of the Metropo ...

and took about 6,000 captives, but separated in

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

from Barbarossa's fleet to continue alone to the Ottoman capital. Jerôme Maurand, a priest of Antibes 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. While in Marseilles in 1545, Polin was involved as a leader in the massacre of the Protestant

Waldensians The Waldensians (also known as Waldenses (), Vallenses, Valdesi or Vaudois) are adherents of a church tradition that began as an ascetic movement within Western Christianity before the Reformation. Originally known as the "Poor Men of Lyon" in ...

(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 issued on 1 January 1545 the "Arrêt de Mérindol", and armed a crusade against the Waldensians of

Provence Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bor ...

. The leaders in the 1545 massacres were Jean Maynier d'Oppède, First President of the parlement of

, and Antoine Escalin des Aimars who was returning from the

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 The French invasion of the Isle of Wight occurred during the Italian Wars in July 1545. The invasion was repulsed. France had a long history of attacking the Isle of Wight, and the 1545 campaign proved to be the last time to date that the F ...

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 ...

Gabriel de Luetz 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 from 1546 to 1553, in the service first of Francis I, who dispatched him to ...

in 1547. In 1553, Polin again cooperated with the Ottoman fleet in the Mediterranean, in the events surrounding the

Invasion of Corsica (1553) The Invasion of Corsica of 1553 occurred when French, Ottoman, and Corsican exile forces combined to capture the island of Corsica from the Republic of Genoa. The island had considerable strategic importance in the western Mediterranean, being ...

. In 1571, Polin was involved in the conflict against the

Huguenots The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

La Rochelle La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle''; oc, La Rochèla ) is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department. Wi ...

as a commander in the French Navy fleet which was making a blockade of the city, together with

Filippo di Piero Strozzi Filippo di Piero Strozzi (French: ''Philippe Strozzi''; 1541 – 27 July 1582) was an Italian condottiero, a member of the Florentine family of the Strozzi. He fought mainly for France. Biography He was born in Florence to Piero Strozzi and La ...

.''Memoirs of Maximilian de Bethune, duke of Sully'' p. 20
/ref>

Notes

References