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 Turk ...

from 1546 to 1553, in the service first of Francis I, who dispatched him to the Ottoman Empire, and then of the French king

Henry II Henry II may refer to: Kings * Saint Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor (972–1024), crowned King of Germany in 1002, of Italy in 1004 and Emperor in 1014 *Henry II of England (1133–89), reigned from 1154 *Henry II of Jerusalem and Cyprus (1271–1 ...

. 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 unknow ...

, philosopher

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

, botanist

Pierre Belon Pierre Belon (1517–1564) was a French traveller, natural history, 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 anat ...

, 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, as well in Portugal ...

, 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 (1542), si ...

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 (; , ; 6 November 14946 September 1566), commonly known as Suleiman the Magnificent in the Western world and as Suleiman the Lawgiver () in his own realm, was the List of sultans of the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman sultan between 1520 a ...

in the Ottoman–Safavid War (1532–55), with two of his secretaries, Jacques Gassut and

Jean Chesneau Jean Chesneau was a French writer and secretary to the French ambassador to the Ottoman Empire Gabriel de Luetz, Gabriel de Luetz d'Aramon. Together with d'Aramon and a second secretary Jacques Gassut, he accompanied Suleiman the Magnificent in ...

, 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 12 July 1109. It took place on the site of the present day Lebanese city of Tripoli, Lebanon, Tripoli, in the aftermath of the First Crusade. It led to the establishment of the fourth crusader state, t ...

, with two

galley A galley is a type of ship optimised for propulsion by oars. Galleys were historically used for naval warfare, warfare, Maritime transport, trade, and piracy mostly in the seas surrounding Europe. It developed in the Mediterranean world during ...

s 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 fla ...

.''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 (; ), commonly and officially referred to as Reggio Calabria, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, is the List of cities in Italy, largest city in Calabria as well as the seat of the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria. As ...

Calabria Calabria is a Regions of Italy, region in Southern Italy. It is a peninsula bordered by the region Basilicata to the north, the Ionian Sea to the east, the Strait of Messina to the southwest, which separates it from Sicily, and the Tyrrhenian S ...

, 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 as ambassador to the

Sublime Porte The Sublime Porte, also known as the Ottoman Porte or High Porte ( or ''Babıali''; ), was a synecdoche or metaphor used to refer collectively to the central government of the Ottoman Empire in Istanbul. It is particularly referred to the buildi ...

, 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, 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, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

among the.

Knights Hospitaller of St. John The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), is a Catholic military order. It was founded in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century and had headquarters there u ...

and on

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis (from , meaning "three cities") may refer to: Places Greece *Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in the Pelasgiotis district, Thessaly, near Larissa ...

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

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

and

Pera Pera may refer to: Places * Pera (Beyoğlu), a district in Istanbul formerly called Pera, now called Beyoğlu ** Galata, a neighbourhood of Beyoğlu, often referred to as Pera in the past * Pêra (Caparica), a Portuguese locality in the district o ...

in 1553.

Notes

References