Ottoman embassy to France (1534)
An Ottoman embassy to France occurred in 1534, with the objective to prepare and coordinate Franco-Ottoman offensives for the next year, 1535. The embassy closely followed a first Ottoman embassy to France in 1533, as well as the Conquest of Tunis by Hayreddin Barbarossa on 16 August 1534, which marked a strong reinforcement of Ottoman positions in the Western Mediterranean.
The 1534 Ottoman embassy was composed of Janissaries. Drawing by Gentile Bellini.
The embassy visited Francis I at his court in Châtellerault.
In January 1535, the embassy attended the execution of Protestants in front of Notre-Dame de Paris.
Military instructions to Jean de La Forêt, by Chancellor Antoine Duprat (copy), 11 February 1535.
The Franco-Ottoman alliance, also known as the Franco-Turkish alliance, was an alliance established in 1536 between Francis I, King of France and Suleiman I of the Ottoman Empire. The strategic and sometimes tactical alliance was one of the longest-lasting and most important foreign alliances of France, and was particularly influential during the Italian Wars. The Franco-Ottoman military alliance reached its peak with the Invasion of Corsica of 1553 during the reign of Henry II of France.
Francis I (left) and Suleiman I (right) initiated the Franco-Ottoman alliance. They never met in person; this is a composite of two separate paintings by Titian, circa 1530.
Ottoman Prince Cem with Pierre d'Aubusson in Bourganeuf, 1483–1489.
First letter from Suleiman to Francis I in February 1526.
Letter of Suleiman the Magnificent to Francis I of France regarding the protection of Christians in his states. September 1528. Archives Nationales, Paris, France
