Introduction
In the 1530s, facing Habsburg encirclement, France established an alliance with the Ottoman Empire. Until the peace of Cateau-Cambrésis in 1559, France and the Ottomans undertook various joint efforts against the Spain and the Holy Roman Empire (the two branches of the Habsburg dynasty). After Cateau-Cambrésis, scholars have generally concluded that the Franco-Ottoman diplomacy shifted from political to commercial interests while the political and military relationship entered a dormant period.1 Nevertheless, France and the Ottoman Empire maintained regular diplomatic interactions even if they did not bring about joint military enterprises--this was, however, not for a lack of trying. For my final project, I will continue the network analysis of Jacques de Germigny, the French ambassador to the Ottoman Empire from 1579 to 1584, that I contucted last semester in Clio 12
The Renewed Franco-Spanish Rivalry
History is, in its essentials, the science of change. It knows and it teaches that it is impossible to find two events that are ever exactly alike, because the conditions from which they spring are never identical.--Marc BlochJacques de Germginy was the French ambassador to the Ottoman Empire from 1579 to 1584. This has traditionally be seen as a period of dormancy in the political relationship between France the Ottoman Empire. It was, however, also a period in which the rivalry betwen France and Spain was renewed through Francis Duke of Anjou's campaign to aid the Netherlands during its rebellion against Spain. Instantly, France's relationship with the Ottomans became important since the Grand Seigneur who France had consciously used as a counterbalance to Spanish Power since 1530s.
Germigny's Letters
The letters of Germigny provide an insight into the diplomatic goals held by France. He wrote to the court about those issues he thought most pertinent to France as well as those issues he expected to align with the foreign policy objectives of France. Ambassadorial letters, however, provided more than just information on perceived interests of the royal court, but they shaped the information the court used to make foreign policy decision. They information they chose to include to exclude also shaped the expectations the court had of its endeavors in the Ottoman Empire. In this way, the topics Germigny chose to discuss in his letters do not only demonstrate what he expected the court to be interested in, but also had to capacity to shape the interests at court.-------------------- 2
http://nathanmichalewicz.org/project/networking-the-topics-in-the-letters-of-a-french-ambassador-to-the-ottoman-empire/
1
Michel Lesure, “Les Relations Franco-Ottomanes a L’Épreuve des Guerres de Religion (1560-1594),” in L’Empire Ottoman, la République de Turquie et la France,eds., Hamit Batu and Jean-Louis Bacqué-Grammont (Paris: Editions Isis, 1986), 37-57; De Lemar Jensen, “The Ottoman Turks in Sixteenth Century French Diplomacy,” Sixteenth Century Journal 16 (Dec. 1985), 451-470; Arthur Horniker, “Anglo-French Rivalry in the Levant from 1583 to 1612,” Journal of Modern History 18 (Dec. 1946): 289-305.