Ottoman embassy to France (1534)

The Ottoman delegation arrived from Constantinople via Tunis at the French harbour of Marseille in October 1534. The delegation included two French ambassadors to the Porte who had accompanied them from Constantinople: Antonio Rincon and Cesare Cantelmo. The contemporary French writer and eyewitness Valbelle would comment: The delegation was not composed of pirates, but of janissaries, clad in uniforms with immaculate turbans. The Ottoman ambassadors accompanied Francis I to Paris, and attended the burning of those responsible for the Affair, on 21 January 1535 in front of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris. Together a master plan was established for 1535, combining a revolt of pro-French factions in Italy; an Ottoman attack on Apulia and Calabria; an attack by Barbarossa from Tunis on Sicily, Naples and Tuscany; and attacks by England, Scotland and Denmark on the Low Countries, with the help of the German princes allied to France William of Fürstenberg and Christopher of Württemberg. ==Departure and aftermath==

The embassy departed Paris on 13 February 1535 with the new French ambassador to the Porte, Jean de la Forest, accompanied by Charles de Marillac and the scholar Guillaume de Postel. De la Forest also had secret instructions describing how he was to coordinate the military efforts between France and the Ottoman Empire: Concomitantly, Pope Paul III issued an interdiction for Christians to fight between themselves during the time Charles V was fighting the Ottomans, effectively precluding Francis I from launching his offensive. At the same time, Suleiman himself was caught up in a bitter campaign of the Ottoman–Safavid War (1532–1555), which prevented him from participating to offensives in Europe during 1535. ==See also==