Antoine Escalin des Aimars
| Antoine Escalin des Aimars | |
|---|---|
Antoine Escalin des Aimars (1498?-1578)
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| Nickname(s) | Captain Polin |
| Born | 1498 La Garde-Adhémar |
| Died | 1578 La Garde-Adhémar |
| Allegiance |
 France
|
| Service/branch | French Navy |
| Years of service | c.1520-1578 |
| Rank | General of the galleys |
| Battles/wars | |
Antoine Escalin des Aimars (1498? – 1578), also known as Captain Polin or Captain Paulin, later Baron de La Garde, was French ambassador to the Ottoman Empire from 1541 to 1547, and "Général des Galères" ("General of the galleys") from 1544.
Polin was noticed by Guillaume du Bellay as a valuable officer of the French Army during the Italian Wars in the Piedmont.
Polin succeeded ambassador Antoine de Rincon (1538–1541) in Constantinople. In early 1542, Polin successfully negotiated the details of a Franco-Ottoman alliance for the Italian War of 1542–1546, with the Ottoman Empire promising to send 60,000 troops against the territories of the Spanish king Ferdinand, as well as 150 galleys against Charles, while France promised to attack Flanders, 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 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 to the Île Saint-Honorat in the Lérins Islands off Cannes 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 to obtain troops, which led to the Siege of Nice in August 1543. Polin supervised the wintering of the Ottomans at Toulon.
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Wikipedia