François Savary de Brèves

François Savary de Brèves (1560, Melay – 22 April 1628, Paris) was a French ambassador of the 16th and 17th centuries as well as an Orientalist.

In 1585, François Savary de Brèves accompanied to Constantinople his relative Jacques Savary de Lancosme, who became ambassador to the Porte. Savary de Lancosme associated himself with the Ligue and refused to recognize Henry IV of France, leading to his imprisonment by the Ottomans and the nomination of Savary de Brèves as imterim ambassador.

From 1591 to 1605, Savary de Brèves was French ambassador to the Ottoman Court in Constantinople. He tried to incite the Sultan to wage war against Philip II and to limit the activities of Barbary pirates on the French coasts of Provence, but in vain, leading to tense relations between France and the Porte.

Savary de Brèves spoke Turkish and Arabic and was famed for his knowledge of Ottoman culture. Through his efforts, Capitulations were signed between Henry IV of France and Sultan Ahmed I on 20 May 1604, giving a marked advantage for French trade, against that of the English and the Venetians. In these capitulations, the protection of the French king over Jerusalem and the Holy Land is also recognized. These contact stemmed from the Franco-Ottoman alliance developed between France and the Ottoman Empire under Francis I of France.

In 1607, Savary de Brèves became ambassador to Rome. He married Anne de Thou, a relative of historian Jacques Auguste de Thou in 1607.

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