Paul Rycaut

Sir Paul Rycaut FRS (23 December 1629 London - 16 November 1700 Hamburg) was a British diplomat and historian, and authority on the Ottoman Empire.[1]

Contents

Life

His Huguenot father was held in the Tower of London, during the English Civil War, for his Cavalier sympathy, but the sequestration of his property was lifted.

Rycaut was born in Aylesford, Kent and graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge in 1650.[2] In 1652, he was admitted to Gray's Inn. While studying at Alcalá de Henares, he learned Spanish and translated the first part of Baltasar Gracián's The Critick. Rycaut was then employed as private secretary to Heneage Finch, 3rd Earl of Winchilsea, ambassador to Constantinople. He became British Consul and factor[3] at Smyrna.[4] From 1689 to 1700, he was Resident at Hamburg.[5]

On December 12, 1666, Rycaut was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.[6]

Knighthood was conferred on him in 1685.

Works

His letters to William Blathwayt are held at Princeton University.[7]

References

  1. ^ http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person.php?LinkID=mp03928
  2. ^ Rycant, Paul in Venn, J. & J. A., Alumni Cantabrigienses, Cambridge University Press, 10 vols, 1922–1958.
  3. ^ Jason Goodwin (2003). Lords of the Horizons: A History of the Ottoman Empire. Macmillan. ISBN 9780312420666. http://books.google.com/books?id=Z7SsAIMfXk8C&pg=PA190&dq=Sir+Paul+Rycaut&lr=&cd=28#v=onepage&q=Sir%20Paul%20Rycaut&f=false. 
  4. ^ Sonia P. Anderson (1989). An English consul in Turkey: Paul Rycaut at Smyrna, 1667-1678. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198201328. http://books.google.com/books?id=8M-lGE5oOIAC&pg=PA19&dq=Sir+Paul+Rycaut&lr=&cd=29#v=onepage&q=Sir%20Paul%20Rycaut&f=false. 
  5. ^ Phyllis S. Lachs (1966). The diplomatic corps under Charles II & James II. Rutgers University Press. 
  6. ^ "Library and Archive Catalogue". The Royal Society. http://www2.royalsociety.org/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Persons&dsqPos=0&dsqSearch=%28Surname%3D%27rycaut%27%29. Retrieved 10 october 2010. 
  7. ^ http://diglib.princeton.edu/ead/getEad?eadid=C0689&kw=

External links