Nicolas de Nicolay

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Nicolas de Nicolay (1517–1583) of the Nicolay (family) was a French geographer.

Biography

Born at la Grave in Oisans, in the Dauphiné, he left France in 1542 to participate in the siege of Perpignan which was then held by Emperor Charles V of Austria.

He travelled around much of Europe: (Germany, Denmark, England, Sweden, Italy, Spain, Greece and Turkey) and served in the armies of most of these countries.

On his return to France, Henry II, made him Geographer Ordinary, and Valet to the Chamber.

Around this time, he appears to have made a terrestrial globe that provided the model for the Oterschaden globe of c.1600.

In 1551, Henry II ordered him to follow Gabriel d'Aramon, envoy and ambassador to the Grand Turk Suleiman the Magnificent. In the course of the voyage, his unofficial mission was to survey the places visited – including Istanbul.

In 1583, he died in Soissons, where he was Commissioner of artillery, after a stay at the royal castle of Moulins.

Works

He wrote several books:

  • Description générale des Pays et Duché de Berry (1567).
  • Quatre premiers livres des navigations (1568)
  • Description générale du Bourbonnais en 1569, ou Histoire de cette province (villes, bourgs, châteaux, fiefs, monastères, familles anciennes (published in 1875).
  • Description générale de la ville de Lyon et des anciennes provinces du Lyonnais et du Beaujolais (published in 1881).

Sources

  • Voyage en Orient au XVIe siècle de Nicolas de Nicolay, Dauphinois, par Honoré Pallias, 1857.
  • Description du Berry et diocèse de Bourges au XVIe siècle par Nicolas de Nicolay Dauphinois, géographe et valet de chambre du roi Charles IX [...] avec une notice sur l'auteur par M. Victor Advielle, Paris, A. Aubry et Dumoulin, 1865.
  • R. Herve,"L'oeuvre cartographique de Nicolas de Nicolay et d'Antoine de Leval, 1544-1619", Bulletin de la Section de Géographie du Comité des Travaux Historiques et Scientifiques (Paris), LXVIII (1955), 223-63.
  • Roger Hervé, L'Œuvre cartographique de Nicolas de Nicolay et d'Antoine de Laval (1544-1619), Paris, Imprimerie nationale, 1956.
  • Franz Wawrik, “Der Erdglobus des Johannes Oterschaden”, Der Globusfreund, Nos.25-27, 1978, pp.155-167.
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