Bertrand d'Ornesan

Le Voyage du Baron de Saint Blancard en Turquie, by Jean de la Vega, after 1538.

Bertrand d'Ornesan, also Bertrand d'Ornezan, Baron de Saint-Blancard, was a French admiral in the service of King Francis I of France. He was general of the galleys of the Mediterranean (Amiral de la Flotte du Levant).

Bertrand d'Ornesan tried to establish a French trading post at Pernambuco, Brazil in 1531.[1]

In 1533 Bertrand d'Ornesan joined the Ottoman embassy to France (1533) going to meet Francis I.[2]

In 1537, Ornesan began a two-year involvement in operations with the Ottoman Empire under terms of the Franco-Ottoman alliance between Francis I and Suleiman the Magnificent. He led a fleet of galleys to Corfu to join the fleet of Barbarossa at the siege of Corfu, but finally failed to convince the Ottomans to participate in a proposed major expedition against Italy.[3] Saint-Blancard had left Marseille on 15 August with 12 galleys and arrived at Corfu in early September 1537.[3][4] Eventually Suleiman, worried by a plague among his troops,[5] decided to return with his fleet to Istambul by mid-September without having captured Corfu.[3]

The fleet of Saint-Blancard wintered in Chios until 17 February 1538.[6] It was decided that three ships would go to Constantinople, while the rest of the fleet returned to France. In Constantinople, they were received by the French ambassador Charles de Marillac.[7] Hayreddin Barbarossa provided for the expenses, and the French galleys finally left on 11 April 1538 to return to Nice through Monastir.[8]

Jean de la Vega, a member of his staff, wrote the account of his travels.[9]

Notes

  1. ↑ R. J. Knecht, Renaissance Warrior and Patron: The Reign of Francis I p.375
  2. ↑ Garnier, pp.73-74
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Kenneth M. Setton, The Papacy and the Levant (1204-1571) p.431
  4. ↑ Garnier, p.134
  5. ↑ Garnier, p.138
  6. ↑ Garnier, p.149
  7. ↑ Garnier, p.150
  8. ↑ Garnier, p.151-153
  9. ↑ Musée d'Ecouen exhibit

References