page_title: Jean de La Forêt
section_title: 1536 Franco-Turkish treaty
hierarchical_section_title: Jean de La Forêt / 1534 embassy to the Ottoman Empire / 1536 Franco-Turkish treaty
caption_attribution_description: English: Letter_of_Suleiman_to_Francis_I_6_April_1536
context_page_description: Jean de La Forêt, also Jean de La Forest or Jehan de la Forest was the first official French Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, serving from 1534 to 1537. Antonio Rincon had preceded him as an envoy to the Ottoman Empire from 1530 to 1533. When Jean de La Forêt died in Constantinople in 1537, he was succeeded by Antonio Rincon as official Ambassador.
context_section_description: In February 1536, de la Forêt obtained the signature of a commercial treaty called Capitulations (of which only a draft has been recovered), which was the foundation for French influence in the Ottoman Empire and the Levant until the 19th century. Suleiman seemingly had some doubts about French commitment, expressing: "How can I have trust in him? He has always promised more than he can carry out", referring to the lack of French commitment in 1534-35, when Tunis was finally recaptured by Charles V, but he nevertheless agreed to the alliance upon Francis I's invasion of Piedmont in early 1536.
  The 1536 Franco-Turkish treaty allowed the French in the Ottoman Empire to be judged by their own laws, in a French Consular court (a status the Venetians had already been granted), exemption from the usual taxes and dues levied upon non-Muslim foreigners, and trading concessions. This treaty offered guaranties (especially extraterritoriality) that would become the model for future "unequal treaties" between European and Asian powers. By this agreement, French law courts, churches and valuables would all remain extraterritorial in the Ottoman Empire. In a sense, French possessions in the Ottoman Empire would become the first foreign possessions of the French Crown, effectively a Crown Colony of France. The French protectorate also extended to the Holy Places of Jerusalem. By 1620, one third of France's foreign trade was done with the Ottoman Empire.
  The commercial treaty actually was something of a façade for Jean de La Forêt, whose main role was actually to coordinate military collaboration between France and the Ottoman Empire. The commercial treaty however would become prominent from the second half of the 16th century.
  Once the treaty with the Turks was secured, Francis I invaded Savoy in 1536, starting the Italian War of 1536–1538. A Franco-Turkish fleet was stationed in Marseille by the end of 1536, threatening Genoa. In 1537 Hayreddin Barbarossa raided the Italian coast and laid siege to Corfu, although this provided only limited assistance to the French. With Charles V unsuccessful in battle and squeezed between the French invaders and the Ottomans, Francis I and Charles V ultimately made peace at the Truce of Nice, 18 June 1538. La Forêt died at Constantinople in the following year. Charles V would turn his efforts against the Ottomans, only to lose the Battle of Preveza on 28 September 1538.
  The vizier died soon after the treaty was made in 1536, and there is doubt whether the treaty was formally ratified at this point, since only an archived draft has been found. The treaty of alliance between France and the Ottoman Empire would eventually be ratified later in 1569 through ambassador Claude du Bourg. Suleiman nevertheless respected the content of the agreement, and launched his armies, awaiting for the French offensive.
caption: Letter of Suleiman to Francis I in 1536, informing Francis I of the successful campaign of Iraq, and acknowledging the permanent French embassy of Jean de La Forest at the Ottoman court.
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "SONY", "Image Model": "DSC-T10", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image Software": "Paint Shop Pro Photo 12.00", "Image DateTime": "2009:11:22 14:34:25", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "2300", "Image XPTitle": "[32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, ... ]", "Image XPSubject": "[32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, ... ]", "Image Padding": "[]", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/25", "EXIF FNumber": "7/2", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "800", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2007:10:22 21:56:16", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2007:10:22 21:56:16", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "8", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "29/8", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Spot", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "633/100", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1059", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2894", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Hard", "EXIF Padding": "[]"}