François de Noailles

Who was François de Noailles?

François de Noailles, Papal Prothonotary, made Bishop of Dax in 1556, was French ambassador in Venice in the 1560s, and French ambassador of Charles IX to the Ottoman Empire from 1571 to 1575.

François was one of three brothers who served as French diplomats, three of the 19 children of Louis de Noailles and Catherine de Pierre-Buffière. He was born on 2 July 1519 at the Château de Noillac.

Within the context of a Franco-Ottoman alliance, and the obtention of special trading and diplomatic privileges between France and the Ottoman Empire since 1535-1536, François de Noailles endeavoured to maintain the diplomatic monopoly of France with the Ottoman Empire, in order to have economic and political leverage in the Mediterranean, against Spain and Italian city-states.

After the Battle of Lepanto, he tried to mitigate the impact of the Christian victory over the Turk, claiming that overall not much ground had been gained over the Ottomans.

François de Noailles, Bishop of Dax, was a pro-Huguenot. In 1574, François de Noailles worked at obtaining the support of the Ottoman ruler Selim II in favour of William of Orange and the Dutch rebellion.