The Persian embassy to Louis XIV caused a dramatic flurry at the

court of Louis XIV A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance w ...

in 1715, the year of the Sun King's death. Mohammed Reza Beg, or in French sources , was a high-ranking official to the Persian governor of the Iravan (Erivan) province. He had been chosen by the

Safavid Safavid Iran or Safavid Persia (), also referred to as the Safavid Empire, '. was one of the greatest Iranian empires after the 7th-century Muslim conquest of Persia, which was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. It is often conside ...

Persian emperor

Sultan Husayn Soltan Hoseyn ( fa, شاه سلطان حسین, Soltān-Hoseyn; 1668 – 9 September 1727) was the Safavid shah of Iran from 1694 to 1722. He was the son and successor of Shah Solayman (). Born and raised in the royal harem, Soltan Hoseyn ascen ...

for the mission and travelled with a grand entourage, as suitable to the diplomat of a mighty empire.

The embassy

The scene of the Persian ambassador's entry into Paris, 7 February 1715, was described by

François Pidou de Saint-Olon François () is a French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis. People with the given name * Francis I of France, King of France (), known as "the Father and Restorer of Letters" * Francis II of France, King ...

(1646–1720), a nobleman who was delegated the diplomatic position of liaison officer to the Persian delegation: During several months that he spent at

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...

, Mohammed Reza Beg conducted negotiations towards establishing trade treaties between Persia and France, as well as on specific agreements concerning the installation of consulates. He conferred with the French on possible joint military operations against the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

. But negotiations were impeded by Louis XIV's bad state of health. Nevertheless, Mohammed Reza Beg returned to Persia in autumn 1715 bearing treaties on commerce and friendship between France and Persia that had been signed in Versailles on 13 August. As another result of the diplomatic mission, a permanent Persian consulate was established in

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

, the main French Mediterranean port for the trade with the East, soon staffed by Hagopdjan de Deritchan.

Influences in literature

During the time he spent in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, however, feverish speculation ran rife about this exotic personage, his unpaid bills, his lavish but exotic lifestyle, the possibilities of amours, all concentrated in a pot-boiler romance of the beautiful but repeatedly kidnapped Georgian, Amanzolide, by M. d'Hostelfort, ''Amanzolide, nouvelle historique et galante, qui contient les aventures secrètes de Mehemed-Riza-Beg, ambassadeur du Sophi de Perse à la cour de Louis le Grand en 1715''. (Paris: P. Huet, 1716). It was quickly translated into English, as ''Amanzolide, story of the life, the amours and the secret adventures of Mehemed-Riza-Beg, Persian ambassador to the court of Louis the Great in 1715'' a true ''

turquerie Turquerie (anglicized as "Turkery"), "Turquoiserie" was the Turkish fashion in Western Europe from the 16th to 18th centuries for imitating aspects of Ottoman art and culture. Many different Western European countries were fascinated by the exo ...

'', or fanciful Eastern imagining, which did not discriminate too finely between Ottoman Turkey and Safavid Persia. More permanent literary results were embodied in

Montesquieu Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (; ; 18 January 168910 February 1755), generally referred to as simply Montesquieu, was a French judge, man of letters, historian, and political philosopher. He is the principa ...

's ''

Lettres Persanes ''Persian Letters'' (french: Lettres persanes) is a literary work, published in 1721, by Charles de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu, recounting the experiences of two fictional Persian noblemen, Usbek and Rica, who spend several years in France u ...

'' (1725), in which a satiric critique of French society was placed in the pen of an imagined Persian ''homme de bonne volonté'', a "man of good will". The ''Memoirs'' of Saint-Simon for the year record contemporary court gossip that the ambassador was in fact an ordinary merchant from Persian lands, perhaps sent by "the governor of his province with business to transact in France" and put up as an ambassador by Pontchartrain, minister for trade and much else, essentially in a successful attempt to cheer up the aged king. He says of the ambassador "there seemed to be nothing genuine about him, and his behaviour was as disgraceful as his wretched suite and miserable presents. Moreover he produced neither credentials nor instructions from the King of Persia or his ministers".Norton, Vol II, 403

Notes

External links

1715 Reception of the Persian embassy (official website of Château de Versailles
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Persian Embassy To Louis Xiv Foreign relations of the Ancien Régime Ancien Régime Diplomatic missions of Safavid Iran 1715 in international relations Treaties of the Kingdom of France Treaties of the Safavid dynasty France–Iran relations 1715 in France 1715 in Iran History of the foreign relations of Iran History of the foreign relations of France

The embassy

Influences in literature

See also

Notes

External links