Antonio Rincon

In 1532, the French ambassador Antonio Rincon presented Suleiman the Magnificent with this tiara or helmet, made in Venice for 115,000 ducats.

Antonio Rincon (died 3/4 July 1541), also Antoine de Rincon, was a Spanish-born diplomat in the service of France. An influential envoy from the King of France to Sultan Suleiman I of the Ottoman Empire, he made various missions to Constantinople between 1530 and 1541. While an effective diplomat, Rincon's enemies considered him a renegade and some later observers would criticize him for promoting Machiavellian policies.

Letter of Antonio Rincon to Admiral de Bonnivet, reporting on his missions in Hungary and Poland, 4 April 1523. Antonio Rincon was employed by France on several missions to Poland and Hungary between 1522 and 1525. At that time, following the 1522 Battle of Bicoque, Francis I was attempting to ally with king Sigismund I the Old of Poland. As Sigismund was not forthcoming, Francis I instead chose to support Janos Zapolya in Hungary. He also attempted to negotiate an Ottoman loan to the French crown, but was denied it on the ground that a Muslim could not lend money to Christians. In fact, he was to try to obtain an Ottoman offensive against Italy, rather than the offensive against Hungary that the Ottomans were planning. After an illness, he arrived too late to change their plans. Imperial forces were apparently responsible for the assassination, which violated established standards of diplomatic immunity. The event triggered, or was a pretext for, the Italian War of 1542–1546 between Francis I and Charles V.