Nicolas de Nicolay

Nicolas de Nicolay, Sieur d'Arfeville & de Belair, (1517–1583) of the Nicolay (family) was a French geographer.

Biography Born at la Grave in Oisans, in the Dauphiné, he left France in 1542 to participate in the siege of Perpignan which was then held by Emperor Charles V of Austria.

In 1547, he sailed to Scotland where his intervention ended the siege of St Andrews Castle. In 1548, he returned to Scotland to take away Mary, Queen of Scots from Dumbarton Castle, sailing around the west coast of Ireland. He travelled around Germany, Denmark, England, Sweden, Italy, Spain, Greece and Turkey and served in the armies of most of these countries. On his return to France, Henry II made him Geographer Ordinary and Valet to the Chamber.

Around this time, he appears to have made a terrestrial globe that provided the model for the Oterschaden globe of .

In 1551, Henry II ordered him to follow Gabriel d'Aramon, envoy and ambassador to the Grand Turk Suleiman the Magnificent. In the course of the voyage, his unofficial mission was to survey the places visited, including Istanbul. It has been suggested that one of his objectives was to spy for the French crown. Travels in Turkey achieved a high level of commercial success upon its release. It was later reissued and translated for a number of different countries, including Italy, the Netherlands, England, and Germany. The widespread popularity of the book contributed to the proliferation of costume books throughout Europe at the end of the 16th century, and continued to influence Orientalist artists well into the 19th century, such as Eugène Delacroix and Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres.

Travels in Turkey is divided in four books, following Nicolay's voyage to Istanbul, accounts of ethnic groups and Ottoman court life, and the religious and military administration in Istanbul. Louis Danet made 60 engravings based on Nicolay's original drawings, which serve as the core of the books, and each print is followed by a caption, describing Islamic ritual, religion and monuments. The images cover all aspects of Ottoman daily life, and depict figures ranging from sultans and sultanas to wrestlers, cooks and Janissary generals. recent scholarship into contemporary European and Ottoman accounts of these groups has demonstrated the veracity of the practices they depict.

Works and maps

He wrote several books:

(1567). Quatre premiers livres des navigations (1568) (published in 1875). (published in 1881). Discovrs et histoire veritable des navigations, Anvers, A. Coninx,' 1586. From the Rare Book and Special Collections Division at the Library of Congress Les navigations, peregrinations et voyages faicts en la Turquie, (Antwerp 1576) at (Gallica site) Nicolas D'Arfeville's map of Scotland at the National Library of Scotland