Christophe Richer de Thorigny (1514?-1552/53) was valet de chambre

Valet de chambre

Valet de chambre , or varlet de chambre, was a court appointment introduced in the late Middle Ages, common from the 14th century onwards. Royal Households had many persons appointed at any time...

 to Francis I

Francis I of France

Francis I was King of France from 1515 until his death. During his reign, huge cultural changes took place in France and he has been called France's original Renaissance monarch...

, a secretary to Cardinal Antoine Duprat

Antoine Duprat

Antoine Duprat was a French Cardinal and politician, who was chancellor of France.-Life:Duprat was born in Issoire in Auvergne. Educated for the law, he won a high position in his profession and in 1507 became first president of the Parlement of Paris...

, and a French ambassador of the 16th century. He was born in Thorigny

Thorigny

Thorigny is a commune in the Vendée department in the Pays de la Loire region in western France....

. He was ambassador to Scandinavia

Scandinavia

Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...

 and Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

.
In the 1530s, Christophe Richer was sent by Francis I to Constantinople

Constantinople

Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...

. In 1540 he published a study of the Ottoman civilization, De rebus Turcarum, also published in French that same year under the title Des Coustumes et manières de vivre des Turcs.

In 1541, Francis I sent Christophe Richer to Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

 and Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

, the first official French embassy to a Protestant state. Richer was French ambassador to Denmark in 1547.

Works

• De rebus Turcarum ad Franciscum Gallorum regem Christianiss by Christophe Richer http://books.google.com/books?id=WEk8AAAAcAAJ&printsec=frontcover
• Des Coustumes et manières de vivre des Turcs by Christophe Richer http://books.google.com/books?id=GvQ7AAAAcAAJ&printsec=frontcover