Achille de Harlay, Baron de Sancy

Constantinople was an obvious port of call for George Strachan. His intention in going there may have been to obtain a licence to travel throughout the Ottoman Empire, just as Pietro Della Valle was to do several months later. But he may have chosen the capital city for another reason. He needed access to a cosmopolitan society and learned institutions to improve his language skills. Just as important for the impecunious Scotsman, he may have thought that he could obtain suitable employment while there. However, it offered another benefit. Resident in the city was someone he knew who would offer him hospitality. The French ambassador to the Sublime Porte, Achille de Harlay, Baron de Sancy, had met Strachan when they both attended the court of Henri IV in Paris. This is known from the account of Pietro Della Valle who was aware of Strachan's stay with the ambassador. The Scotsman had left shortly before the Roman arrived to stay with de Sancy. In his journal, he described the French ambassador as the Scotsman's friend (Della Valle 1664: vol. 2, 437).

Strachan and de Sancy had a number of things in common. As well as their experience at the French court, they were polyglot scholars with an interest in oriental languages. Previously, both had strong connections to the Catholic Church, especially the Society of Jesus. Harlay had been bishop-elect of Lavaur before giving up the ecclesiastical life in 1601, when he inherited the family title on the death of his elder brother. His appointment as ambassador came in 1611 following the assassination of the king: the event that ended Strachan's chances of preferment in Paris and led him to abandon the royal court. The queen regent, Marie de Medici, gave Harlay, as ambassador, a specific remit to provide protection for Jesuits working in the Ottoman Empire who were under attack from Muslim fanatics (Goyeau 1910). There can be little doubt, as Della Valle wrote later, that Harlay was pleased to see his old court acquaintance (Della Valle 1664: vol. 2, 437). His position as ambassador was not an easy one and Strachan's convivial company would have been welcome.

It could not have taken Strachan long to realise that Constantinople afforded him few opportunities of employment or restoring his finances.