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FRANCOIS PETIS DE LA CROIX (1653-1713)

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Originally appearing in Volume V21, Page 306 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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FRANCOIS PETIS DE LA CROIX (1653-1713)  , See also:French Orientalist, was See also:born in See also:Paris in 1653 . He was son of the Arabic interpreter of the French See also:court, and inherited this See also:office at his See also:father's See also:death in 1695, afterwards transmitting it to his own son, See also:Alexandre See also:Louis See also:Marie, who also distinguished himself in See also:Oriental studies . At an See also:early See also:age he was sent by See also:Colbert to the See also:East; during the ten years he spent in See also:Syria, See also:Persia and See also:Turkey he mastered Arabic, See also:Persian and See also:Turkish, and also collected See also:rich materials for future writings . He served a See also:short See also:time as secretary to the French See also:ambassador in See also:Morocco, and accompanied as interpreter the French forces sent against See also:Algiers, contributing to the satisfactory See also:settlement of the treaty of See also:peace, which was See also:drawn up by himself in Turkish and ratified in 1684 . He conducted the negotiations with See also:Tunis and See also:Tripoli in 1685, and those with Morocco in 1687; and the zeal, tact and linguistic knowledge he manifested in these and other transactions with Eastern courts were at last rewarded in 1692 by his See also:appointment to the Arabic See also:chair in the See also:College Royal de See also:France, which he filled until his death in 1713 . He published Conies turcs (Paris, 1707), and See also:Les Mille et un jours (5 vols., Paris, 1710–1712); an Armenian See also:Dictionary and an See also:Account of See also:Ethiopia . But the lasting See also:monument of his See also:literary fame is his excellent French version of Sharaf-uddin `See also:Ali Yazdi's Zafarnama or See also:History of Timur (completed 828 A.H.; A.D . 1425), which was given to the See also:world nine years after his death (4 vols., Paris, 1722; Eng. trans. by J . Darby, See also:London, 1723) . This See also:work, one of the rare specimens of a fairly See also:critical history Persia can boast of, was compiled under the auspices of Mirza See also:Ibrahim See also:Sultan, the son of Shah Rukh and See also:grandson of the See also:great Timur . The only See also:error committed by Petis de la Croix in his otherwise very correct See also:translation is that he erroneously ascribed the important See also:share which Ibrahim Sultan had in the Zafarnama to Timur himself .

End of Article: FRANCOIS PETIS DE LA CROIX (1653-1713)
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