François Savary de Brèves

[1] He tried to incite the Sultan to wage war against Philip II and to limit the activities of Barbary pirates on the French coasts of Provence, but in vain, leading to tense relations between France and the Porte.

[1] Through his efforts, Capitulations were signed between Henry IV of France and Sultan Ahmed I on 20 May 1604, giving a marked advantage for French trade, against that of the English and the Venetians.

[5] Savary de Brèves was interested in establishing an Arabic printing press under his own account in order to introduce Oriental studies in France.

While in Rome he set up a publishing house, the Typographia Savariana, through which he printed a Latin-Arab bilingual edition of a catechism of Cardinal Bellarmino in 1613, as well as in 1614 an Arabic version of the Book of Psalms.

[5] In Paris, accompanied by an additional Maronite priest Johannes Hesronita (Yūḥannā al-Ḥaṣrūnī), he published the first part of a Grammatica Arabica maronitarum.

[5] After the death of Savary de Brèves in 1627, the types were acquired by Richelieu for the kingdom of France in order to encourage the propagation of Catholicism in the Levant, and prevent such a tool to fall into Huguenot hands.