Paul Rycaut

Sir Paul Rycaut FRS (23 December 1629 – 16 November 1700) was an English diplomat, historian, and authority on the Ottoman Empire.

[1] Rycaut's Huguenot father was held in the Tower of London, during the English Civil War, for his Cavalier sympathies, but the sequestration of his property was lifted.

While studying at Alcalá de Henares, he learned Spanish and translated the first part of Baltasar Gracián's The Critick.

Rycaut was then employed as private secretary to Heneage Finch, 3rd Earl of Winchilsea, ambassador to the Ottoman Empire.

[5] He was active in frustrating the efforts of the Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies to raise capital in the city.