Jean Coppin

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Jean Coppin (c. 1615 - c. 1690) was a French traveller and professional soldier, who tried to enthuse the French people for a crusade against the Ottoman Empire.

Coppin travelled to Egypt in 1638, where he stayed for eighteen months. He returned to France with a cargo of antiquities for sale but was raided by Mallorcan pirates. A second voyage was undertaken 1642-1646, were he was in the Levant, visiting Tunis and Syria, and became consul at Damietta in 1644. He returned to Europe, with firm plans for a crusade, but the authorities were not interested at all. Subsequently he decided to publish his work, hoping to find the public more willing to listen to his plans.

[edit] Works

Coppin's work appeared in 1686. Later editions carries a different title, apparently because a crusade was no longer relevant anymore, putting the emphasis on his voyages.

• Le Bouclier de l'Europe ou la guerre sainte, contenant des avis politiques & chrétiens, qui peuvent servir de lumière aux Rois & aux Souverains de la Chrétienté, pour garantir leurs Estats des incursions des Turcs, & reprendre ceux qu'ils ont usurpé, Antoine Briasson, Le Puy, 1686.

• (other title) Relation des voyages faits dans la Turquie, la Thebaïde, et la Barbarie. Contenant des avis politiques qui peuvent servir de lumières aux Rois & aux Souverains de la Chrétienté, pour garentir leurs Etats des incursions des Turcs, & reprendre ceux qu'ils ont usurpé sur eux.

[edit] References

• Les Voyages en Egypte de Jean Coppin (1638-1639; 1643-1646), IFAO, Serge Sauneron (ed.), 1971