1-344-965 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Guillaume Postel, 16th century French linguist, astronomer and diplomat. An expert in Arabic, Hebrew, Greek and Latin, Postel (1510-1581) was sent to the court of Suleiman the Magnificent by Francis I of France, who was seeking an alliance with Turkey. He was also charged with acquiring Eastern manuscripts for the French royal library. Postel collected, translated and published numerous important Greek, Hebrew and Arabic texts, making a major contribution to late Renaissance European scientific discourse. He was an advocate of the unification of the different branches of Christianity and of religious universalism, believing that Judaism, Islam and Christianity could be unified once they could be shown to have common foundations.