Michel Baudier
Michel Baudier, French historian, was born in Languedoc, during the reign of Louis XIII, and was historiographer to the Court of France.
Life
In the 1620s Baudier, a soldier turned historian wrote a treatise on Islam, which was one of the first works in French on Islam. His writings initially focused on administrative and military history. similarly, his historical writing about Asia was the first in France. “French admiration for the Ottomans and their military superiority, as Ina claims, manifested in Baudier 's historical writings.He contributed to French history by writing Histoire de la guerre de Flandre 1559–1609 ; Histoire de l'administration du cardinal d'Amboise, grand ministre d'état en France, a defence of Georges d'Amboise; and Histoire de l'administration de l'abbé Suger. Taking an especial interest in the Turks he wrote Inventaire général de l'histoire des Turcs ; Histoire générale de la religion des Turcs avec la vie de leur prophète Mahomet ; and Histoire générale du sérail et de la cour du grand Turc.
Having heard the narrative of a Jesuit who had returned from China, Baudier wrote Histoire de la cour du roi de Chine. He also wrote Vie du cardinal Ximénès, which was again published with a notice of the author by E. Baudier, and a romance entitled Histoire de l'incomparable administration de Romieu, grand ministre d'état de Raymond Bérenger, comte de Provence.
According to Jean-Claude, Baudier knew several languages, and he “wrote not only about France, but also about Spain, England, Italy, China, Persia, and Turkey.”