What is Paul Rycaut?
[[File:Sir Paul Rycaut by Sir Peter Lely.jpg|thumb|{{center|Sir Paul Rycaut}}]] '''Sir Paul Rycaut''' (1628–1700) was a [[British]] [[diplomat]], [[author]] and [[travel]]er.<ref name=prOR>{{cite web |url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100434891 |title=Paul Rycaut (1628—1700) diplomat and author |website=Oxford Reference |publisher=Oxford University Press |access-date=January 1, 2017}}</ref> Rycaut served as [[secretary]] to the [[Embassy|British Embassy]] at [[Constantinople]].<ref name=prOR/> Afterward, he served as [[consul (representative)|consul]] to the [[Levant Company]] in [[Smyrna]], [[Turkey]].<ref name=Thomas412>David Thomas; John A Chesworth, ''Christian-Muslim Relations; A Bibliographical History'' Volume 8 (Leiden: Brill, 2016), pp. 411–412</ref> He was the English [[ambassador]] to [[Hamburg]]. Rycaut was a [[Fellow]] of the [[Royal Society]]. == Career == Rycaut was born in November or December of 1628 in [[Aylesford]].<ref name=Thomas412/> His parents were Peter and Mary Rycaut.<ref name=Thomas412/> His father, Peter Rycaut, was originally from [[Spain]] and was a representative in London for the [[Monarchy of Spain|King of Spain]].<ref name=Thomas412/> He had also loaned the king money during his war with [[Holland]]. Because of this he was [[exile]]d from England by [[Cromwell]] and lost all his [[property]].<ref name=Thomas412/> Rycaut's mother, Mary van der Colge, was the daughter of silk merchant from Spitalfields whose father had fled Belgium as a result of the persecution of Protestants by the Spanish. Mary was born in London, United Kingdom and was a member of the [[Huguenot]] Society in London.<ref name=Thomas412/> Rycaut learned [[Greek language|Greek]] and [[Latin]] probably while still in [[grammar school]] in Kent.<ref name=Thomas412/> He [[graduation|graduated]] from [[Trinity College, Cambridge]] in 1650.<ref name=Thomas412/> In 1652, he was admitted to [[Gray's Inn]]. When Rycaut traveled to Spain to ask [[Philip IV of Spain]] for repayme