Pierre de Piton was a French colonel of the 16th century, and an ambassador to the kingdom of Morocco

Morocco

Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...

. He was sent in 1533 by Francis I

Francis I of France

Francis I was King of France from 1515 until his death. During his reign, huge cultural changes took place in France and he has been called France's original Renaissance monarch...

, initiating France-Morocco relations.

Pierre de Piton sailed to Morocco to the harbour of Larache

Larache

Larache is an important harbour town in the region Tanger-Tétouan in northern Morocco. It was founded in the 7th century when a group of Muslim soldiers from Arabia extended their camp at Lixus onto the south bank of the Loukkos River.In 1471, the Portuguese settlers from Asilah and Tangier drove...

 on the royal galleass

Galleass

The galleass developed from large merchant galleys.Converted for military use they were higher and larger than regular galleys. They had up to 32 oars, each worked by up to 5 men. They usually had three masts and a forecastle and aftcastle. Much effort was made in Venice to make these galleasses...

 Le Saint-Pierre, equipped with 28 cannons, and captained by the Genoese Baptiste Auxyllia. Pierre de Piton was accompanied by 5 men, as well as French trader Hémon de Molon

Hémon de Molon

Hémon de Molon was a French trader from Bresse, who went to Morocco in 1531.In 1532, he returned to France with enticing stories about the country of Morocco, and a letter from the Wattasid Sultan of Fes Ahmad ibn Muhammad to Francis I of France....

, who had brought enthusiastic reports from Morocco in a trip there in 1531-32, as well as a letter from the Sultan to Francis I.

Following Pierre de Piton's embassy, in a letter to Francis I dated August 13, 1533, the Wattassid ruler of Fez

Fes

Fes or Fez is the second largest city of Morocco, after Casablanca, with a population of approximately 1 million . It is the capital of the Fès-Boulemane region....

, Ahmed ben Mohammed

Abu al-Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad

Abu al-Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad, also Sultan Ahmad, was a Sultan of the Moroccan Wattasid dynasty. He ruled from 1526 to 1545, and again between 1547 and 1549....

, welcomed French overtures and granted freedom of shipping and protection of French traders. France started to send ships to Morocco in 1555, under the rule of Henry II

Henry II of France

Henry II was King of France from 31 March 1547 until his death in 1559.-Early years:Henry was born in the royal Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, near Paris, the son of Francis I and Claude, Duchess of Brittany .His father was captured at the Battle of Pavia in 1525 by his sworn enemy,...

, son of Francis I

Francis I of France

Francis I was King of France from 1515 until his death. During his reign, huge cultural changes took place in France and he has been called France's original Renaissance monarch...

.

The Genoese captain later betrayed Pierre de Piton during the time he was in Fes

Fes

Fes or Fez is the second largest city of Morocco, after Casablanca, with a population of approximately 1 million . It is the capital of the Fès-Boulemane region....

, by going to the Portuguese in Arzila and claiming that de Piton was selling weapons to the Sultan.