Pierre de Piton was a French colonel of the 16th century, and an ambassador to the kingdom of
Morocco
Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...
. He was sent in 1533 by
Francis I, initiating
France-Morocco relations.
Pierre de Piton sailed to Morocco to the harbour of
Larache
Larache () is a city in northwestern Morocco. It is on the Moroccan coast, where the Loukkos River meets the Atlantic Ocean. Larache is one of the most important cities of the Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region.
Many civilisations and cultures have ...
on the royal
galleass
A galleass was a warship that combined the sails and armament of a galleon or carrack with the maneuverability of the oared galley. While never quite matching up to the full expectations for its design, the galleass nevertheless remained in us ...
''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 was a French trader from Bresse, who went to Morocco in 1531."THE EMBASSY OF PIERRE DE PITON: In the year 1533, the year of Montaigne's birth, a French merchant, from Bresse, Hemon de Molon, returned from Morocco, filled with such ...
, 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,
Ahmed ben Mohammed, 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 may refer to:
Kings
* Saint Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor (972–1024), crowned King of Germany in 1002, of Italy in 1004 and Emperor in 1014
*Henry II of England (1133–89), reigned from 1154
*Henry II of Jerusalem and Cyprus (1271–1 ...
, son of
Francis I.
The Genoese captain later betrayed Pierre de Piton during the time he was in
Fes, by going to the Portuguese in
Arzila and claiming that de Piton was selling weapons to the Sultan.
["The captain, one Baptiste Auxyllia by name, forsook the ambassador and went over to Arzila, where he denounced Colonel de Piton to the Portuguese occupying the town, alleging that he had delivered contraband war supplies to the Sultan" in ''Ecrits de Paris: revue de questions actuelles'' Centre d'études des questions actuelles, politiques, économiques et sociales (Paris, France) - 1953 (in English)]
Notes
{{reflist
16th-century French diplomats