European Kingdoms

Lordship of Menton (Monaco) (Western Europe)
AD 1346 - 1861

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In sixth century BC Europe, Phocaeans from Massalia (modern Marseille) founded a city at Monaco, naming it Monoikos. Eventual Roman control in the region sorted it into the province of the Maritime Alps, but barbarian tribes ravaged the region as the later Roman empire faded. Land which would become today's principality of Monaco was acquired by the republic of Genoa in 1191. The early foundations of the 'Lordship of Monaco' would be laid during that Genoese colonial period.

One Otto Cannella was consul of Genoa in 1131. His son, Grimaldo, founded the dynasty which seized the Monaco colony in 1297. For the most part they governed from then onwards, making them Europe's longest-serving dynasty. From 1612 they used the title 'sovereign prince' to underline their independence while also holding the lordships of Menton and Roquebrune.

The tiny lordship of Menton, also referred to as 'Mentan' in Mentonasc dialect and 'Mentone' in Italian, was centred on the town of the same name. This is located on the French Riviera, just to the west of the modern border between France and Italy, twenty-eight kilometres to the north-east of Nice, and ten kilometres to the north-east of Monte Carlo.

The area has been inhabited since the Palaeolithic, and is the location for the 'Grimaldi Man' find: two Upper Palaeolithic human skeletons which were discovered in the Grimaldi caves in Italy in 1901. These are now recognised as being examples of the wider early European population of anatomically modern humans, dated between 24,000-20,000 BC (late Aurignacian or early Gravettian cultures).

Ligurians founded the town of Menton, making it a strategic point along what would become the coastal Roman road. The town was re-established by the Genoese count of Ventimiglia in the eleventh century. The Grimaldis purchased the lordship of Menton from Ventimiglia in 1346, and held the territory until 1860.

Then under the terms of the Treaty of Turin, Sardinia, the official protector of Monaco, ceded Menton and Roquebrune to imperial France. The French paid a four-million-franc indemnity to the prince of Monaco for the two territories and recognised Monaco's independence. Monaco was unhappy with the terms but could do nothing about them and was vastly reduced in size.

Menton today has an estimated population of 28,563 (in 2014). Popular in summer, it is also thought to be the French Riviera's warmest winter resort. It boasts a casino, luxurious hotels, and a modern yacht marina, with citrus fruits as its main product.

(Information by John De Cleene and the John De Cleene Archive, with additional information from Hammond's Historical Atlas (C S Hammond & Co, 1963), from Historical Atlas of the World, R R Palmer (Ed, Rand McNally & Company, 1963), from Oxford Atlas of World History, Patrick K O'Brien (Ed, Oxford University Press, 1999), and from External Links: Menton (Encyclopaedia Britannica), and Monaco (Flags of the World), and Monaco, (Heraldica.org), and Monaco (Rulers.org), and Monaco (Monaco.mc, no longer online but available via the Internet Archive), and Monaco (World Statesmen), and TravelTill.)

1346

Charles Grimaldi has been able to occupy the rock of Monaco in 1331. Now, in 1346, he purchases the lordship of Menton before, in 1355, also purchasing the lordship of Roquebrune. Both will be held by Monaco until the nineteenth century.

1346 - ?

Son of Charles I of Monaco. Joint lord with Charles.

1357 - 1395

Genoa besieges Monaco from 1356, and Rainier II, who never enters Monaco, gives it up for twenty thousand florins in 1357. He keeps ownership of Menton and Roquebrune though, while Charles I flees into exile and Monaco is again a Genoese outpost.

The town of Menton lies on the French Riviera in south-eastern France, known for its beaches and gardens but also for its part as a holding of the principality of Monaco from its early days until the nineteenth century

?

Son.

fl c.1400s

Son. Joint lord with his brother. Died without an heir.

fl c.1400s

Brother. Joint lord. Died without an heir.

1400s

Pietro and Filippo both die without heirs, and Menton reverts to the senior branch of the Grimaldi family. Genoa again controls Monaco between 1402-1419 in the ongoing tug-of-war for control of this strategic position. Rainier's sons, Jean, Ambroise, and Antoine, take Monaco from Genoa in 1419, and for the last time this will be necessary.

1427 - ?

Brother of Jean I of Monaco. Also held Roquebrune.

1448

Jean I of Monaco cedes half of Menton and Roquebrune to the duke of Savoy (although they are returned in 1477 as fiefs for which Monaco's rulers pay homage through into the nineteenth century). Ninety-one percent of Menton becomes a fief of the dukes of Savoy, while only half of Roquebrune does so.

The early flag of Monaco included two figures in monks habits, mimicking the initial seizure of the rock by François Grimaldi and Rainier I

1583

Charles II of Monaco refuses to pay homage to the dukes of Savoy for the fiefs of Menton and Roquebrune. Savoy declares him to have forfeited the cities, but Monaco retains possession of them.

1847 - 1848

The revolutionary fervour which spreads throughout Europe also affects Florestan I, prince of Monaco, who proposes a new constitution. The proposal is not liberal enough for Menton and Roquebrune, however.

They declare independence in order to be absorbed into the district of Nice within the kingdom of Sardinia. Monaco does not recognise their declaration but, at the same time, Florestan is overthrown and imprisoned, and a 'Monegasque Republic' is declared. Sardinia begins the process of taking control of Menton and Roquebrune.

Count Camillo Benso di Cavour, Sardinia's new, liberal minister from 1852, was a leading figure in the move towards Italian unification, an aim which was achieved in 1861 after two years of war against Austria

1847 - 1848

Sardinian commander.

1848

President of the commission and government.

1848 - 1849

'Sardinian Extraordinary Commissioner'.

1860 - 1861

As a reward for help by Napoleon III during the reunification of Italy, Sardinia cedes the county of Nice and Savoy to France under the Treaty of Turin. This action includes the transfer of Menton and Roquebrune. Charles III of Monaco finally - and formally - surrenders his claim to the two cities in 1861.

Monaco is reduced to a fraction of its former extent, but France does pays an indemnity of four million francs as compensation while also recognising the independence of Monaco itself.

Today's Roquebrune-Cap-Martin is located directly to the east of Monaco, and was a holding of the lords and princes of Monaco until the nineteenth century