Alpes-Maritimes and Nice region; a bit of regional history
Part 1: until 1388
Our visits took place in the eastern part of the old " County of Nice ", or in the current district of Nice, part of the Alpes-Maritimes department.
To better situate them, our small mountain region visited stretches from Piedne Haute sur Roya in the east to St-Martin-Vésubie in the west, and from the Refuge de la Cougourde in the north to L'Escarène and Sospel in the south.
If it has depended for centuries on the influence of the largest metropolis in the south, Nice, it is also close to the borders of present-day Italy, a proximity that has marked its history and culture.
We are further away from the hyper-centralizing capital, distant Paris.
To summarize, the western part of the department, the current district of Grasse , belonged to the Provence . Its eastern part, the " County of Nice" , was detached from it in 1388 , where it comes under the sovereignty of the princes of Savoy , then the kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia .
The two parts of the department then undergo different evolutions, until the annexation of the county of Nice to France, in 1860 , and the creation of the current Alpes-Maritimes department.
Between these two historical milestones, almost half a millennium, the region belonged to the Duchy of Savoy then to the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia 100% of the time, with episodes near a few short and bloody European wars.
Piedmontese history and culture cannot fail to have permeated it.
Nice and its region, Prehistory and Antiquity
Prehistory
Prehistoric testimonies range from -950000 (Roquebrune) until -20000. The rock engravings of Mont Bégo in the Vallée des Merveilles are more recent between -3300 and -1700.
The descendants of these tribes, the Ligurians, live between Rhône, Po and Alps.
antiquity
The Greeks of Marseilles melt Nice (Nikaïa) and Antibes (Antipolis), the latter the most flourishing thanks to cabotage between Marseille and Corsica.
2nd century : called by the Marseillais against the Ligurian aggressions, the Romans settle on the arc of commercial and military circulation between Italy and Spain.
Then they annex Gaul from the south-east, which becomes Gaul Narbonnaise (Provence and Languedoc) called " Provincia Romana ", At the origin of the name of" Provence ".
The military province of the Alpes-Maritimes was created in -7 under Auguste with the capital Cimiez (today a district of Nice), then Embrun at the end of the 3rd century.
Nice remains modest and belongs to the Narbonnaise.
Nice and its region, High Middle Ages
410 : the monastery of Lérins is founded, whose reputation will grow. Cimiez and Nice will each have their own bishopric, which will compete with each other, to the final benefit of Nice.
9th century : a handful of Saracens from Andalusia settled in Fraxinet in 889 (" ash »), That is to say in La Garde-Freinet behind Sainte-Maxime.
The colony ends up occupying an area up to 60 km inland, on the massif which will consequently become that " Moors ".
The inhabitants of the coast take refuge in the hinterland.
Provence and Savoie assert themselves
End of 9th : a kingdom of Burgundy-Provence (also called kingdom of Arles, here in 1030 ) is divided into 3 fairly independent states : Savoie, Dauphiné, Provence.
962 : Otho the Great forms the Holy Roman Empire which includes Germany and a good part of the " Middle France To which Provence belongs.
973 : Guillaume, Count of Provence drives out the Saracens, whose culture has however left a rich heritage.
11th century : in contraction during the Saracen wars, population increases again.
Nice and its region, local autonomy and resistance to Provence
12th century : Growing Nice is the object of a struggle for influence between Provence and the Republic of Genoa.
Nice italo-ligurian
1108 : Nice becomes an Italian republic of Liguria taking for example Genoa .
toward 1144 : it has a consulate, which manages the city and enter in conflict with the bishop in 1153.
1162 : the inhabitants refuse to take an oath of loyalty to the Count of Provence Raimond-Bérenger III who wants to control the southern passage of Alps .
Nice under the yoke of Provence (1176 to 1215)
1176 : but as soon as Béranger died, Nice was invaded by his cousin the Count of Provence Alphonse 1st (also king of Aragon).
During the 12th and 13th centuries, Nice sometimes belonged to the accounts of Provence but the population always repelled the Provençal invasions.
1191 : Genoa obtains the suzerainty of Monaco and settles there in 1215.
At the end of the 12th century, Nice has about 3000 inhabitants.
Alphonse 1st
from Provence
Raymond Beranger V
from Provence
Map of Provence in 1125
Nice sponge cake of its own accord (1215 to 1229)
1215 : on the death of Alphonse I, the people of Nice rebelled, massacred the French troops and placed themselves under the protection of Genoa.
1227 : the count of Provence Raymond Béranger V (... who is also Béranger IV of Barcelona) wants to impose himself in eastern Provence, takes Grasse and abolishes his consulate.
1229 : he takes over Nice and replaces the consuls with a viguier. Even with reduced powers, Nice is experiencing significant economic and demographic development thanks to the trade in salt .
At the end of the 13th century, the consulate reappeared.
The demographic boom continues in the 14th century.
The city more than tripled its population in less than a century (4000 inhabitants in 1250, 13 500 in 1340 ).
Nice and its region, dark 14th century, versatile, determining
The black plague 1347 - 1348 , breaks this momentum . The population falls back to around 5,000 inhabitants in 1387 .
However, the communal autonomy of the consulates, small urban republics (Grasse or Nice), is a factor of growth; the other towns remain under the authority of the bishop.
Part of eastern Provence and Nice in Savoy ; east is genoese
The ambitious Charles 1st of Anjou (brother of King Louis IX the future St Louis) has in the 13th century Provence and the " Kingdom of Naples-Sicily ".
He buys from the Count of Vintimille several towns in the east, including Sospel, Breil, Saorge.
To the north, the county from Ventimiglia takes the title of count de Tende, while the south of Ventimiglia becomes Genoese.
But after the famous "Sicilian Vespers" in 1282, all that remains of this kingdom of Naples-Sicily is the mainland (the southern part of the boot with the Kingdom of Naples).
Monaco Genoese passes to the great family of Grimaldi in 1297 and included in the 14th century Menton and Roquebrune.
Queen Jeanne 1st
from Naples
Louis 1st of Anjou
In the 2nd half of the 14th century, the Grandes Compagnies raged, idle soldiers, especially from the Hundred War Years, driven from France and become brigands
1383 to 1388 : some six generations and a century after the "Sicilian Vespers", Nice takes part in the war of succession of the queen Jeanne 1st (of Naples) , or war of the Union of Aix .
In the dense and complex web of alliances between Houses of Europe, it turns out that Louis 1st of Anjou, son of King John the Good, owns western Provence with Marseille and Arles.
He opposes Charles III of Naples, Hungarian nephew of Queen Jeanne ; this one holds the Provence of the east with Aix, Tarascon and Nice and hates its aunt who adopted Louis d'Anjou.
Nice takes sides against the 1st and for the 2nd, then for his successor Ladislaus I.
Nice gives itself ... to Savoy
1388 : beaten, Ladislas, betraying Provence, concludes an agreement with the Count of Savoy , Amedee VII .
It's here edition (voluntary submission) from Nice to Savoie : "To the pact that the city will never be handed over to the French".
1396 : Amédée VII of Savoy entrusts the power of Nice to Seneschal Jean Grimaldi de Beuil , whose supervision is quickly contested.
From Notables obtained from Amédée the appointment of another seneschal, despite the resistance of Grimaldi, who only retired after four years of war, and against compensation.
1406 : the Jewish community of Nice is legally recognized.
1419 : the Capetian house of Anjou-Sicily renounces Nice. Amédée VIII of Savoy , who became duke in 1416 , enters Nice.
The detached regions of Provence are grouped together under the same administration and named " New lands of Provence ". The political situation is stabilizing, despite a rebellion in 1436 .
In the 15th century , Nice experienced a period of economic boom and gradually integrated into States of Savoy . The city also strengthens its domination in the hinterland.
Nice given to Savoy becomes a small prosperous regional capital, unique port from 1391 of County of Savoie on the Mediterranean, with the neighboring town of Villefranche .
Ventimiglia , Menton, Roquebrune stay sponge cake .
Western Provence to France
1481 : in the west, without heir, the count of Provence bequeaths it to the king of France Louis XI. The Var becomes the border between France and Savoy.