Historical Overview

This branch, which resided in Antibes and Cagnes for centuries, descends in a direct male line from Grimaldo, a Genoese statesman who lived in the 12th century. Some historians mention that the Grimaldis of Antibes had Merovingian origins. However, no historical evidence allows us to make such assertions, which appear unfounded. This branch settled down in Provence in the 14th century and died out in Belgium in the mid-20th century. It is survived by the collateral branch of the counts of Puget.

The branch of Antibes emerged during one of the most agitated periods of medieval history, made up of Crusades, wars, and plague epidemics. When the civil wars in Genoa sent most Grimaldis and their allies away from their City, many of them regrouped in more hospitable lands in the Nice area. The brothers Luc and Marc Grimaldi, sons of admiral Anthony, thus grew up in Provence, where their sword and their armies served the Angevin Crown loyally.

As often among Genoese families, the two brothers worked generally in concert, and could often be seen together in their military and business operations. For instance, they were both active investors throughout Eastern Provence. They acquired lands around Nice and Monaco, and lent large sums of money to pope Clement VII, who pledged Antibes as collateral on the loan. The two brothers became lords of Cagnes in 1371 and, unfortunately for the pope who could not reimburse his debt, also claimed Antibes in 1384. Thus began the epic of this ancient branch.

In the 15th century, we owe it to Luc's grandchildren — Gaspard, John-Andrew, and Lambert Grimaldi — to have profoundly established this branch in Provence. Gaspard, lord of Antibes, developed a deep friendship with king René; cardinal John-Andrew became an influential confident of the pope; and Lambert married (1465) his cousin Claudia, daughter of Catalan Grimaldi of Monaco.

Catalan did not have a son to continue his dynasty. Thus, this marriage between cousins ensured his line while abiding to the Rules of Succession of Monaco. Even before the wedding, however, Lambert and his brothers had to repel numerous attacks and intrigues that threatened Monaco. Those feats sealed deep bonds between the two branches.

Lambert gave up his rights on Antibes to Gaspard's benefit. The latter focused on defending and reinforcing the walls of Antibes, which were regularly besieged. Nice seceded from Provence to join Savoy (which became an ally of the Spanish Empire), France annexed Provence, and Antibes ended up on the front line as a strategically important fortress for the kings of France. Within a few generations, Antibes had thus become for its lords increasingly difficult to govern. In 1608, the Grimaldis eventually sold their fortress of Antibes to the king of France and moved to their castle of Cagnes, remodeled into the pleasant residence that can be seen today.

As the last Grimaldi of Monaco had died in 1748, marquis Salvator-Gaspard Grimaldi of Antibes (1734-1816) and later Charles-Louis, opposed the Matignon family in the controversial succession that had taken away Monaco from the House of Grimaldi.

The last marquis of Cagnes and Antibes died in Brussels in 1940. With him disappeared a long and honorable line that, since the 14th century, produced a number of officers, bishops and knights of Malta. They are survived today by the collateral line of the counts Grimaldi of Puget.