The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1885-09-16
Aawaiialr 6azette,
rrnrrsnaY- SEPTEMBER le 1855
The Archives of Monaco

Chance has enabled me TO make 4 discovery
q. considerable interest, aud that is that thu
municipality Of Monaco possess some very re-
marl;able archives, which, thanks to the DIS
eliminating liberaliiy Of the reigning sovereign
are now being properly classified, and contain
some documents Of the highest value. Up (
within the last few years the State papers AM
other documents were scattered about moi only
in different rooms Of the palace at Monaco, bu
In other residences of Prince Charles in Parii
and the north Of France; but in 1850 tho Prince
determined 10 have them collected at Monaco
among them being a quantity OF papers dating
from the thirteenth century, and relating to thu
countship of Rethel in the north of France
Another very curious series of papers IS th'
correspondence of the Matignon family, The
famous Jacques de Matignon having been the
ancestor on the male side Of the Prince Of
Monaco, as Jacques Leonor dc Matignon took
the name Of Grimaldi when he married the
last heiress of that family in l7l5. This col
lection. which extends from the regin Of From
co.'s /, 20 that Of Louis XIV, contains 25,00O
letters relating TO the administration OF the
provinces of Guienne and Normandy, of which
The Matirnons were for 4 long period Govern
ors. The collection is not however, complete,
for in 1888 The Compile de Bethune carried of
from the Chateau de Thorigny in Normandy,
the principal residence Of the Matignons, three
boxes of letters, which be afterwards sold 10
Louis XIV, and which are now in the national
Library, where they form a part OF what is
known ms the "fouds Bethnne." The cores
pondence. mutilaied as it has been, is still
very interesting, containing, as 1t does, hun
dreds of letters from FRANCOIS l and IL Henri
III and ", Caiharine de Medicis, Louis XIII,
Richelieu, Mazarin, CASTOR d'Orleans, the
Grand Condo, Anne Of Austria, Louvois, Col
bert, Montague aud ST. Simon, besides nearly
a thousand seals Of the different abbeys aud
communities which were in feudal relations
with the counts of Bethel, among them the
nuqueniionably authentic seal of the Sieur de
Joiuyille himself.
have said that Tie Maltignou collection
comprises a great MANY letters written by
Henri " afl there are no fewer than 50 from
him when King Of Navarro, les written after
he had become Nug Of France. There is one
written the night after The battle of Coutras,
which is most touching in It's anxiety 10 dis
claim responsibility foT The generous blood
that had been shed that day, and it may be ad-
,lcd that most of u,cse letters were written TO
the Due dc Maiiguun, who was then Governor
Of Guienue. Tho Mahgnon Archives contain
also "A full account of the claim put forward by
This family 90 tie succession OF the principally
Of Neufchatel, in Switzerland, as heirs of the
Longuevilles but like the Duchess de Ne
nOurs, and other French claimants, they were
put ont Of court by tine King Of Prussia, who
won the suit, whence the French saying,
'7rdraller Po,1' 4 Roi &c Py'usse" All this
and much more Of great historical interest is
IL the MatigHou Archives which,
caue into the possession Of the Princes of
Monaco when, at the beginning of the eight
zenith century, Anthony !, having only daugh
iers ly his marriage with Princess Mary of
lorraine, married the eldest oil. them 10
Jacques Leonor dc Goyon- Matignun, who
brought to the Grimaldis the titles of Comte
lie Thorigny, Baron dc st. 10, Baron de Ia
Luthuniere and Duc d'Estouteville.
About . century ago the hereditary Prince
IF Monaco, afterwards HOnore ", married the
leiress of the last Due de Mazarin and the d.
-ect descendant Of the famous Cardinal, who,
twill be remembered, in uniting his neice,
Iortense Mancini, to the son Of the Due de la
got the cOuntship Of Rethel con-
7erted into the Duchy of Mazarin, will sue
'essiou in the female line. Armand Charles
10 Ia Porte, Due de Mazarin ct de la Meiller-
ay, had inherited from his mother, daughter
# Marshad d'Effiat, the Marquisate of Chiefly,
he countship Of Longjumeau. and the Barony
# Massey; and at the death of Mazarin he was
with the Duchy Of Mayenne, which
lad been conferred upon the Cardinal, with
uccession in the female line, in 1866. The
husband Of Hortense Mancini also Inherited a
lumber of lordships in Alsace. which had been
Conferred on the Cardinal after the treaty of
and all these titles were Transmits
ed through the daughter of the last Due de !
iazarin (who died IN lT3s) to her daughter |
y her marriage with the Due de Duras, and nv |
lie latter in turn to her daughter by her mar |
iage with the the sixth and last Due dan
lont. 1t is curious that the Due de Mazarip. |
be Due de Duras, the Due d'Aunont should |
ach have had only one child, and that a |
augbter. However that may be. Lonise Fe- |
cite Nictoire d'Aumont brought all the titles |
her house to the Grimaldis, and with them |
he archives, which had suffered but little dur |
lg the Revolution. They contain great |
iany documents of retrospective interest. |
mong others, a full inventory Of Cardinal |
lazarin's property taken, Immediately after
is DEATH H#.t |
The third section is called Lies Arcives Sc
retes du Palais de Monaco"-not that there
anything secret about them, and they might
lore correctly be denominated the "sectarial"
rchlves. These relate exclusively to the
lstory OF Monaco and to the personal affairs
the Gnmaldis before their alliances with the
atIguons and the Mazarins, and they are
,nialned in seventy-two drawers. NJ. Saige,
no was for many years librarian of the ma
onal archives In Paris, and who is a man of
-eat erudltlon, took in hand the classification
these documents for the reigning Prince, land
found that the Monaco papers, which had
,ver lett the palace, and had not been much
iected by tue revolutionary movements in
e prlnclpality were all upside down. He
If, however, gradually evolved order out of
,aos, ana among the interesting documents
men he has brought to light are seventy
ur letters, many OF them autograph, written
the Emperor Charles V, to the Prince of /
onaco' notable among these being one writ +
lhe DAY alter the battle Of Pavis, to thank !
m for his services. For the Princes of Mon ,
o were alternately the allies of France and :
e Empire at this period, though-as NJ.
age VINO is writing treatise on the subject (
the Spanish protectorate of Monaco in the =
,teenth century, ard to whose courtesy 1 am
1ebted for a sight of the archives and of :
elr contents, proves very clearly---their alb !
lule sovereignty was expressly acknowl- 1
ged on both sides. Louis XII refers IN Tho
ince as ne Tolerant que dc Dieu." and
aries V speaks of Augustine, Bis6op of
ass, who succeeded his brother Lucian upon !
latter's assassination by Doria, as "Rer- :,
.'aiSSnlo et cgrcgio preSui Augustine dc 4
iDldldi, domino Monaco, AMIGO Il ooaoisnf. =
ro." This precludes any idea of yassal u :,
}, and there is mass of other written evil d
Ice Which shows, irrespective of the treaty .
1910; that the Prince of Monaco is as much
ster by right in bis small dominion as the
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