Profiting by the break-up of the Carolingian dynasty, in 880, Boso, whose sister was married to Charles the Bald, seized on that part of Burgundy which is on this side the Jura, and along with Provence constituted a kingdom, with himself at its head.
In 889 the devastations committed by the Saracens extended along the coast, and one town after another was sacked and burnt by them. These ravages continued till 973, when William, Count of Provence, and Gibelin Grimaldi freed the land from this plague. The Saracens had a fortress at Saint Hospice, a curious spur which strikes out from the peninsula of Cap Ferrat, whence they had harassed the neighbourhood of Nice, but had been unable to storm the fortified town on the rock.
Grimaldi destroyed the Saracen citadel, and left of it nothing standing save the tower that remains to this day. The captured Saracens were quartered in a portion of Nice still called lou canton dei Sarraïns, and were employed by him in strengthening or rebuilding the walls of the town.
To the Saracens are attributed the subterranean magazines, or silos, that are found at S. Hospice, S. Jean, Trinité-Victor, and elsewhere, to contain the plunder they acquired in their marauding expeditions. These are vaulted over, and are still in some instances used as cisterns or store places; but the evidence that they were the work of the Moors is inconclusive.
Among those who assisted the Count of Provence against the Saracens was one Bertrand de Balbs, and in reward for his services he was given in fief the barony of Beuil, a vast territory stretching from the Estéron to the Alps, and comprising twenty-two towns and townlets. His descendants kept the barony till 1315, when William de Balbs made himself so odious to his vassals by his tyranny that they murdered him. A brother of the Grimaldi of Monaco had married the only daughter of William de Balbs, and as there was no son the fief passed to him, and he became the founder of the family of Grimaldi of Beuil. The barony remained in the Grimaldi family till 1621, when it was united to the county of Nice.
They ran, however, a chance of losing it in 1508.
Towards the close of 1507, George Grimaldi, Baron of Beuil, his son John, Augustine Grimaldi, Bishop of Grasse, and Nicolas Grimaldi, seigneur of Antibes, formed a plot to deliver over the county of Nice to Louis XII. The Duke of Savoy was warned, and he summoned George and his son to appear before him. They replied with insolence and defied him, relying on French support. But at that moment Louis XII. and the Duke of Savoy had arranged their little quarrel, and when John Grimaldi asked for aid from the Governor of Provence, he was refused. Meantime the garrison of Nice marched against Beuil. The castle, built on a height and surrounded by strong walls, could have stood a long siege, when a tragic event put an end to the struggle. The Baron de Beuil was murdered by his valet, who cut his throat whilst shaving him.
The Duke of Savoy outlawed John, the son, and gave the barony to Honoré Grimaldi, brother of George, who had steadily refused to be drawn into the conspiracy.
But to return to Nice.