Levens - History

History

• Before the Christian era, the first inhabitants mentioned in history are called the Lépontiens, one of the numerous Ligurian tribes. The name Léponti became Leventi under the Romans, then Leventio in the Middle Ages, Levenzo during the Italian era, to become the current Levens.
• Romans chose the Prés (meadow) quarter, one of the most beautiful in the district, when they set up houses and founded the town. They constructed a cobbled mule track going from Cimiez to Saint-Martin-Lantosque crossing through Levens.
• In 407, Leventi suffered badly from the invasion of the County of Nice by a 200,000-strong army of Vandals.
• The present village is constructed around the old feudal castle erected by the counts of Provence after the collapse of the Roman Empire.
• At the end of the 14th century, the destiny of Levens was linked to the whole County of Nice, which parted with Provence to form an alliance with Savoy on the initiative of the powerful John All Saints' Day, baron of Beuil, whose eldest son later became lord of Levens. The dedication act was signed on 28 September 1388, in front of the Saint-Pons monastery.
• A plague epidemic in 1467 devastated much of the county's population.
• On 8 January 1475, Louis Grimaldi, lord of Levens and descendant of John, allowed the inhabitants a 'liberty charter', conferring on them the right to vote for their own councilmen, and getting rid of the annual "cut" (local tax) of 40 gold florins to be paid to Grimaldi on All Saints' Day.
• John II Grimaldi, inducted into the fiefdom of Levens on 15 May 1543, took an oath of fealty to the Duke of Savoy Emmanuel Philibert, only to immediately betray him and fight with the Franco-Turkish troops during the siege of Nice. Convicted of treason, John II was condemned to banishment and seizure of his goods. By an act dated 22 October 1550, the inhabitants of Leventio purchased directly from their Savoyard overlord the flour mills and deficis (olive oil mills) for 1,200 gold Italian crowns. However, after a 14-year period of roaming and making amends, John II's title deeds were restored to him on 8 December 1557, provoking anger among the inhabitants and making the Grimaldi family unpopular for a while.
• The parish church received imposing alteration works between 1610 and 1615.
• Annibal Grimaldi, Count of Beuil and governor of County of Nice, maintained political relations with his French neighbours and was in favor of giving the county to France. The Duke of Savoy Charles Emmanuel then revoked Annibal's command and ordered him and his son André to follow the Duke to the Turin court. When they instead returned to their lands, Charles-Emmanuel considered them rebels. As they were not supported by Louis XIII, the king of France who had just married his sister Christine to Charles-Emmanuel's son Victor Amédée, Annibal Grimaldi and his son were convicted of lese-majesté, rebellion and perfidy, and were sentenced to death in absentia, following a series of protracted proceedings. The Count of Beuil shut himself up in his castle of Tourettes-Revest, which was immediately besieged by Savoyard troops. He was strangled to death on 9 January 1621.
• At the time of these incidents between the overlord and his vassal, the lord of Levens was César Grimaldi. The inhabitants still remembered the return of John II, and the youth were not quick to forget that the Count of Beuil had written an act forbidding any public festivities without permission of the lord. When hearing of Annibal's end, César and his family fled to Cabris; the Levensans promptly sacked the castle, placed a boutàu (a stone for jumping over) and danced the farandole around and over it, screaming: "We jump over the Grimaldis' belly!" The day after, the Duke of Savoy favourably accepted a letter from the Levensans, affirming their devotion to Savoy. In return, Charles-Emmanuel granted a charter of liberty to Levens which became comtesse d'elle-même (self-ruling). On 16 October 1622, the order was given to destroy the battlements surrounding the castle.
• During the dark years of the Revolutionary period, Levens, along with the whole County, suffered many violent acts of the French occupying army and the Barbet counter-revolutionary movement. On 29 September 1792, General d'Anselme entered the city of Nice. On 17 October 1792, the 1,150 soldiers commanded by Brigadier Paul de Barral seized Levens, then marched toward Duranus and Lantosque. The future Marshal of France André Masséna, born in Nice and brought up in the Siga and Serret family houses in Levens itself, was part of this occupying troop.