The fiefdom of Castrum Sepulchri is mentioned in a document from 954, concerning the donation of this territory by Count Guidone of Ventimiglia to the Cistercian Fathers of Lerino, of a territory of about 14 km2 bordering San Remo to the north (Republic of Genoa) and Perinaldo to the south (Kingdom of Savoy), Ospedaletti to the east and Vallebona to the west (Republic of Genoa), as well as the chaplaincy of San Michele in Ventimiglia (today the church of San Michele in the Ventimiglia-Sanremo diocese).
This document, considered apocryphal, probably because the original had been lost, was redrafted in 1304 by Father Sicard (source: municipal administration of Seborga dating back to 1963) with the information in his possession and contained in the original document; but this redrafting was considered authentic until 1757, the year in which Turin archivists (not surprisingly…) made its falsity clear.
The only document that has never been contested and is considered original from 1177, which has survived to the present day, concerning a dispute between the monks of Lerino and the Counts of Ventimiglia over the boundaries of the corresponding properties between Vallebona and Seborga, confirms the existence of the Ancient Abbey Principality of Seborga.
The territory of Sabourg, following the act of donation in 954 A.D., continued to depend administratively on the Abbey of Lerino, located in the county of Provence, which, after having belonged to the Angevins of Naples, was annexed to the Kingdom of France in 1481.
In 1261, the Prior of the Ventimiglia church of San Michele, Giacomo Costa, drew up the Statutes and Regulations of the Principality on the authority of the Abbot of Lerino.
The Provençal monks derived little profit from the rents of the estate and were often forced to borrow money to alleviate the miserable lives of their subjects.
In December 1666, Prince-Abate Monsignor Cesare Barcillon, in order to obtain substantial income, opened a money workshop on the floor below the Abbey Palace, located in Piazza San Martino in Seborga: the first mintmaster was Bernardo Bareste of Mougins. Several mints were struck and the activity lasted until October 1689. The Luigini, however, contained a low silver content and were therefore not appreciated even in the East, also due to competition from other mints, such as that of the county of Tassarolo.
After five years of minting, King Louis XIV of France ordered its closure.
The princely rank and minting rights were prerogatives of the Holy Roman Emperor and the Pope, who could extend them to their vicars. In the case of Seborga, it is assumed that the source was not imperial, because, apart from the fact that there is no document proving it, the possessions of the county of Provence, which had become extinct, passed to the Kingdom of France, absolutely independent of the Empire.
Its origin, therefore, had to be exclusively papal: each Abbot could attribute (and attribute to himself), with Papal Authorisation, noble titles. And this the Abbots of Lerino did, naming themselves “Princes” and assigning their aristocratic predicate to the Sabourg territory, as deputies of the Holy See’s authority over the Monastery. The latter, as Prince-Abbot, did not depend on the secular clergy but only on the Pope (“nullius diocesis”): he directed the parishes in the territory and appointed the provost of Seborga.
The Prince-Abate did not frequently stay in Seborga and this absence was bad for the inhabitants of the villages within the territories of the Principality of Sabourg. He appointed a Vicar, called the Podestà, whose office lasted from six months to three years and could be re-elected. Assisted by two Mayors and two Consuls, he administered the fief, under the careful supervision of the absent Abbot, to whom he had to present continuous reports on his public activities.
The Prince-Abbot occasionally paid a visit and stayed in the abbey palace: he was entitled to the treatment of “His Most Reverend Lordship”, his office was ad vitam, as required by the rules of the Cistercian Order, whereby each Abbot is elected for life.
The monks, however, tired of this delegated administration that yielded little because of the debts incurred, first with the Genoese in 1584, with a contract drawn up by the Notary Nicolo’ Vigano, then with other monasteries and a French nobleman, decided to sell the Principality. The first sale was to the Republic of Genoa as a result of the debt contracted earlier, then to the Duke of Savoy Vittorio Amedeo in 1697, both of which were annulled by the Supreme Pontiff, and finally the alienation took place on 30 January 1729 in favour of the King of Sardinia, Vittorio Amedeo II of Savoy, who wanted to get closer and closer to the coveted sea.
The Savoy family, not wishing to give up the longed-for strategic territory, persuaded the Abbot of Lerino to convene the congregation of the fathers of Lerino on 11 December 1728 and confirm the longed-for alienation to the King of the House of Savoy, so that the sale could be made in Paris on 30 January 1729.
In an exchange of communications of 12 January 1729, between the Advocate Lea and the Archbishop Prince of Embrun, Monsignor Pierre Guerin de Tencin, Apostolic Commissioner and delegate of the Pope for the approval of the sale, which among other things mentions the already attempted sale of 1697, a missive of Pope Benedict XIII of 13 October 1728 (Nostra Apostolica Petitum) was mentioned, which authorised the sale on condition that the debts burdening the Pricipality were paid. This letter reads verbatim (source: Archivio di Stato di Torino): ” …in exstravaganti ambitiosa contrabona Eccelsia alienantes statutis…”.
The Archbishop and Prince of the Metropolitan City of Embrun, Pierre Guerin de Tencin was delegated by the Supreme Pontiff Benedict XIII to settle the dispute between the Republic of Genoa, which could count on the friendship of the Podestà of Sabourg, Monsignor Giuseppe Biancheri, and the Abbot of Lerino, who had been urged by the Savoy to alienate the Principality of Sabourg.
The Apostolic Commissioner carried out a meticulous investigation, which began in Paris and ended in Versailles on 8 July 1728. This document stipulated no less than 9 points to be respected. It is essential to emphasise that the final alienation required the authorisation of the Fathers of the Abbey of Montmajour of Arles, since in the original document of donation by Count Guidone, dating back to 954, in the event of attempted alienation by the Cistercian Fathers and Monks of the Island of Lerino, of the aforesaid territory of Seborga, including the Chaplaincy of Saint Michael in Ventimiglia, the bequest would have been transferred ex officio to the Fathers of Mont Majeur d’Arles.
So the delegate of the Supreme Pontiff, Archbishop and Prince of Embrun, appealed to the aforesaid Pards of Arles, who quantified the amount of compensation at 15,000 lire of Savoy currency.
The sale amount, which was set at 147,000 Liras of Savoy currency, had therefore to be reduced by the sum of 15,000 Liras of Savoy currency, set as compensation for the Montmajour Fathers of Arles. The remaining 132,000 lire of Savoy currency, according to the document viewable at the Turin Archives, drawn up by the delegate, Archbishop and Prince of the metropolitan city of Embrun, should have been paid to the Republic of Genoa to settle debts incurred as far back as 1584, with a receipt to be attached to the deed of alienation.
However, the Archbishop and Prince of the Metropolitan City of Embrun, delegated by the Supreme Pontiff Benedict XIII, authorised the sale there without further papal authorisation.
The contract of sale was drawn up by the lawyer Francesco Lea, in the presence of a representative of the late Prince Abbot Mitred Fauste de Balon, the Reverend Bursar of the Abbey of Lerino, Father Benoit de Benoit. The sum was fixed at 147,000 lire of Savoy currency. The sale was made in Paris in the presence of a notary who registered the effects.
A copy of this deed of sale to the Savoy is kept in the Turin State Archives (I).