Margraviate of Montferrat
| Margraviate of Montferrat | ||||||||||
| Marchesato del Monferrato | ||||||||||
| March of the Kingdom of Italy State of the Holy Roman Empire |
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 Flag of Montferrat
 Coat of arms
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 The March of Montferrat (blue) in 1494
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| Capital |
Casale Monferrato 45°08′N 08°27′E / 45.133°N 8.450°ECoordinates: 45°08′N 08°27′E / 45.133°N 8.450°E (from 1305) |
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| Languages | Italian | |||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | |||||||||
| Marquess | ||||||||||
| • | 961–967 | Aleramo (first) | ||||||||
| • | 1550–1574 | William X (last) | ||||||||
| History | ||||||||||
| • | Established | 961 | ||||||||
| • | End of Aleramici rule | 1305 | ||||||||
| • | Inherited by the House of Gonzaga |
1536 | ||||||||
| • | Raised to Duchy of Montferrat |
1574 | ||||||||
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The March (also margraviate or marquisate) of Montferrat was a frontier march of the Kingdom of Italy during the Middle Ages and a state of the Holy Roman Empire. The margraviate was raised to become the Duchy of Montferrat in 1574.
Originally part of the March of Western Liguria (Marca Liguriae Occidentalis) established by King Berengar II about 950, the area of Montferrat was constituted as the marca Aleramica ("Aleramic march") for his son-in-law Aleramo. The earliest secure documentation of Aleramo and his immediate family is derived from the founding charter of the Abbey of Grazzano in 961. occasioned by the recent death of Aleramo's son Gugliemo.
After King Otto I of Germany had invaded Italy in 961 and displaced Berengar II, he began, in a manner much like his predecessors Berengar and Hugh of Arles, to redefine the great fiefs of Italy. He reorganised the northwest into three great marches. Western Liguria he restored to Aleramo, Eastern Liguria or the marca Januensis he gave to Oberto I, and Turin he made a march for Arduin Glaber.
Aleram's descendants were relatively obscure until the time of Marquess Rainier in the early twelfth century. About 1133 Rainier's son Marquess William V married Judith of Babenberg, a half-sister of King Conrad III of Germany, and so greatly increased his family's prestige. He entered into the Italian policies of Conrad and the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos, setting a Ghibelline precedent for his successors, and with his sons became involved in the Crusades.
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Wikipedia