Otto Canella (born in the middle of the 11th century, died in 1143) was

Consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throu ...

of the

Republic of Genoa The Republic of Genoa ( lij, Repúbrica de Zêna ; it, Repubblica di Genova; la, Res Publica Ianuensis) was a medieval and early modern maritime republic from the 11th century to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italian coast. During the La ...

in 1133, and an ancestor of the House of Grimaldi, the family that currently rules

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

. According to the 19th-century historian Gustave Saige, Canella's eldest son, Bellamuto, was also a Consul of Genoa, even nine years before Canella himself achieved the position. The Princely Family of Monaco take their name, Grimaldi, from his youngest son Grimaldo. Grimaldo became a Consul of Genoa in 1162. Anne Edwards writes: "They were an ambitious tribe, greedy for power within Genoa, always with an eye toward their own enrichment. The family, who were

Ghibellines The Guelphs and Ghibellines (, , ; it, guelfi e ghibellini ) were factions supporting the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor, respectively, in the Italian city-states of Central Italy and Northern Italy. During the 12th and 13th centuries, ri ...

in the long struggle between the popes (Guelfs) and the emperors (Ghibellines), were pitted against the Doria and Spinola families on the Guelf side."

References

1070s births 1143 deaths 11th-century Genoese people 12th-century Genoese people House of Grimaldi 11th-century Italian nobility 12th-century Italian nobility {{Monaco-bio-stub