Montferrat (in Italian, Monferrato) is part of the province of Asti in Italy. Within the territory of Montferrat are located the most important centres of Italian wine and spumante production.
Montferrat was a marquisate in Lombardy during the Middle Ages. Its marquises and their family members were related to the Kings of France and the Holy Roman Emperors and frequently participated in the Crusades.
Marquis William III had three notable sons, two of whom succeeded him:
The marquisate passed into the Byzantine Palaeologus family in the 14th century. It then passed to Spain (1533-1536) and the Gonzaga family of Mantua (1536-1708). With the War of the Mantuan Succession (1628-1631) a piece of the marquisate passed to the Kingdom of Savoy, the remainder passing to Savoy in 1708, as Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor gained possession of Gonzaga territory.
Marquises
Aleramo dynasty
Palaeologan dynasty
Gonzaga dynasty
- Frederick II (1533-1540)
- Francis III (1540-1550)
- William Gonzaga (1550-1587)
- Vincent I (1587-1612)
- Francis IV (1612)
- Ferdinand (1612-26)
- Vincent II (1626-1627)
- Charles I (1627-1637), Duke of Nevers and Rethel
- Charles III (1637-1665), Duke of Nevers and Rethel until 1659
- Charles IV (1665-1708)
Montferrat is also the name of several communes in France:
