Legend has it that in 1297 under the guidance of a soothsayer known as Dracosia (a mystic from Genoa) who practiced Stregheris, sometimes referred to as "La Vecchia Religione" (meaning the Old Religion), who had advised François Grimaldi to disguise himself as a monk in order to gain entrance to the Ghibellines fortress, foretelling that this would insure his victory.
François Grimaldi (died 1309), called il Malizia ("the Cunning"), first ruler of Monaco and son of the Guelf Guglielmo Grimaldi
Francesco Grimaldi (François, in French) called il Malizia ("the Cunning"), was the Genoese leader of the Guelphs who captured the Rock of Monaco on the night of 8 January 1297.
François Mitterrand | François Truffaut | Claude François | François Villon | François Rabelais | François Hollande | House of Grimaldi | Jean-François Lyotard | Grimaldi | Jean-François Millet | François-René de Chateaubriand | François Boucher | François Fénelon | François Tombalbaye | François de La Rochefoucauld (writer) | Charles François Dumouriez | François Mauriac | Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse | Jean-François Champollion | François Viète | François Ozon | François Bozizé | Louis-François Richer Laflèche | Joseph François Dupleix | Jean-François Marmontel | François-René de La Tour du Pin, Chambly de La Charce | François Denhaut | François-André Danican Philidor | Michel François | Marie François Sadi Carnot |
Francois Grimaldi who was set on the conquest of Monaco's Castle (Prince's Palace of Monaco) which was the stronghold of the Ghibellines, was advised by the Church to take a more passive approach, but had decided to go another route.