Franche-Comté

Franche-Comté or Free County of Burgundy, region and former province, E France. It is coextensive with Haute-Saône, Doubs, and Jura depts. Dôle was the capital until 1676; Besançon was the later capital and remains the chief city. Other important towns are Montbéliard, Lons-le-Saunier, and Saint-Claude. The Jura Mts. form the region's eastern border with Switzerland; the Vosges Mts. are in the north. The chief rivers are the Doubs and the upper Saône. Franche-Comté is largely an agricultural region and has a large dairy industry. Livestock is raised in the Jura district, where there are dense pine forests and extensive grazing lands. The Peugot automobile company has two factories there. Other manufactures include clocks, watches, machines, and plastics. The region was occupied by the Celtic tribe of the Sequani (4th cent. B.C.) and was conquered by Julius Caesar (52 B.C.). Overrun by the Burgundians (5th cent.), it was included in the First Kingdom of Burgundy and was annexed by the Franks in 534. The territory was united in the 9th cent. as the Free County of Burgundy, or Franche-Comté, a fief held from the kings of Transjurane Burgundy, who were later (933-1032) kings of Arles. Franche-Comté passed to the Holy Roman Empire in 1034; but the allegiance was tenuous, and for six and a half centuries Franche-Comté was perpetually invaded and contested by France, Germany, Burgundy, Switzerland, and Spain. Philip the Bold, duke of Burgundy, acquired Franche-Comté through his marriage to Margaret of Flanders in 1369. After the defeat and death of Charles the Bold (1477), the region passed to Archduke Maximilian of Austria (later Emperor Maximilian I), who in turn gave it to his son Philip I of Spain. Governed by native officials and its parlement at Dôle, Franche-Comté enjoyed relative autonomy under the Spanish crown. At the end of Charles V's reign (1556), Franche-Comté became a possession of the Spanish Hapsburgs. Although some of the region's fortified towns were occupied by France during the Wars of Religion (16th cent.), peace and prosperity continued until the Thirty Years War (1618-48), when the region was ravaged by both Catholics and Protestants. Louis XIV conquered Franche-Comté in 1668 and again in 1674 and finally obtained its cession from Spain. Although the parlement continued to function after its transfer to Besançon (1676), the provincial assembly was abolished, and Franche-Comté became an integral part of France.

Franche-Comté (Franc-Comtois: Fràntche-Comté; Franco-Provençal: Franche-Comtât) the former "Free County" of Burgundy, as distinct from the neighbouring Duchy, is an administrative region and a traditional province of eastern France. It is composed of the modern departments of Doubs, Jura, Haute-Saône and Territoire de Belfort and has a population (2006) of 1,146,000.

The principal cities are Besançon (a historical city and the modern era capital of the region), Belfort, and Montbéliard (Aire Urbaine Belfort-Montbéliard-Héricourt-Delle). Other important cities are Dole (capital before the region was conquered by Louis XIV in the late 17th century), Vesoul (capital of Haute-Saône), Arbois (the "wine capital" of the Jura), and Lons-le-Saunier (capital of Jura).

History

The region has been inhabited since the Paleolithic age and was occupied by the Gauls. Little touched by the Germanic migrations, it was part of the territory of the Alamanni in the 5th century, then the Kingdom of Burgundy from 457 to 534. It was Christianized through the influence of St. Columbanus, who founded several monasteries there. In 534, it became part of the Frankish kingdom. In 561 it was included in the Merovingian Kingdom of Burgundy, under Guntram, the third son of Clotaire I. In 613, Clotaire II reunited the Frankish Kingdom under his rule and the region remained a part of the Kingdom of Burgundy under the later Merovingians and Carolingians.

The name Franche-Comté (Free County of Burgundy, or literally "Free County"name="someone should cite such"

>>) did not officially appear until 1366. It had been a territory of the County of Burgundy from 888, the province becoming subject to the Holy Roman Empire in 1034. It was definitively separated from the neighboring Duchy of Burgundy upon the latter's incorporation into France in 1477. That year at the battle of Nancy during the Burgundian Wars the last duke Charles the Bold was killed in battle. It was transferred to Austria in 1481 and to Spain in 1556. Franche-Comté was captured by France in 1668 but returned under the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. It was conquered a second time in 1674, and was finally ceded to France in the Treaty of Nijmegen (1678).

The region's population fell by a fifth from 1851 to 1946, reflecting low French natural growth and migration to more urbanized parts of the country. Most of the decline occurred in Haute-Saône and Jura, which remain among the country's more agriculture-dependent areas. It is one of the 26 regions of France.

Language

Among the regional languages of France the term Franc-Comtois refers to two dialects of two different languages. Franc-Comtois is the name of both the dialect of Langue d'Oïl spoken by people in the northern part of the region and the dialect of Franco-Provençal language spoken in its southern part since as early as the 13th century (the southern two-thirds of Jura and the southern third of Doubs). Both languages are recognized as Languages of France.

Major communities

• Audincourt
• Belfort
• Besançon
• Dole
• Lons-le-Saunier
• Montbéliard
• Pontarlier
• Vesoul

Notes, links and references

External links

• Conseil régional de Franche-Comté Official website
• Franche-Comté directory search engine
• Franche-Comté travel guide

References

Footnotes