Free County of Burgundy

The Free County of Burgundy, better known as Franche-Comté, was a feudal polity between the Saône and the Jura that took shape around 982. Its founder, Otto-William, acquired lands around Besançon and Dole through his wife Ermentrude, and the county was soon drawn into the Kingdom of Burgundy and then, from 1032, into the Holy Roman Empire. As an imperial county it enjoyed wide autonomy: Besançon became a free imperial city, while the counts took the title of free count. From the late thirteenth century the county fell increasingly under French and Burgundian influence, and from 1330 to 1361 and again from 1405 to 1477 it was held in personal union with the Duchy of Burgundy. Dole became the seat of its council and parlement. After the death of Charles the Bold the county passed to the Habsburgs in 1493 and was governed as part of the Burgundian Circle. French armies conquered it in 1674, and the Treaties of Nijmegen made the annexation permanent in 1678. Its territory later formed the French region of Franche-Comté.