FRANCHE-COMTE

franche-comte, a province of france from 1674 to the revolution. it was bounded on the e. by switzerland, on the s. by bresse and bugey, on the n. by lorraine, and on the w. by the duchy of burgundy and by bassigny, embracing to the e. of the jura the valley of the saone and most of that of the doubs. under the romans it corresponded to _maxima sequanorum_, and after having formed part of the kingdom of burgundy was in the early part of the middle ages split up into the four countships of portois, varais, amons and escuens. in the 10th century these four countships were united to form a whole, which came to be called the countship of burgundy, and belonged at that time to the family of the counts of macon. the limits of the countship were definitely settled under otto william, son of albert or adalbert, king of italy (+1027), who on the death of his father-in-law, henry (1002), tried to seize the duchy of burgundy, but without success. the countship, which formed a fief dependent on the kingdom of burgundy, passed to renaud i., the second son of otto william. when the kingdom of burgundy was joined to the germanic empire, he refused to pay homage to the emperor henry iii., whose suzerainty over him never existed except in theory. william i., surnamed the great or headstrong (1059-1087), still further added to the power of his house by marrying etiennette, heiress of the count of vienne, and by acquiring from his cousin guy, when the latter became a monk at cluny, the countship of macon. one of his sons, guy, became pope, under the name of calixtus ii. his grandson, renaud iii. (1097-1148), in his turn refused to pay homage to the emperor lothair, who retaliated by confiscating his dominions and giving them to conrad of zaehringen. renaud, however, succeeded in maintaining until his death his possession of the countships of burgundy, vienne and macon. he left as sole heiress a daughter, beatrix, whom his brother william iii. imprisoned, in order to make an attempt on her inheritance; she was set free, however, by the emperor frederick barbarossa, who married her in 1156. on the death of beatrix (1185) the countship of burgundy passed to otto i. (1190-1200), the youngest but one of her sons, who had to dispute its possession with stephen, count of auxonne, the grandson of william iii. beatrix, the daughter and heiress of otto i. (1200-1231), married otto, duke of meran (+1234), under whose government the inhabitants of besancon, which had been since the time of frederick barbarossa an imperial city, formed themselves definitely into a _commune_. alix, daughter of beatrix and of otto of meran, and heiress to the countship of burgundy, married hugh of chalon, son of john the ancient or the wise (d. 1248), and a descendant of william iii. and consequently of william the headstrong, thus bringing the countship back into the family of its former lords. his son otto iv. (1279-1303) engaged in war against the bishop of basel, and the german king rudolph i., who supported the latter, entered franche-comte and besieged besancon, but without success (1289). otto, in fulfilment of the treaties of ervennes and vincennes (1291-1295) gave jeanne, his daughter by mahaut of artois, in marriage to philip, count of poitiers, son of philip the fair. the latter took over the administration of the countship in spite of strong opposition from the nobles of the country, but their leader, john of chalon-arlay, was compelled to make his submission. another of otto's daughters married charles iv., the handsome, and both princesses, together with their sister-in-law margaret of burgundy, were concerned in the celebrated trial of the tour de nesle. jeanne, however, continued to govern her countship when philip her husband became king of france (philip v., "the long"). jeanne, their daughter and heiress, married odo