county · France and the Low Countries

Free County of Burgundy

982 CE – 1678 CE (approx.) · capital Dole

Franche-Comté, the imperial county of Burgundy across the Saône, rich in salt and fiercely loyal to its Habsburg rulers until Louis XIV conquered it.

Origins

Otto-William, a grandson of Berengar of Italy, gathered the counties east of the Saône in the 980s and founded the comital house. The county lay in the Kingdom of Arles and so in the Holy Roman Empire, unlike the neighbouring Duchy of Burgundy, which was a French fief.

Rule and society

Salt springs at Salins and Lons-le-Saunier provided the county's wealth, and a parliament sat at Dole. Countess Beatrice married Frederick Barbarossa in 1156, tying the county to the Hohenstaufen. Through marriage it passed to Philip the Bold in 1384 and joined the Burgundian State, then went with Mary of Burgundy to the Habsburgs and the Spanish crown.

Decline and legacy

Louis XIV invaded in 1668 and again in 1674. The Treaty of Nijmegen in 1678 gave the county to the Kingdom of France, which moved its capital to Besançon. Its lasting name, Franche-Comté, recalls its separate past.

Connections (5)

More states of France and the Low Countries →

Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Free County of Burgundy. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/free-county-of-burgundy
MLA
“Free County of Burgundy.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/free-county-of-burgundy. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Free County of Burgundy.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/free-county-of-burgundy.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Free County of Burgundy’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/free-county-of-burgundy (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻