County of Burgundy

The Free County of Burgundy (Franche Comté de Bourgogne; Freigrafschaft Burgund) was a medieval feudal state ruled by a count from 982 to 1678. It was also known as Franche-Comté, from franc comte meaning 'free count', and was located in the modern region of Franche-Comté. It bordered the Duchy of Burgundy to the west, which was part of France from 843. The territory had previously been part of the kingdom of Upper Burgundy (888-933). The county was formed in 982 by Otto-William for the lands he held in the Kingdom of Arles (outside the duchy's borders). In 1032 the Kingdom of Arles was inherited by Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor, who incorporated the County of Burgundy into the Holy Roman Empire (HRE). The county briefly gained independence in the 12th century, before being re-incorporated into the empire by Frederick Barbarossa. As a state of the HRE, the county was granted a high degree of autonomy. The largest city, Besançon, was granted the status of free imperial city. The rest of the county was given imperial immediacy (making it an imperial county) and its rulers were given the title of Freigraf, from which the French and English names of the county are derived. From 1295 the county began to fall under the increasing influence of France and the House of Burgundy, who ruled the duchy. From 1330-61 and again from 1405-1477, there was a personal union between the county (part of the HRE) and the adjacent duchy (part of France). In 1493 the county was transferred to Habsburg Spain, who ruled it until it was conquered by France in 1674. French rule was made permanent by the Treaties of Nijmegen in 1678. The area previously formed part of the Kingdom of the Burgundians, which had been annexed by the Franks in 534 and incorporated into the Kingdom of the Franks. The Empire was partitioned in 843 by the Treaty of Verdun, with the area west of the Saône river being allotted to West Francia as the French Duchy of Burgundy, while the southern and eastern parts of the former Burgundian kingdom fell to Middle Francia under Emperor Lothair I.

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Related concepts (15)

Duchy of Burgundy

The Duchy of Burgundy (ˈbɜrgəndi; Ducatus Burgundiae; Duché de Bourgogne, Hertogdom Bourgondië) emerged in the 9th century as one of the successors of the ancient Kingdom of the Burgundians, which after its conquest in 532 had formed a constituent part of the Frankish Empire. Upon the 9th-century partitions, the French remnants of the Burgundian kingdom were reduced to a ducal rank by King Robert II of France in 1004. Robert II's son and heir, King Henry I of France, inherited the duchy but ceded it to his younger brother Robert in 1032.

County of Burgundy

Late Middle Ages

The Late Middle Ages, late medieval period, or Lower Middle Ages was the period of European history lasting from AD 1350 to 1500. The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period (and in much of Europe, the Renaissance). Around 1350, centuries of prosperity and growth in Europe came to a halt. A series of famines and plagues, including the Great Famine of 1315–1317 and the Black Death, reduced the population to around half of what it had been before the calamities.