Franche-Comté (, ; ; Frainc-Comtou: ''Fraintche-Comtè''; frp, Franche-Comtât; also german: Freigrafschaft; es, Franco Condado; all ) is a cultural and

historical region Historical regions (or historical areas) are geographical regions which at some point in time had a cultural, ethnic, linguistic or political basis, regardless of latterday borders. They are used as delimitations for studying and analysing soc ...

of eastern France. It is composed of the modern departments of

Doubs Doubs (, ; ; frp, Dubs) is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in Eastern France. Named after the river Doubs, it had a population of 543,974 in 2019.Jura,

Haute-Saône Haute-Saône (; Arpitan: ''Hiôta-Sona''; English: Upper Saône) is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of northeastern France. Named after the river Saône, it had a population of 235,313 in 2019.Territoire de Belfort The Territoire de Belfort () is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region, eastern France. It had a population of 141,318 in 2019.French administrative region. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region

Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Bourgogne-Franche-Comté (; , sometimes abbreviated BFC; Arpitan: ''Borgogne-Franche-Comtât'') is a region in Eastern France created by the 2014 territorial reform of French regions, from a merger of Burgundy and Franche-Comté. The new region ...

. The region is named after the ' (

Free County of Burgundy The Free County of Burgundy or Franche-Comté (french: Franche Comté de Bourgogne; german: Freigrafschaft Burgund) was a medieval county (from 982 to 1678) of the Holy Roman Empire, predecessor to the modern region of Franche-Comté. The name ' ...

), definitively separated from the region of Burgundy proper in the fifteenth century. In 2016, these two-halves of the historic

Kingdom of Burgundy Kingdom of Burgundy was a name given to various states located in Western Europe during the Middle Ages. The historical Burgundy correlates with the border area of France, Italy and Switzerland and includes the major modern cities of Geneva and ...

were reunited, as the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. It is also the 6th biggest region in France. The name "Franche-Comté" is feminine because the word "comté" in the past was generally feminine, although today it is masculine. The principal cities are the capital

Besançon Besançon (, , , ; archaic german: Bisanz; la, Vesontio) is the prefecture of the department of Doubs in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The city is located in Eastern France, close to the Jura Mountains and the border with Switzer ...

Belfort Belfort (; archaic german: Beffert/Beffort) is a city in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in Northeastern France, situated between Lyon and Strasbourg, approximately from the France–Switzerland border. It is the prefecture of the Terri ...

and

Montbéliard Montbéliard (; traditional ) is a town in the Doubs department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France, about from the border with Switzerland. It is one of the two subprefectures of the department. History Montbéliard is ...

. Other important cities are

Dole Dole may refer to: Places * Dole, Ceredigion, Wales * Dole, Idrija, Slovenia * Dole, Jura, France ** Arrondissement of Dole * Dole (Kladanj), a village at the entity line of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina-Republika Srpska * Dole, Ljubušk ...

(the capital before the region was conquered by

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Ver ...

in the late seventeenth century), Vesoul (capital of Haute-Saône), Arbois (the "wine capital" of the Jura), and Lons-le-Saunier (the capital of Jura).

History

The region has been inhabited since the Paleolithic age and was occupied by the Gauls. It was then heavily settled by Germanic peoples during the Germanic migrations, most notably the Burgundians, who settled in the region after the Gauls had vacated the area. Later, it was part of the territory of the Alemanni in the fifth century, then the

from 457 to 534. The Burgundians adopted Orthodox Christianity, Christianization, Christianizing the region. In 534, it became part of the Franks, 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.

County of Burgundy

The name ' or ''Freigrafschaft Burgund'' in German (

) did not appear officially 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 the Kingdom of France in 1477. That year at the Battle of Nancy during the Burgundian Wars, the last duke, Charles the Bold, was killed in battle. Although the county, along with the Duchy, was seized by King Louis XI of France, in 1492 his son Charles VIII of France, Charles VIII ceded it to Philip I of Castile, Philip of Austria, the grandson and heir of Charles the Bold. When Philip's son, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor Charles V, inherited the Spanish throne in 1516, the Franche-Comté, along with the rest of the Burgundian lands, passed to the Spanish.

Province of the Kingdom of France

Franche-Comté was captured by France in 1668, but returned to Spain under the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1668), Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. It was conquered a second time in 1674, and finally was ceded to France in the Treaty of Nijmegen (1678). Enclaves such as

remained outside French control. The Franche-Comté was one of the last parts of France to have serfdom. In 1784, half of the population consisted of serfs, accounting for 400,000 out of the 1 million French serfs. Landowners took one-twelfth of the sale's price if a serf (''mainmortable'') wanted to sell up. Serfs were not forced to stay on the land, but the lord could claim ''droit de suite'', whereby a peasant who died away from his holding left it to the lord, even if he had heirs. A runaway serf's land was forfeit after ten years. Louis XVI issued a decree banning these practices on 8 August 1779, but the Parlement of Besançon blocked this until 1787.

After 1790

The population of the region 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

Environment

This region borders Switzerland and shares much of its architecture, cuisine, and culture with its neighbour. Between the Vosges range of mountains to the north and the Jura range to the south, the landscape consists of rolling cultivated fields, dense pine forest, and rampart-like mountains. Not so majestic as the Alps, the Jura mountains are more accessible and are France's first cross-country skiing area. It is also a superb place to hike, and there are some fine nature trails on the more gentle slopes. The Doubs and Loue valleys, with their timbered houses perched on stilts in the river, and the high valley of Ain, are popular visitor areas. The ' is a land of gorges and waterfalls dotted with tiny villages, each with a domed belfry decorated with mosaic of tiles or slates or beaten from metal. The lakes are perfect for swimming in the warmer months. The summits of Haut Jura have wonderful views across (Lake Geneva) and toward the Alps. Forty percent of the region's GDP is dependent on manufacturing activities, and most of its production is exported. Construction of automobiles and their parts is one of the most buoyant industries there. Forestry exploitation is steadily growing, and 38% of the agriculture is dairy and 17% cattle farming. The region has a large and lucrative cheese-making industry, with 40 million tonnes of cheese produced here each year, much of which is made by ''fruitières'' (traditional cheese dairies of Franche-Comté); for instance, Comté cheese comes from this region. File:Cret Pela.jpg, Landscape, Franche-Comté File:Besancon2m.jpg,

File:La Petite Montagne vue du Molard de la Justice, Jura, France.jpg, , a view from File:Broissia.JPG, View of Broissia, a Communes of France, commune in the Jura Departments of France, department

Geology

* Vosges and Jura coal mining basins

Principal cities

Besancon boucle Doubs.jpg,

Chateau Montbeliard 3.jpg,

LionBelfortEtChateau.jpg,

Dole 104.jpg, Dole (Jura), Dole Place du Palais, Vesoul.jpg, Vesoul Rue des arcades.jpg, Lons-le-Saunier

Language

Among the regional languages of France, the term ''Frainc-Comtou dialect, Franc-comtois'' refers to two dialects of two different languages. Franc-comtois is the name of the dialect of Langue d'Oïl spoken by people in the northern part of the region. The dialect of Franco-Provençal language, Arpitan has been spoken in its southern part since as early as the thirteenth century (the southern two-thirds of Jura and the southern third of

Doubs Doubs (, ; ; frp, Dubs) is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in Eastern France. Named after the river Doubs, it had a population of 543,974 in 2019.Franche-Comté : land of contrasts
- Official French website (in English)
Conseil régional de Franche-Comté
Official website
Franche-Comté directory search engine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Franche-Comte Franche-Comté, NUTS 2 statistical regions of the European Union Former regions of France