V. Carlovingian Period, 741-879. Under Charlemagne, the clergy rose to pre-eminent importance, and great privileges were accorded to religious foundations, &c.
VI. Feudal Period, 879-1038. Three hosts of invaders ravaged the
country, the Normans, the Germans, and the Huns. The kingdom of
Burgundy, including Franche-Comté, was incorporated with the German
Empire in the early part of the eleventh century.
VII. Sacerdotal Period, 1038-1148. A darker and more troublous time hardly appears in French history. The petty sovereigns of the different principalities into which Franche-Comté had been divided were engaged in perpetual struggles with their spiritual chiefs. Hugh, Archbishop of Besançon, ruled with kingly authority. Ten Cistercian Abbeys were founded. Land was cleared in the most solitary places for the purpose of building monasteries, notably at Morteau and Mouthe. Béatrix, heiress of Count Raimond III, was shut up in a tower by her uncle, and liberated by Frederic Barbarossa.
VIII. German Period, 1148-1248. Frederic Barbarossa having married
Béatrix, Franche-Comté became an appanage of the German Empire. The
Château of Dole was made the imperial residence and the seat of
Government. On the death of the Emperor and Béatrix, the heritage of
Franche-Comté was contested by Count Otho I. and Etienne d'Auxonne.
Successive wars between the rival families ravaged the country for many
years.
IX. Communal Period, 1248-1330. Jean de Châlons, to whom the heritage had accrued, granted charters of disenfranchisement to many towns, Salins, Ornans, and others. The Commune of Besançon was definitely founded, and it became an independent city, under the protectorate of the German Empire. Otho IV., Emperor of Germany, made over the country to Philippe le Bel, King of France, who, after five years, subdued the refractory Franc-Comtois, and greatly benefited the country by the introduction of French customs and forms of legislation. Jeanne, daughter of Philippe le Bel, peacefully governed the province for five years, and introduced the manufacture of cloth at Gray. In 1330, Franche-Comté fell to the share of the eldest daughter of Jeanne, married to the Duke of Burgundy.
X. Anglo-French Period, 1330-1384. After the treaty of Bretigny, the Grandes Compagniez ravaged Franche-Comté, but were driven back. The nobility entered into an alliance with England, the English King wishing to marry one of his sons with the heiress presumptive of Franche-Comté, great-grand-daughter of the Countess Jeanne. On the negotiations being broken off, the Comtois nobility waged war with England on the side of the French King. It was at this time that the title of Franche-Comté came into use, in order to distinguish the province from that of Burgundy.
XI. Ducal Period, 1381-1477. The Count-Dukes, being engaged in conflict with the clergy and rival nobility, sought the favour of the bourgeoisie by according privileges and titles of nobility. The Comté de Montbéliard passed as a dowry to the house of Würtemberg in 1397, and remained an appanage of that kingdom till the French Revolution. The power of the aristocracy was considerably diminished at this time, and feudalism broken down by the establishment of the Roman law.
XII. Austrian period, 1477-1556. On the death of Charles le Téméraire, Louis XI. occupied Franche-Comté with a military force, also Burgundy, under the pretext of defending the rights of Marie of Burgundy, daughter of Charles. On the marriage of this princess with Maximilian of Austria, the French were expelled from Franche-Comté. Louis XI., however, re-occupied it; Vesoul, Gray, and Dôle were pillaged and burnt. On the death of that King, his successor, Charles VIII., was recognised as sovereign of Franche-Comté by virtue of his proposed marriage with Marguérite, daughter of Marie of Burgundy, wife of Maximilian. He married, however, Anne of Brittany, instead, and the Franc-Comtois thus considered themselves freed from their allegiance to the French crown. Besançon opened its gates to Maximilian, and, in a treaty concluded between the French King and the Emperor, Burgundy reverted to the former, whilst Franche-Comté remained in the hands of the latter. The territorial dowry of Marguérite passed to her brother Philip, afterwards King of Spain (and father to the celebrated Charles the Fifth), who died, aged twenty-eight. Marguérite then became Regent of Franche-Comté. Under her rule, Protestantism made its first appearance in the provinces. The peasants of Montbéliard, joining the German bands, made raids upon religious houses. Charles the Fifth, on assuming the reins of Government after his aunt Marguérite, continued her policy, and his Keeper of the Seals, the princely Perronet de Granvelle, inaugurated at Besançon, by his splendid patronage of arts and letters, what has justly been called the "Golden Age of Franche-Comté."
XIII. Spanish Period, 1556-1674. Philip II., son of Charles the Fifth, established the Inquisition in Franche-Comté. His reign was a long series of calamities. Henry IV., King of France, marched a large army into the country, but after levying contributions on Besançon, and the smaller towns of the Jura, he signed a treaty, according neutrality to the provinces, and retired (1595). Later, Richelieu sent three armies respectively, into the Saône, the Doubs, and the Jura. St. Claude and Pontarlier were burnt, and the inhabitants destroyed by fire and sword. A great emigration took place, no less than twelve thousand families fleeing to Rome alone. Excepting the four principal towns, Besançon, Salins, Dôle, and Gray, the country was almost depopulated. Orders were given to mow down the unripe harvests, in order to subdue the people by famine. At Richelieu's death, neutrality was again accorded to the province, on condition of forty thousand crowns being paid yearly to the crown of France, and French garrisons being maintained at Joux and other places. In the words of a French writer of the period, "The country, at this time, resembled a desert." On the peace of Westphalia, Besançon lost its autonomy, being again placed under the dominion of Spain. Louis XIV. however, having married the daughter of Philip IV. of Spain, claimed Franche-Comté as the dowry of his wife. The great Condé was dispatched on a mission of conquest, the King, in person, headed a besieging army at Gray, and in fifteen days the entire province submitted. By the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, Franche-Comté again reverted to Spain, and again had to be conquered. On the declaration of war against France by Spain, the German Empire, Holland, and Lorraine, it put itself on the defensive. The armies of Louis XIV. overran the country. Besançon capitulated, and the King celebrated a Te Deum of victory in the Cathedral of that town in 1674.
It may not be generally known that the Porte St. Martin, in Paris, was erected as a triumphal arch to commemorate this victory. On its principal façade are the words: Ludovico Magno. Vesontione Sequanisque bis capti.