Franche Comté
Free County of Burgundy Franche Comté de Bourgogne Franco Condado de Borgoña | |
|---|---|
 Flag | |
| Capital | Dole |
| Largest city | Besançon |
| Official languages | French Spanish |
| Demonym | Burgundian |
| Establishment | Spanish Habsburg Burgundy - 1516
Augustine Wars & Invasion - 1795 Annexation by France - 1874 |
| Today part of | France |
The Franche Comté, officially the Free County of Burgundy (French: Franche Comté de Bourgogne/Spanish: Franco Condado de Borgoña) was a small country located within modern day France.
Existing since the Middle Ages, it was ruled by the Spanish Habsburgs for most of its existence, with intermittent periods of French occupation until its final annexation into France in 1874.
History
The Free County of Burgundy, along with the Free Imperial City of Besançon, were states within the Holy Roman Empire, and united in a personal union with the neighboring Duchy of Burgundy until its incorporation into the French kingdom. The Free County then passed to the Spanish Habsburgs, who administered it from the Spanish Netherlands.
It was a vital point in the Spanish Road, and it was granted a high degree of autonomy, mostly free from interference by the Spanish Crown. The Franche Comté was invaded several times by France, although each time they were forced to relinquish control over it.
Augustine Wars & French Occupation (1794 - 1814)
After the French Revolution, the First War of Deliverance broke out between Britain, Austria and France. The French sent out an army to attack the Dutch Republic, occupying it along with the Spanish Netherlands, which caused Spain to join the war. After a series of failed campaigns, the alliance was forced to sign the Treaty of Maastricht in 1798, which recognized French control over the Dutch Republic, the Spanish Low Countries, the Bishopric of Liege, and the Franche Comté.
The Franche Comté would remain in French hands until the end of the Augustine Wars. The 1814 Treaty of Vienna reorganized the Spanish Netherlands into the Grand Duchy of Belgique and the Free County of Burgundy was restored with a cadet branch of the Spanish Habsburgs in power. The territory remained a Spanish satellite for most of the following century, despite rising tensions with the overwhelmingly French-speaking population.
End of the Free County (1874)
When the Communard Revolution erupted in France in 1873, the Franche Comté became a natural place of retreat for the French Catholic church and aristocracy. Fearing it could potentially be used as a counterrevolutionary base and with popular support from its French-speaking population, the following year France invaded the Franche Comté, outsing its Spanish rulers, which Spain was not able to support due to it suffering its own comunard revolution.
Along with the Belgic Duchy, the Franche Comté was incorporated into France proper. Britain, Austria and Spain would recognize the annexation following the Coup Raisonnable of 1877 and the normalization of relations with the Second French Republic.
