The petty sovereigns of the different
principalities into which Franche-Comte had been divided were engaged in
perpetual struggles with their spiritual chiefs. Hugh, Archbishop of
Besancon, 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. Beatrix, 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
Beatrix, Franche-Comte became an appanage of the German Empire. The
Chateau of Dole was made the imperial residence and the seat of
Government. On the death of the Emperor and Beatrix, the heritage of
Franche-Comte 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 Chalons, to whom the heritage
had accrued, granted charters of disenfranchisement to many towns,
Salins, Ornans, and others. The Commune of Besancon was definitely
founded, and it became an independent city, under the protectorate of
the German Empire. Otho IV.
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