René Poupardin

“ Leopold, Charles’s son and successor, was restored to his estates by the treaty of Ryswick (1697) , but had to dismantle all the fortresses in Lorraine and to disband his army with the exception of his guard. Under his rule Lorraine flourished. While diminishing the taxes, he succeeded in augmenting his revenues by wise economy. The population increased enormously during his reign—that of Nancy, for instance, almost trebling itself between the years 1699 and 1735. ”

“ The capitulary thus served as a guarantee to the aristocracy that the general usage would be followed in the existing circumstances, and also as a means of reassuring the counts who had accompanied the emperor into Italy as to the fate of their benefices. ”

“ The authority of Rudolph III. over the chief lords of the land, the count of Burgundy and the count of Maurienne, founder of the house of Savoy, was already merely nominal, and the Franconian emperors (1039–1125) , whose visits to the country were rare and of short duration, did not establish their power any more firmly. ”

“ He had, however, constituted his daughter Margaret sovereign-governess of Franche-Comté for life, and under the administration of this princess (who died in 1530) , as under the rule of Charles V., the country enjoyed comparative independence, paying a “don gratuit” of 200,000 livres every three years, and being actually governed by the parliament of Dôle, and by governors chosen from the nobility of the country. It was Franche-Comté which furnished Philip II. of Spain with one of his best counsellors, Cardinal Perrenot de Granvella. ”

“ On the 27th of November 1382 the Franco-Burgundian chivalry crushed the rebels at Rosebecke, and on his return the duke of Burgundy took part in repressing the popular movements which had broken out in Paris and other French towns. In 1383 an insurrection in Flanders supported by England gave rise to another French expedition; but in January 1384 the death of Louis of Male made Philip master of the count ships of Flanders, Artois, Rethel and Nevers ”

“ Giselbert at first remained faithful to Henry’s son, Otto the Great, but in 938 he appears to have joined the revolt directed against Otto by Eberhard, duke of Franconia. In 939, in concert with Eberhard and Otto’s brother, Henry of Saxony, he declared open war against Otto and appealed to Louis d’Outremer, who penetrated into Lorraine and Alsace, but was soon called back to France by the revolt of the count of Vermandois. ”

“ During the first fifty years of their domination they could rely on the support of the ecclesiastical feudatories, who generally favoured their cause, but the investiture struggle, in which the prelates of the kingdom of Arles mostly sided with the pope, deprived the Germanic sovereigns even of this support. ”

“ He obtained a dispensation to marry his cousin, Claude of Lorraine, and died in 1670. He had one son, Charles, who in 1675 took the title of duke of Lorraine and was recognized by all the powers except France. After an unsuccessful attempt to seize Lorraine in 1676, Charles vainly solicited the throne of Poland, took an active part in the wars in Hungary, and married Eleanor of Austria, sister of the emperor Leopold I., in 1678. At the treaty of Nijmwegen France proposed to restore his estates on condition that he should abandon a part of them ”

“ At his death in February 1766 the two duchies of Lorraine and Bar became definitively incorporated in the kingdom of France. The treaties of 1735 and 1736, however, guaranteed their legislation, the privileges enjoyed by the three orders, and their common law and customs tariffs, which they retained until the French Revolution. Lorraine and Barrois formed a large government corresponding, together with the little government of the three bishoprics, to the intendance of Lorraine and the généralité of Metz. ”

“ Godfrey took part in the struggles of Pope Leo IX. against the Normans in Italy, and in 1053 married Beatrice, daughter of Duke Frederick of Upper Lorraine and widow of Boniface, margrave of Tuscany. On the death of Frederick of Luxemburg in 1065 the emperor Henry IV. restored the duchy of Lower Lorraine to Godfrey, who retained it till his death in 1069, when he was succeeded by his son Godfrey the Hunchback (d. 1076) , after whose death Henry IV. gave the duchy to Godfrey of Bouillon, the hero of the first crusade, son of Eustace, count of Boulogne, and Ida, sister of Godfrey the Hunchback. ”

“ The emperors further tried to make their power more effective by delegating it, first to a viceroy, William of Baux, prince of Orange (1215) , then to an imperial vicar, William of Montferrat (1220) , who was succeeded by Henry of Revello and William of Manupello. ”

“ Lorraine in Modern Times.—Francis’s son Charles III. or II., called the Great, succeeded under the tutelage of his mother and Nicholas of Vaudemont, bishop of Metz. Henry II. of France took this opportunity to invade Lorraine, and in 1552 seized the three bishoprics of Metz, Toul and Verdun. In the same year the emperor laid siege to Metz, but was forced to retreat with heavy loss before the energetic resistance of Duke Francis of Guise. On leaving Lorraine, Henry II. took Charles to France, brought him up at the court and married him to his daughter Claude. ”

“ To obviate these difficulties Bruno divided the ducal authority, assigning Lower Lorraine to a certain Duke Godfrey, who was styled dux Ripuariorum, and Upper Lorraine to Frederick (d. 959) , count of Bar, a member of the house of Ardenne and son-in-law of Hugh the Great, with the title of dux Mosellanorum; and it is probable that the partition of the ancient kingdom of Lorraine into two new duchies was confirmed by Otto after Bruno’s death in 965. ”

“ It was to the inhabitants of this region that the name of Lotharienses or Lotharingi was primitively applied, although the word Lotharingia, as the designation of the country, only appears in the middle of the 10th century. ”

“ Alix, daughter of Beatrix and of Otto of Meran, and heiress to the countship of Burgundy, married Hugh of Chalon, son of John the Ancient or the Wise (d. 1248) , and a descendant of William III. and consequently of William the Headstrong, thus bringing the countship back into the family of its former lords. His son Otto IV. (1279–1303) engaged in war against the bishop of Basel, and the German king Rudolph I., who supported the latter, entered Franche-Comté and besieged Besançon, but without success (1289) . ”

“ Franche-Comté became a military government (gouvernement) . The estates ceased to meet, and the old “don gratuit” was replaced by a tax which became increasingly heavy. Louis made Besançon, which Vauban fortified, into the capital of the province, and transferred to it the parliament and the university, the seat of which had hitherto been Dôle. For purposes of administration, the county was divided among the four great bailliages of Besançon, Dôle, Amont (chief town Vesoul) and Aval (chief town Salins) . At the Revolution were formed from it the departments of Jura, Doubs and Haute-Saône. ”