Franquemont

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Map of Franche-Comté by Pierre Duval, 1662

Franquemont is a former lordship ("Seigneurie") on both sides of the Doubs River , dominated by Franquemont Castle. The lordship included the banks of the Doubs from Le Theusseret to Le Moulin du Plain, the valley, the mills, hamlets and villages of Gourgouton , Montbaron, Vautenaivre, Beaujour and Goumois .

In 1247 Dietrich III acquired. Montfaucon, Count of Montbéliard (Mömpelgard) , the municipality of Goumois and some other properties to the right and left of the Doubs. In 1304 the lordship, along with other fiefs, went to his cousin Walther von Montfaucon , the first "Seigneur" of Franquemont. Walther built a castle on the ruins of an old Roman fortress that had been on the ridge between the village of Belfond and the Doubs. After his death, the lordship and the castle returned to the Count of Montbéliard. In the following period, full of rivalries and wars, such as the Burgundian Wars (1474–1477) and the Thirty Years War (1618–1648), the castle changed hands several times.

A mint was established in the 1550s ; in 1720 Charles V (Lorraine) raised the dominion of Franquemont to a barony. In the period that followed , there was a dispute over the sovereignty of the barony between the Prince-Bishop of Basel and the Dukes of Württemberg and Counts of Montbéliard . These rivalries finally led to the destruction of the castle by the Prince-Bishop of Basel in 1677.

By the Treaty of Versailles of July 11, 1780, signed a. a. by the French king, Louis XVI., and Frédéric von Wangen, Prince-Bishop of Basel, sovereignty over the left bank of the Doubs was ultimately transferred to France. The right bank remained with the bishop. It was agreed that the Doubs would henceforth serve as the border between the two countries. As a result of the French Revolution (1789–1799) and the associated abolition of all feudal rights, the dominion of Franquemont was abolished and the Principality of Basel was annexed by France in 1792 and dissolved in 1793.

As a result of the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the Swiss part of the old barony was added to the municipality of Goumois (Switzerland, Canton of Jura), the French part went to the municipality of Goumois in the Doubs department.

Franquemont Castle

Château Franquemont 1850 by A. Quiquerez

Description of the castle 1305–1677 (after Auguste Quiquerez 1801–1882):

Due to the irregularities of the terrain, the castle was built on two overlapping terraces. The entrance was on the southern flank and led to a large, walled inner courtyard, flanked by outbuildings and a dungeon. The main structure faced the moat, with access to a smaller courtyard. In addition, the remains of a wall suggest a rectangular building (approx. 60 × 30 m). This was flanked (based on a sketch by A. Quiquerez from 1850) on the west side of the complex by double-walled oval bastions. There was probably a chapel high above the moat in the middle of the castle. There was also a well or cistern in the north. The last inhabitant of the castle before it was destroyed in 1677 was Count Claude de Franquemont.

The Franquemont House

Count Friedrich von Franquemont (1770–1842)
Tomb of Carl von Franquemont († 1830) in the old cemetery in Ludwigsburg

There were different lines of the Franquemonts. All of them have their roots in the Württemberg and Montbéliard families . Most lines are now extinct due to a lack of male offspring. Only the Franquemont line from Württemberg still exists.

The de Franquemont line in Franche-Comté goes back to the Counts of Montbéliard and the House of Württemberg via Etienne de Montfaucon, Count of Montbéliard (1325-1397). His natural son Henri inherited Franquemont. The first Franquemont mentioned in the French nobility lexicon was his son Jean de Franquemont († 1489), Vogt of Montbéliard. Over ten generations of Jean's descendants followed, Messrs. Von Tremoing and Pierrefitte. In the 16th century, the Franquemonts produced five Knights of the Order of St. George. In 1720 this line was elevated to the rank of count. Duke Leopold of Lorraine raised the area of ​​the Han-en-Barrois, in the Barrois-Mouvant (Lorraine), to a county, and George-Gabriel de Montbéliard, Count of Franquemont, served him as chamberlain . As a result, Han-en-Barrois became Franquemont-en-Barrois in the Barrois Mouvant . Over the centuries there have been alliances with the Chatelet, Arbonnay, Brunecoffnen, Maillet, d'Aspremont and Gilley families, among others.

The de Franquemont line in Franche-Comté is related to the Franquemont line in Württemberg via Henriette d'Orbe-Montfaucon, Countess of Montbéliard (1397–1444), granddaughter of Etienne de Montfaucon. She inherited Montbéliard and married in 1407 Eberhard IV, Count of Württemberg (1388-1419). Through this marriage, the Württemberg owners of Montbéliard.

The line from Franquemont in Württemberg all descend from Duke Carl Eugen von Württemberg (1728–1793). Five of his natural, recognized sons were named "von Franquemont". All became officers of the Württemberg Army . As such, they went in the service of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) with the so-called Cape Regiment across the Cape of Good Hope to the Dutch East Indies. The eldest brother, Friedrich Wilhelm (1744–1790), commanded the second battalion of the Cape Regiment as a colonel. Another brother was General Count Friedrich von Franquemont (1770-1842), who on his return from India commanded the Franquemont Regiment, the first regiment of the Württemberg army, and took part in the Battle of Leipzig (1813) and the Battle of Waterloo (1815) ; from 1816 to 1829 he was Minister of War of Württemberg. Count Friedrich and his brother, Colonel Carl von Franquemont, were the only ones of this generation who returned to Württemberg from India after being captured by the British on Ceylon. Descendants of the other two Franquemont brothers who remained in East India (Java) came back to Europe several generations later after the Dutch colony of East India became independent as the Republic of Indonesia.

See also

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Essays
  • Joseph Beuret-Frantz: Le vallon de Goumois et la seigneurie de Franquemont . In: Actesde Société Jurassienne d'Émulation / 2. Série , Vol. 29 (1913), pp. 233-292.
  • François Alexandre Aubert de LaChesnaye DesBois: Dictionnaire de la Noblesse, vol. 6 . 2nd ed. Duchesne, Paris, 1773, pp. 659-660 (previously under the title: Dictionnaire Genealogique, Heraldique, Chronologique et Historique ).
  • François Ignace Dunod de Charnage: Mémoires Pour Servir à l'Histoire du Comté de Bourgogne . Charmet, Besançon 1740, pp. 259-260.
  • Gilles Accard - Ruedi Kunzmann: "Le monnayage de la Seigneurie de Franquemont", in SNR (Swiss Numismatic Review, Vol. 93 (2014)), pp. 131–155, with Tfln. 16-18.
Monographs
  • Arnold Robert: La Seigneurie de Franquemont . Spink, London 1904/05 (2 vols.)

Web links