Margraviate of Pont-à-Mousson

The margraviate of Pont-à-Mousson existed - as a property of the family of the Dukes of Bar - within the Holy Roman Empire from 1353 until the time when the Duchy of Bar and the margraviate had long since merged with the Duchy of Lorraine .

At the beginning of the 10th century, the Pont-à-Mousson area belonged to the Counts of Bar . They had a bridge built below the Mousson hill on one of the few fords over the Moselle between Nancy and Metz , next to which a place quickly developed, Pont-à-Mousson . In 1353 the place was raised to margraviate by King Charles IV in favor of Robert I von Bar .

This increase in status brought with it a problem that was resolved the following year by the elevation of Bars to duchy: Robert was now listed in the documents marquis de Pont-à Mousson et comte de Bar - a situation that seemed illogical to the country's nobility, since the Barrois was much larger than the margraviate. To remedy this anomaly, King Charles IV made Bar a duchy on March 13, 1354 .

The Counts of Bar gave the Margraviate as apanage to various members of the Count's House, which was also retained by the heirs of the Duchy of Bar from the Younger House of Anjou and the House of Lorraine , who preferred the Hereditary Duke.