Ancient Diocese of Mâcon

The city of Mâcon, formerly the capital of the Mâconnais, now of the Department of Saône-et-Loire, became a civitas (Celtic tribal 'city state') in the 5th century, when it was separated from the Æduan territory.

At the end of that same century Merovingian king Clovis's occupation of the city both foreshadowed the gradual establishment of Frankish supremacy, accompanied by a decline in Arianism in the see.

Duchesne thinks that the bishopric of Mâcon, suffragan of Lyon, may have originated in an understanding between the Merovingian princes after the suppression of the Burgundian kingdom.

But the Protestants of Mâcon were saved from the Massacre of St. Bartholomew, probably by the passive resistance with which the bailiff, Philibert de Laguiche, met the orders of king Charles IX of France.

[2] The Benedictine Abbey of Cluny, situated within the territory of this diocese, was exempted from its jurisdiction in the eleventh century, in spite of the opposition of Bishop Drogo.