By then, Besançon had become part of an independent republic protected by the Holy Roman Empire, which mostly untouched in the beginning of the conflict.

[4] In the midst of increasing violence in the region after the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre in 1572,[4] the Protestant personae non gratae gathered in Montbéliard and Neuchâtel[5] before marching to Besançon in 1575.

[14][16] Equipped with ladders, ropes, weapons and ammunition, the soldiers managed to obtain the keys of the Battant through a man named Le Goux, after threatening civil law notary Jean Papay.

By this time, the Protestant invaders had destroyed several houses (such as that of Madame de Thoraise of Chavirey),[18] and an attack on the town hall wounded one Catholic.

[14] After several exchanges of gunfire, the battle moved to the high street where the Protestants were armed with two pieces of artillery near the Battant.

[22] The Protestants continued their fight regardless, using cannons,[16] firearms, and knives in an attempt to stop the Catholic forces and Claude de La Baume, their leader.

[14][19] The Protestant leader was severely injured and his horse was hit, causing disorder in the ranks of Huguenot troops, ultimately resulting in them attempting to retreat from the city.

[24] They took the portcullis down, but could not find boats to cross the Doubs, so some soldiers chose to swim; many of them drowned,[4][5][18] including goldsmith Guillaume Laboral from Montbéliard.

The Father of Faverney, Antoine d'Achey, and the army in Vesoul were dispatched to rescue the city, not knowing that the battle had already ended.

[28] The morning after the battle, forty young noblemen from Besançon, suspected of sympathizing with the Protestant insurgents, were executed after lengthy torture sessions.

[24] To remember the Catholic victory, Claude de La Baume held a local festival that took place on 21 June, resulting in his promotion to cardinal by Pope Gregory XIII,[5] and a pension of 1,000 ducats from Philip II of Spain.

[16] Following the battle, Protestantism in Besançon was repressed until the signing of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, which allowed Protestants to live in the city unconstrained.