The Free County of Burgundy (French: Franche Comté de Bourgogne; German: Freigrafschaft Burgund) was a medieval feudal state ruled by a count from 982 to 1678.

In 933, with the collapse of the Carolingian Empire, Lower and Upper Burgundy were re-united under King Rudolph II[1] as the Kingdom of Arles (Arelat).

Ermentrude was a widow, whose previous husband had been count of Mâcon (in the Duchy of Burgundy) and controlled additional lands around Besançon and Dole.

However, king Robert II of France refused to recognise the adoption and claimed the duchy as the nephew of Henry I.

Upon Emperor Frederick's death in 1190, his younger son Otto I received the county of Burgundy and assumed the rare (possibly unique) title of archcount.

In 1237, count John "the Old" of Chalon, transferred his possessions under the French Crown (including Chalon and Auxerre) to the Duke of Burgundy in exchange for wealthy possessions in the County of Burgundy, including the salt mines of Salins-les-Bains[5] (which became the autonomous Seigneurie of Salins).

The authority of John the Old was re-established only by the marriage (around 1239) of his oldest son Hugh of Chalon with Adelaide, the sister of Otto III (died 1248) and heiress of Burgundy.

The personal union was again broken when Philip died without heirs in 1361: the Duchy of Burgundy was seized as a reverted fief by King John II of France, while the Imperial county was inherited by Philip's great aunt Margaret I, a granddaughter of Count Otto IV.

During the reign of Phillip the Bold, the County was organized into having a council and a parliament — centered in the capital Dole.

[3] Louis II died in 1384 leaving no male heirs, so the County of Burgundy formed part of the immense dowry of his daughter Margaret, which in 1405 was inherited by her son, the Burgundian duke John the Fearless.

The county and the duchy were again ruled in personal union by his descendants from the House of Valois-Burgundy until the death of Duke Charles the Bold at the 1477 Battle of Nancy.

That was opposed by the French King Louis XI of France, who immediately occupied the Duchy of Burgundy, and also took possession of the County.

In 1508, Charles appointed an able administrator Mercurino di Gattinara as President of the County Parliament of Burgundy, and entrusted him with governance of the province.

Gattinara remained at that post until 1518, when he succeeded Jean le Sauvage as the Grand Chancellor of Burgundy.

Although ruled by Spanish Habsburgs, the County was never annexed into the Kingdom of Spain, and thus remained a domain within the Holy Roman Empire.

Since that time, the County gained geopolitical and military importance, since it was situated between Habsburg possessions in the Low Countries and Italy.

Multiple cities surrendered to the French after little fighting, but were returned as part of the wider Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle later that year.