Franche-Comté was originally a part of Burgundy. Burgundy originally consisted of several historic kingdoms, counties, duchies, and a province situated within France. During the 5th century AD, the Bourguignons, a Germanic tribe, invaded and established the first kingdom of Bourgogne in France. The kingdom expanded until it included most of what is now southeastern France and part of present-day Switzerland.
The Bourguignons were conquered in 534 by the Merovingien rulers of the Franks and were later absorbed into the Carolingian Empire. In 843 Burgundy was divided between Charles I of France and his brother, Emperor Lothair I. In 879, the kingdom of Provence, or Cisjurane Burgundy, was organized in the south, and in 888 the kingdom of Trans-Jurane Burgundy was created in the north.
After the new kingdom of Burgundy emerged in 888, its kings secured very little control over the local counts in Cisjurane Burgundy. In 933 the two kingdoms were united as the second kingdom of Burgundy, with the capital at Arles. The lack of control persisted after the kingdom was annexed, in 1033, by the Holy Roman emperor Conrad II.
Two other divisions of this area, the duchy of Burgundy and the Free County of Burgundy, or Franche-Comté, were also established. The name “Franche-Comté” came about as follows: In 1127 a local count, Raynald III, refused to do homage to the German king Lothair II. After 10 years of conflict, Raynald was victorious. Thereafter, he was the franc-Comté or "free count". Raynald’s territory then became known as the Franche-Comté.
From 1295 to 1477 Franche-Comté was influenced by France; after 1482 it passed to the Spanish line of the Habsburg family, and in 1678, as the result of the Treaty of Nijmegen, it was permanently joined to France as a French province. In 1790, Franche-Comté, like the rest of France, was broken up into départements.