Editing Besançon (section)

==History==
{{see also|Timeline of Besançon}}

===Toponymy===
The city is first recorded in 58 BC as ''Vesontio'' in Book I of [[Julius Caesar]]'s ''[[Commentarii de Bello Gallico]]''. The etymology of ''Vesontio'' is uncertain. The most common explanation is that the name is of Celtic origin, derived from ''wes'', meaning 'mountain'. During the 4th century, the letter B took the place of the V, and the city name changed to ''Besontio'' or ''Bisontion'' and then underwent several transformations to become ''Besançon'' in 1243.
[[File:0 Besançon - Doubs - Quai Vauban (3).JPG|thumb|left|upright|The Doubs and the Quai Vauban seen from the Pont Battant.]]

===Ancient history===
[[File:Vesontio oppidum.jpg|thumb|Reconstruction of the Gallic (pre-Roman) [[oppidum]] of Vesontio]]

The city sits within an oxbow of the river Doubs (a tributary of the [[Saône]]); a mountain closes the fourth side. During the [[Bronze Age]], c. 1500 BC, tribes of Gauls settled the oxbow.

From the 1st century BC through the modern era, the town had a significant military importance because [[Alps|the Alps]] rise abruptly to its immediate south, presenting a significant natural barrier.

The Arar ([[Saône]]) River formed part of the border between the [[Haedui]] and their hereditary rivals, the [[Sequani]].{{CN|date=July 2022}} According to [[Strabo]], the cause of the conflict was commercial.<ref>[[Strabo]], ''Geography'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Strab.+4.3.1 4.3.2]</ref> Each tribe claimed the Arar and the tolls on trade along it. The Sequani controlled access to the [[Rhine]] and had built an [[oppidum]] (a fortified town) at Vesontio to protect their interests. The Sequani defeated and massacred the Haedui at the [[Battle of Magetobriga]], with the help of the [[Arverni]] tribe and the Germanic [[Suebi]] tribe under the Germanic king [[Ariovistus]].

[[Julius Caesar]], in his commentaries detailing his conquest of [[Gaul]], describes '''''Vesontio''''' (possibly [[Latin]]ized), as the largest town of the [[Sequani]], a smaller [[Gaul]]ic tribe, and mentions that a wooden palisade surrounded it. It appears as ''Vesontine'' in the [[Tabula Peutingeriana]].

Over the centuries, the name permutated to become '''''Besantio''''', '''''Besontion''''', '''''Bisanz''''' in [[Middle High German]], and gradually arrived at the modern French ''Besançon''. The locals retain their ancient heritage referring to themselves as ''Bisontins'' (feminine: ''Bisontine'').

It has been an [[archbishopric]] since the 4th century.

===Middle Ages===
[[File:Kronung Heinrich II.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor]] inherited the city and made it part of the Holy Roman Empire in 1032.]]
In 843, the [[Treaty of Verdun]] divided up [[Charlemagne]]'s empire. Besançon became part of [[Lotharingia]], under the Duke of [[Duchy of Burgundy|Burgundy]].

As part of the [[Holy Roman Empire]] since 1034, the city became an [[Diocese|archbishopric]], and was designated the [[Free Imperial City of Besançon]] (an autonomous city-state under the [[Holy Roman Emperor]]) in 1184. In 1157, Emperor [[Frederick Barbarossa]] held the [[Diet of Besançon]]. There, Cardinal [[Orlando Bandinelli]] (the future Pope Alexander III, then adviser of [[Pope Adrian IV]]) openly asserted before the Emperor that the imperial dignity was a papal [[beneficium]] (in the more general sense of favour, not the strict feudal sense of [[fief]]), which incurred the wrath of the German princes. He would have fallen on the spot under the battle-axe of his lifelong foe, [[Otto I of Wittelsbach, Duke of Bavaria|Otto of Wittelsbach]], had Frederick not intervened. The Archbishops were elevated to [[Princes of the Holy Roman Empire]] in 1288. The close connection to the Empire is reflected in the city's coat of arms.

In 1290, after a century of fighting against the power of the archbishops, the Emperor granted Besançon its independence.

===Renaissance===
In the 15th century, Besançon came under the influence of the dukes of [[Duchy of Burgundy|Burgundy]]. After the marriage of Mary of Burgundy to [[Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor]], the city was in effect a [[Habsburg]] fief. In 1519 [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor]], King of [[Kingdom of Spain|Spain]], became the Holy Roman Emperor. This made him master of the Franche-Comté and Besançon, a francophone imperial city. In 1526 the city obtained the right to mint coins, which it continued to strike until 1673. Nevertheless, all coins bore the name of Charles V.

When Charles V abdicated in 1555, he gave the Franche-Comté to his son, [[Philip II of Spain|Philip II]], King of Spain. Besançon remained a free imperial city under the protection of the King of Spain. In 1598, Philip II gave the province to his daughter on her marriage to an Austrian archduke. It remained formally a portion of the Empire until its cession at the peace of Westphalia in 1648. Spain regained control of Franche-Comté and the city lost its status as a free city. Then in 1667, [[Louis XIV]] claimed the province as a consequence of his marriage to [[Maria Theresa of Spain|Marie-Thérèse]] of Spain in the [[War of Devolution]].

Louis conquered the city for the first time in 1668, but the [[Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1668)|Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle]] returned it to Spain within a matter of months. While it was in French hands, the famed [[military engineer]] [[Vauban]] visited the city and drew up plans for its fortification. The Spaniards built the main centre point of the city's defences, "la Citadelle", siting it on Mont Saint-Étienne, which closes the neck of the [[meander|oxbow]] that is the site of the original town. In their construction, the Spaniards followed Vauban's designs.

In 1674, French troops recaptured the city, which the [[Treaty of Nijmegen]] (1678) then awarded to France. At this time the city became the administrative centre for the Franche-Comté, with its own [[Parlement of Besançon]], which replaced [[Dole, Jura|Dole]].

[[File:Citadelle Besancon.JPG|left|thumb|The Citadel of Besançon by Vauban]]
As a result of control passing to France, Vauban returned to working on the citadel's fortifications, and those of the city. This process lasted until 1711, some 30 years, and the walls built then surround the city. Between the train station and the central city there is a complex moat system that now serves road traffic. Numerous forts, some of which date back to that time and that incorporate Vauban's designs elements sit on the six hills that surround the city: Fort de Trois Châtels, Fort Chaudanne, Fort du Petit Chaudanne, Fort Griffon, Fort des Justices, [[Fort of Beauregard (Besançon)|Fort de Beauregard]] and [[Fort of Bregille|Fort de Brégille]]. The citadel itself has two dry moats, with an outer and inner court. In the evenings, the illuminated Citadelle stands above the city as a landmark and a testament to Vauban's genius as a [[military engineer]].
{{Further|Fort of Rosemont}}

===Modern Europe===
In 1814, the Austrians invaded and bombarded the city. It also occupied an important position during the [[Franco-Prussian War]] of 1870–71. In 1871, a project of [[Besançon Commune]] is engaged.

The [[Nazism|Nazis]] occupied the citadel during [[World War II]]. Between 1940 and 1944, the Germans executed some one hundred [[French resistance]] fighters there. However, Besançon saw little action during the war. The [[Allies of World War II|allies]] bombed the railway complex in 1943, and the next year the Germans resisted the U.S. advance for four days.

Besançon was also the location, between 1940 and 1941, of an Internment Camp (''Konzentrationslager''), [[Ilag|Frontstalag 142]], also known as ''Caserne Vauban'', which the Germans set up for 3–4,000 holders of British passports, all women and children. The conditions were harsh; many hundreds of internees died of pneumonia, diarrhea, food poisoning, dysentery, and frostbite.<ref>Shakespeare, Nicholas (2013) ''Priscilla: The Hidden Life of an Englishwoman in Wartime France''. (Harvill Secker).</ref>

In 1959, the French Army turned the citadel over to the city of Besançon, which turned it into a museum.

The forts of Brégille and Beauregard sit across the Doubs from the city. In 1913, a private company built a [[funicular]] to the Brégille Heights. The funicular passed from private ownership to the [[SNCF]], who finally closed it in 1987. The funicular's tracks, stations and even road signs remain in place to this day.