Archbishops · Other imperial lands · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Besancon

Besancon is an imperial city whose lord is its archbishop: the regalia of the city (justice, tolls, the mint) belong to the church of Saint-Etienne and Saint-Jean, and Barbarossa held his famous diet of 1157 in the archbishop's city.

Around it lies the Staufen county of Burgundy, whose count, Philip of Swabia's brother Otto, is in Besancon at the turn of the year and will be murdered there on 13 January 1200. The citizens have no commune yet; it comes in the second half of the thirteenth century.

Who holds it

Name
Amedee de Dramelay
Title
Archbishop of Besancon
Since
1193-1194
Confidence
high

The notes give him from 1193-1194. His name points to the lords of Dramelay in the southern Jura. We could not read a biography in this session (the fetch proxy refused the pages), so his age, career and stance in the German quarrel are not pinned beyond the notes. He holds the see until about 1220 (standard lists; not verified here).

What it holds

  • Besancon: lordship of the imperial city, with the regalia (justice, tolls, mint) exercised through the archbishop's officers
  • Rural lordships and castles of the see in the county of Burgundy (Gy and others in later records; their tenure in 1200 not pinned)

How it was acquired

From royal and imperial grants to the church of Besancon; the archbishop's lordship of the city was the frame of Barbarossa's diet of 1157.

How things stand that morning

The archbishop holds the city; the Staufen count is the dominant lay power around it and is present in Besancon. Otto's murder on 13 January will leave the county to a small daughter, Joan, and give the archbishop more room.

Wealth

Tolls on the Doubs crossing and the roads from the Rhine to the Saone; the mint; markets of a large city; the salt of the county (Salins) lies nearby but is not the archbishop's.

Threats

  • The count of Burgundy's power round the city
  • Disorder after the count's murder: a minority, rival guardians and nobles settling scores

Advocates and rivals

The count palatine of Burgundy, Otto I of Staufen (count since 1190), brother of Philip of Swabia, a violent prince at feud with much of the county's nobility; the lesser nobility of the county; the chapter; the citizens.

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

  1. 13 January 1200Count Otto I of Burgundy, Philip of Swabia's brother, is murdered at Besancon and buried in the cathedral of Saint-Etienne; his elder daughter Joan succeeds as a child.Depends on: The murder as it happened (the notes give it as the likely course). Stopped by: Play that removes Otto from Besancon or guards him.

Places of note

  • Cathedral of Saint-Etienne: Old cathedral on the hill (later the site of the citadel), where Count Otto is buried in January 1200

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The archbishop and the count's murder are in the notes and en.wikipedia; we could not read a source on the archbishop's rural lordships or on Amedee himself in this session.

On the map: City only. The archbishop's castles in the county (such as Gy) are known from later records and are not drawn for 1200.

Primary sources for Empire

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

8 more in the sources library for The Rhineland, the Low Countries and the Swiss Lands.

Sources and studies

  1. Otto I, Count of Burgundy (en.wikipedia)

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.