III. Burgundian Period, 407-534. The Burgundians, having aided the Romans to free the Sequanian territory from the Huns under Attila, settled there, 435-471; the land being divided among them and its former owners. Monasteries were first founded about this time, notably the Abbey of Condat, now St. Claude. Gondioc, King of the Burgundians, owned the actual countries now included in Franche-Comté; besides Burgundy, La Bresse, Savoy, Dauphiné, and Provence. The Franks seized the kingdom from the descendants of Gondioc after a Burgundian occupation of two hundred years.
IV. Frankish Period, 534-711. The ancient territory of Gondioc was now divided among the descendants of Clovis, who built many monasteries and abbeys, among these Baume-les-Dames, and that of Luxueil, Haute Saône. On the death of Charles Martel, a new division took place, and Burgundy, including Franche-Comté, fell to the lot of Pépin le Bref.
V. Carlovingian Period, 741-879. Under Charlemagne, the clergy rose to pre-eminent importance, and great privileges were accorded to religious foundations, &c.
VI. Feudal Period, 879-1038. Three hosts of invaders ravaged the country, the Normans, the Germans, and the Huns. The kingdom of Burgundy, including Franche-Comté, was incorporated with the German Empire in the early part of the eleventh century.
VII. Sacerdotal Period, 1038-1148. A darker and more troublous time hardly appears in French history. The petty sovereigns of the different principalities into which Franche-Comté had been divided were engaged in perpetual struggles with their spiritual chiefs. Hugh, Archbishop of Besançon, ruled with kingly authority. Ten Cistercian Abbeys were founded. Land was cleared in the most solitary places for the purpose of building monasteries, notably at Morteau and Mouthe. Béatrix, heiress of Count Raimond III, was shut up in a tower by her uncle, and liberated by Frederic Barbarossa.
VIII. German Period, 1148-1248. Frederic Barbarossa having married Béatrix, Franche-Comté became an appanage of the German Empire. The Château of Dole was made the imperial residence and the seat of Government. On the death of the Emperor and Béatrix, the heritage of Franche-Comté was contested by Count Otho I. and Etienne d'Auxonne. Successive wars between the rival families ravaged the country for many years.