Stage on the Roman road from Besançon to Rhine river, the region of Mandeure  kept the influence of the Celtic Epomandui’s (horsebreakers) tribe. Destructed by the Hungarians, Mandeure was replaced by Montbéliard as capital.
Frederic Barberousse inherited this region after his wedding and founded the Palatine Earldom of Burgundy. The region became Franche Comté under the Germanic suzerainty, and belonged to the Habsbourg dynastic family.
Conquered by the French then given back to Spain, it will be definitively annexed to France in 1678. Montbéliard Earldom is linked up to France in 1797.