, after the
Treaty of Prüm (855) Transjurania originally was a duchy of the
Carolingian Empire, covering the
Central Plateau from the Jura Mountains up to the
Great St Bernard Pass in the
Western Alps. It thereby roughly corresponded to western
Switzerland, i.e. the parts west of the
Brünig-Napf-Reuss line, including the
Romandy with the cities of
Geneva,
Lausanne and
Sion, as well as the cantons of
Aargau,
Bern and
Valais and adjacent parts of the French
départements Haute-Savoie and
Ain, as well as the
Aosta Valley which today belongs to Italy. Together with the Burgundian comital estates around
Besançon and
Dole on the
Doubs river northwest of the Jura range, the Transjuran territories became part of the short-lived Middle Frankish realm of Emperor
Lothair I upon the 843 partition by the
Treaty of Verdun.
Within the Kingdom of Lotharingia Upon the second partition by the
Treaty of Prüm and Emperor Lothair's death in 855, his second son
Lothair II subsumed his portion of Upper Burgundy into his Middle Frankish kingdom of
Lotharingia, while his younger brother
Charles received Cisjuran Burgundy and the Kingdom of Provence. When Charles died in 863, Lothair II also gained some northern districts of the deceased's kingdom. The Provence territory in the south passed to the eldest brother King
Louis II of Italy. The Transjuran duchy was then ruled by
Hucbert, a scion of the
Bosonid dynasty, the younger son of Count
Boso the Elder of
Arles, and through his sister
Teutberga brother-in-law to King Lothair II. Hucbert, however, fell out of favour after Lothair II divorced Teutberga, was defeated at the Battle of
Orbe in 864 and replaced by Count
Conrad II of Auxerre from the
Elder House of Welf (Rudolfings), who from 866 ruled Transjurania as a
margrave. When Lothair II died without heirs in 869, his Lotharingian realm was divided into a West and East Frankish part between his uncles
Charles the Bald and
Louis the German by the 870
Treaty of Meerssen. Upper Burgundy was to be politically close to
East Francia.
Kingdom of Upper Burgundy ( 1000) Emperor
Charles the Fat, son of Louis the German, by 884 had once again reunited all Carolingian territories, except for the Lower Burgundian
Kingdom of Provence established by
Boso of Vienne in 879. When Charles was deposed and died in 888, the Carolingian Empire disintegrated again. The nobles and leading clergy of Upper Burgundy assembled at the
Abbey of St. Maurice, Agaunum and elected and crowned the Transjuran margrave
Rudolph I as King, thus creating a distinctive realm, centered on upper Burgundy. At first, King Rudolph I tried to re-unite the Lotharingian realm of late Lothair II, but strong opposition by the East Frankish king
Arnulf of Carinthia forced him to focus on his territory of Transjurania and the western Franche-Comté estates. Arnulf acknowledged Rudolph's rule in Upper Burgundy, but finally declared his illegitimate son
Zwentibold King of Lotharingia in 895. Rudolph was married with
Guilla of Provence (Willa), probably a daughter of the Lower Burgundian king Boso. After his death in 912, he was succeeded by his son
Rudolph II. His widow secondly married Count
Hugh of Arles, who succeeded as King of Lower Burgundy in 924. Rudolph II attempted to enlarge his realm by attacking the adjacent territories of the
German stem duchy of
Swabia in the northwest. He advanced towards the
Upper Rhine river and in 916 occupied the city of
Basel. However, he again lost the Swabian estates of
Thurgau and
Zürichgau when he was defeated by the forces of Duke
Burchard II in the 919 Battle of
Winterthur. To make peace, he married Burchard's daughter
Bertha. From this point, Rudolph II began to campaign in the
Kingdom of Italy, allied with the rebellious margrave
Adalbert I of Ivrea and defeated Emperor
Berengar I at
Fiorenzuola in 923. The next year, he was crowned Italian king. His rule was, however, contested by insurgent nobles, and they summoned his stepfather, the Lower Burgundian king Hugh of Arles, who marched against Italy. In the tense situation, Rudolph's father-in-law Duke Burchard II of Swabia hurried to help, but was killed at
Novara by the henchmen of Archbishop Lambert of
Milan. Hugh had Rudolph expelled from Italy and gained the
Iron Crown of Lombardy at
Pavia in 926. In 933 Rudolph II finally came to terms with Hugh: he waived all claims to Italy and in return gained Hugh's Lower Burgundian kingdom, thus re-uniting the two territories. Rudolph's descendants from the Elder House of Welf,
Conrad the Peaceful (937–993) and
Rudolph III (993–1032), succeeded him in this united
Kingdom of Burgundy. By 982, western regions of Upper Burgundy were organized as the
County of Burgundy, that later became known as the
Free County (
Franche-Comté). Upon the extinction of the Welf line in 1032, Burgundy was incorporated by Emperor
Conrad II as the third constituent kingdom of the
Holy Roman Empire, after
Germany and Italy, having defied claims raised by Count
Odo II of Blois. Thereupon the
King of the Romans and
Holy Roman Emperor assumed the title of a Burgundian king. The title of a Burgundian 'rectorate', referring to the former Transjuranian margraviate, was re-created for the Swabian ducal
House of Zähringen by King
Lothair II of Germany in 1127. ==Rulers of Upper Burgundy==