The Prince-Bishopric of Basel and the Jura (999-1815)
Before they became part of Bern in 1815, the villages of Ajoie, the Delémont valley, the Franches-Montagnes and Erguël belonged to a state headed by a bishop. As a prince of the Holy Roman Empire, the Bishop of Basel ruled these lands from the late 10th century until the Revolution, from Porrentruy after 1528.
An abbey given away in 999
It all starts with a gift. In 999, Rudolph III, the last king of Burgundy, gave the Bishop of Basel the abbey of Moutier-Grandval with all its dependencies. The abbey held the upper Birs valley and owned scattered estates between Lake Biel and Alsace. The bishop, whose temporal power had until then been limited to the city of Basel, found himself at the head of a large domain.
When Rudolph III died in 1032, Basel and the Jura region passed to the Holy Roman Empire. The bishop became a vassal of the emperor, who appointed him and granted him regalian rights. Between 1096 and 1120, the abbey of Saint-Ursanne, which belonged to the diocese of Besançon, also came under the bishops' authority.
Abbeys and chapters
Three religious houses already existed in the 7th century: Saint-Imier, Saint-Ursanne and Moutier-Grandval, founded by the abbey of Luxeuil. Between the late 11th century and about 1120, somewhat later for Saint-Imier, the three Benedictine monasteries became chapters of canons. Nobody knows under what circumstances.
A second wave came from Burgundy in the 12th century. The Cistercians founded Lucelle in 1124. Around 1140, the abbey of Lac de Joux created Bellelay, a Premonstratensian abbey, at the instigation of the Bishop of Basel. At the end of the 12th century, Bellelay opened a priory in Ajoie, at Grandgourt.
Several Romanesque buildings from this period still stand: the abbey church of Saint-Ursanne, the collegiate church of Saint-Imier, the chapel of Chalières with its 11th-century frescoes, the church of Courtelary and the Blanche Église in La Neuveville. The church of Courchavon owned a standing Virgin from the late 13th century, perhaps the oldest surviving one in Switzerland.
Battles, towns and debts (1280-1478)
In 1280, Ajoie became the object of a conflict between the bishop, backed by Emperor Rudolph, and Renaud of Burgundy, Count of Montbéliard. Victorious at Porrentruy in 1283, the bishop gained control of the town and of Ajoie. In 1296, the Count of Neuchâtel defeated his troops at Coffrane. The southern border of the bishopric was then fixed on Lake Biel, at La Neuveville, founded around 1310 by Bishop Gérard de Vuippens.
The bishops granted charters of liberties to the towns: Biel in 1275, Porrentruy in 1283, Delémont in 1289, Laufen in 1296, La Neuveville in 1312, Saint-Ursanne in 1338. From the late 13th century, the countryside sold its produce at the markets of these towns. Ajoie also holds the oldest charters written in French in western Switzerland, the first dating from 1244.
In the 14th century, the bishops' authority declined. Bishop Jean de Vienne tried to break the alliance that had linked Biel to Bern since 1352. He was defeated at Malleray in 1367. Short of money, the Church of Basel pledged whole lordships, including the provostship of Saint-Ursanne and the Montagne de Muriaux in 1376. By 1422, the bishopric had practically fallen apart.
Recovery came in the 15th century, thanks to better management and the first modern taxes. In 1461, Bishop Johann von Venningen bought back Porrentruy and Ajoie with heavy contributions from their inhabitants. After the Burgundian Wars, in 1478, the bishopric annexed the Ajoie villages of Damvant, Grandfontaine and Réclère.
The Franche Montagne
Until the 14th century, the high plateau was called Mons Falconis. In 1139, a bull of Pope Innocent II listed Montfaucon and Epauvillers among the possessions of the chapter of Saint-Ursanne. In 1384, Bishop Imier de Ramstein granted the inhabitants a charter exempting them from certain taxes, including the taille. New villages then appeared: Le Noirmont is mentioned in 1397, Les Breuleux in 1429 and Les Bois in 1484.
The bishop's representative lived first in Saint-Ursanne, then in Saignelégier from 1691.
Porrentruy as capital, the Reformation in the south
In the 16th century, the city of Basel slipped out of the bishop's hands. It freed itself from his temporal authority in 1501 and adopted the Reformation in 1529. From 1528, Porrentruy was the capital of the prince-bishopric. Yet the town belonged to the diocese of Besançon, so the bishop now ruled from outside his own diocese. The cathedral chapter moved to Freiburg im Breisgau, then to Arlesheim in 1679.
The southern regions adopted the Reformation. In 1556, Bishop Melchior von Lichtenfels granted Erguël its first charter of liberties. Jakob Christoph Blarer von Wartensee, bishop from 1575 to 1608, allied with the Catholic cantons in 1579 and paid off the bishopric's debts. By the end of his reign, the principality was prosperous again.
The Thirty Years' War hit the north. Between 1634 and 1640, it was occupied by Swedish, French and imperial troops, and plague added to the toll. The south was spared thanks to its alliances with Bern and Solothurn, except for Erguël in 1639. In the Franches-Montagnes, villages were burned and looted in 1636-1637.
A state of seventeen bailiwicks
Until the Revolution, the principality was divided into 17 bailiwicks or lordships. The south, with the provostship of Moutier-Grandval, Bellelay, Erguël, Orvin, La Neuveville, the Montagne de Diesse and Biel, was called "Helvetic". It enjoyed Swiss neutrality while remaining imperial territory. The north was called "Germanic" or "imperial". The provostship of Moutier-Grandval had been under Bernese protection since 1486.
The bishop was elected by the chapter and always chosen from its members. He governed through his councils and by ordinance. An assembly of the Estates, with representatives of the clergy, the nobility and the third estate, met from 1566 to share out extraordinary levies. The southern bailiwicks, Bellelay excepted, always refused to take part. The bishops came from German-speaking families and surrounded themselves with German officials. Most of the population spoke French, and from the 18th century French gradually replaced German.
Iron, glass and faience
Iron ore had been mined in the area since Roman times at least. With the support of the prince-bishops, the iron industry grew from the 16th century. Under Blarer, the blast furnaces of Undervelier and Courrendlin were built. Together with Bellefontaine, they were the only production sites in the 17th and 18th centuries, and one of the state's main sources of income.
Glassworks are recorded at La Heutte in the 14th century. Later they moved to remote wooded areas, such as Lobschez near Soubey in 1659, then along the Doubs. Pottery flourished at Bonfol from the 15th century and a faience works operated at Cornol from 1760. The forests suffered. The forestry ordinance of 1755, a pioneer in Europe, tried to put things right, without quick success.
The Troubles and Pierre Péquignat
In 1726, a set of ordinances reformed the administration of the principality. Some subjects rose up against these reforms, and fifteen years of unrest began, known as the Troubles. The bishop asked the emperor and the Swiss for help, but they held back. He then turned to France and signed a secret treaty with it in 1739. French troops intervened and the leaders were arrested.
The best known, Pierre Péquignat, was a well-off farmer from Courgenay and head of the insurgent representatives of Ajoie. Convicted of sedition, he was beheaded in Porrentruy on 31 October 1740. His legend grew in the 19th century, with songs in French and in patois and a popular drama. A monument was raised to him in Courgenay in 1914.
Rauracia and Mont-Terrible
The war between France and the emperor in April 1792 brought French troops into the bishopric. At the end of April they settled in Delémont. On 17 December 1792, the Rauracian Republic was proclaimed in Porrentruy. It did not last: in 1793 France annexed the country and made it the department of Mont-Terrible, with Porrentruy as its capital. In August 1793, as conscription led to widespread desertion, young men from the Delémont valley in open revolt entrenched themselves on the Mont near Courtételle.
On 15 December 1797, General Gouvion Saint-Cyr occupied the south of the bishopric. In 1800, Mont-Terrible was abolished and the territory joined the Haut-Rhin, with sub-prefectures in Porrentruy and Delémont. The prince-bishopric ceased to exist as a state of the Empire in 1803. Some two thousand inhabitants of the former bishopric, out of a population of about 60'000, are said to have died in the wars of the Revolution and the Empire.
1815: Bern and Basel
Allied troops entered Delémont on 22 December 1813 and Porrentruy on the 24th. By its declaration of 20 March 1815, the Congress of Vienna assigned the former bishopric to Switzerland and divided its territory between the cantons of Bern and Basel. Most of the former bishopric became Bernese. The Franches-Montagnes, annexed to Bern like the rest, have been a district of the canton of Jura since 1979.
The pages on Porrentruy, Delémont, Saint-Ursanne and La Neuveville follow this history village by village.
Places mentioned
- Abbaye de Moutier-Grandval
- Saint-Ursanne
- Lucelle
- Abbaye de Bellelay
- Grandgourt
- Collégiale de Saint-Imier
- Chapelle de Chalière
- Courtelary
- Blanche Église
- Courchavon
- Porrentruy
- La Neuveville
- Delémont
- Malleray
- Damvant
- Grandfontaine
- Réclère
- Montfaucon
- Epauvillers
- Le Noirmont
- Les Breuleux
- Les Bois
- Saignelégier
- Undervelier
- Courrendlin
- Bellefontaine
- La Heutte
- Soubey
- Bonfol
- Cornol
- Courgenay
- Courtételle