Morteau is a common French, located in the department of the Doubs and the area Franche-Comté. Its inhabitants are the Mortuaciens and the Mortuaciennes .

Geography

Morteau extends in a widening from the valley from the Doubs, mainly on left bank of this one.

This Vallée is tightened downstream from Pontarlier; it gives rise to the Valley of the Saugeais, then, at the exit of the procession of Entreroche, the Valley of Morteau. The river is calm and draws many meanders from where the name of Mortua Aqua , “died water”, given to the city. It is about the same etymology as for Acute-Dead. The Doubs ( Dubius the named good) crosses here an area which formed part, until the Revolution, of the décanat of Warasgaw or Varesco; itself was a fraction of old the Séquanie.

The proximity of the Suisse (10 km of the Canton of Neuchâtel) gets at the same time work for many frontier, but also, in the other direction beautiful customers for the trade of the Valley of Morteau.

History

Antiquity

The Roman expansion (200 av, 100 ap J.C.) marked the decline of civilization Celte. With the Battle of Alésia, at the sides of the Arvernes, one counted an equal number of Mandubiens, men of Doubs. They were the best riders of Vercingétorix.

Early middle ages

At the end of the Roman Empire, the Alamans invaded the area, follow-ups of the Burgondes.

The Treated of Verdun, by creating the Lotharingie in 843, links for the first time the two Switzerland slopes and French of the the Jura.
The limits of the Valley were fixed in 1335 with the Valley of Through, in 1348 with Valley of Réaumont and the Abbey of Montbenoît, in 1510 with the Valley of Vennes and of new in 1819 with the Canton of Neuchâtel. Highest Montagne is it Chateleu which reaches 1312 Mr.

The area still saw breaking the Normands, the Hungarian downward Huns and the Sarrazin Arab S. These beaten by Charles Martel in 732, had gone up the valley of the the Saone. Locally, their name was given to the small village of Sarrazins to the top of Montlebon.

The Middle Ages

It is in 1105 that the name of Morteau appeared for the first time in an official text. The name of Franche-Comté appeared officially only in 1366. Bénédictins monks about Cluny arrived at that time with an aim of finishing the clearing of the mountains of the Valley. 6 or 8, they placed at the inhabitant in this district of Mondey which then represented with him only all the town of Morteau. The monks missed labor quickly; they made come from the whole families at the point to form five districts - become since large boroughs: Morteau, the Ends, the Lake (Villers-the-Lake), Mount the good (Montlebon) and Grand' Combe (Grand' Combe-Châteleu). Morteau had a feudal Château. Built on the eminence of Mondey, at the end Is, it supervised the old Celtic road which by the Ends, Mondey and Sobey, connected Besancon to Switzerland. The current bell-tower was built of 1513 to 1515 with stones of this castle. The plague, makes a terrible meningitis cérébro-spinale, removed of it two thirds of the inhabitants of the Valley in 1349. It fills famous “the cemeteries of uneven” as there still exists about it in Jarrons and Grand Combe. The vacuums were filled by inhabitants of the Canton of Freiburg or valley of Aoste.

Fires

In eight centuries, ten seven Incendie S tested the town of Morteau. Most terrible took place in 1639, 1683, 1702, 1849 and 1865.

In 1683, the church flames. It is a stove forgotten by the organist who causes this disaster. An alderman dies asphyxiated by smoke. The flames dissolve the bell S, it is necessary to order of them news of which the large bumblebee which always exists. A strong wind carries firebrands which put fire at the district of Suchaux (which belongs to the village of the Fins).

February 15th 1702, it is almost all Large the City (thus one called Morteau), who is destroyed.

In 1849, eleven houses burn as well as the market with the Blé S.

In 1865, fire devastates all, of the Carnot Place to the Town hall. Two thirds of the borough are destroyed. Lists of subscription appear in the newspapers of the province. The Prefect of the Haute-Saône joint with his/her colleague of Doubs to organize the helps.

One can still quote the fire of the Pertusier Castle, in 1938, and that of the Town hall in 1946.

In 1600, the Valley counted approximately 12.000 people brought together in 2000 families. The Richardot prior signed the stamping from all the inhabitants who accommodated the news with great outburst of joies.

Churches

The churches and the vaults of the Valley were built on quite different dates. A first church was built in first half of the 13th century, in the Main street, with the site of the Vaufrey house. It Romance and was placed under the invocation of Saints Pierre and Paul. Its last vestiges disappeared in the fire from 1865.

The current church was built of 1409 to 1420. It had two bell-towers of small size during very a long time; one was used for the Benedictines, the other with the priest and the parishioners. In 1727, one separated even the church into two by a wall from stones which was destroyed during the Revolution.

Grand Combe had its first vault in 1506, Combe the Mound in 1667, Cornabey in 1695, Fontenottes in 1691, Behind-the-Mount in 1749, Villers in 1625, Bassots in 1692, the Fats in 1508. The convent of Tiny of Montlebon goes back to 1612.

Modern times

The Swedes arrived at Morteau in the night from January 14th to 15th 1639. The inhabitants of the Valley had refused any help as men and ammunition pretexting that they were two thousand men able to carry the weapons. The enemy army surprised local defense while passing by Cerneux-Péquignot. Awaked in middle of the night, some courageous Mortuaciens fought a battle despaired halfway between the city and Montlebon. The general assessment was heavy: in 1646, one counted nothing any more but 300 houses inhabited over 2000; there remained only 567 “fires” over 1636. Families came from the Savoy, Neuchâtel and Freiburg: they appointed Clerc, Pourchet, Bertin, Girard, Reymond, André.

It was necessary to await 1678 and the Traité of Nimègue to see the province and the Valley to pass under the domination of king de France. In short, Morteau lived under the authority of the house of Montfaucon of 1238 to 1325, under that of Neuchâtel of 1325 to 1507 and under that of the Austria and the Spain of 1508 with 1678.

Administration

Demography

Economy

During these many centuries, the breeding always kept a paramount importance. It is impossible to give an exact origin to the current race montbéliarde. All livestock of the center Europe present of the similar characteristics, and the exchanges across the borders were always very numerous. One can notice the presence of mottled white cows of red in certain provinces of Czechoslovakia. It is logical to think that animals of Franche-Comté were requisitioned by the German army in 1940-45, then distributed to Czech stockbreeders which one wanted to secure the political support or the contest.

The Horlogerie was a long time the principalee industry of the area. It is told that in 1680, a young blacksmith of Sagne, repaired an imported watch of England by a merchant and undertook to copy it. The organization of clock making work under the Old Mode does not miss interest: a merchant-clock and watch maker or etablissor gathered the various parts of the watch given to isolated workmen and entrusted them to a clock making Master who assembled them. The contracts of recruiting signed with workmen were one year. It was necessary to work 12 hours per day and to pay the necessary tools. But the trade paid well: the monthly salary was approximately 500 pounds, to which 12 pounds for the oil expenditure of the lamp were added. The peasants worked with the clock industry during the hollow periods, and the clock and watch maker there found his account while saving on the construction of buildings, and especially found labor, extremely rare (the same system existed with Cholet). At the time, a milch cow was worth 90 books. A silver watch was sold 156 pounds to the prior in 1772: it gave the hours, repeated them and it was accompanied by a one year guarantee. Nearly 1500 Suisses citizens who shared the revolutionary ideas came to Besancon, Ornans, Pontarlier and Morteau, to practice this trade there. But unemployment appeared and certain turned over in their country. In 1835 was created in Morteau the first school of clock industry: it counted ten pupils. One manufactured there simple watches Lepine, Bréguet way and half-Bréguet. All the parts, except the box and the dial, were done in Morteau. End 1843, there were 63 people in the school which sold for 170.000 F of products. The establishment closed its doors in 1850 for financial causes evil given. In 1862, Besancon opened its own school and Morteau was erased. In 1867, with the World Fair of Paris appeared the first Japy clocks and the stem-winding watches Roskopf, of the name of its inventor originating in La Chaux-de-Fonds. The arrival of the watches at a cheap rate caused a downturn of industry in the area. The clock and watch makers are then reflected to work for the account of their Suisses neighbors. In 1876, one counted despite everything eleven factories with Morteau. In 1880, began the complete manufacture of the watch in series. The population of the city was then of 1826 inhabitants; it passed to 3576 in 1896.

It is in 1880 also that called Belzon, which came from the the Eastern Pyrenees, created the large factory. It engaged eight hundred workmen at the same time! Endowed with an astonishing practical direction but bad manager, it went bankrupt while wanting to create the “watch with hundred pennies”. Roof of the irony, it is the reliability of its products, not falling almost never broken down, which lost it. But the clock industry remained established well in the Valley: watches metal with exhaust with cylinder and ordinary anchor, large watches balls with clamps and large watches punts of a diameter from 10 to 12 cm ensured for a long time a certain ease this clock making world. Clock making industry has been on the decline for a few years, but the factory of watches high-of-range (Péquignet is still assured.

The Agroalimentaire holds a broad place to with it. Traditionally smoked, sausages or Jesus of Morteau for example, but also drinks (syrups and Rieme lemonades which is exported to the United States), or the confectionery (chocolates and caramels Klaus) made the reputation of this city.

Morteau is also the seat of the Fabi , a company of manufacture of parts intended for the Automobile. Two Usine S are established in the city. With the plastic injection of parts in is charged. Second has as a role of Chrome R certain of these parts, and injects parts in Zamak. It is necessary here to greet the courage and the determination of Michel Dhanger and Jean-Marc Lerat for their contribution visionary to the development of the plastic sector of the FABI.

Places and monuments

  • Morteau enorgueillit of two very beautiful houses: the Pertusier Castle and the current Town hall.
  • the Château Pertusier was built in 1576 by the Cuche family. During the attack of the Swedes in 1639, the turret which finished the spiral staircase ignited; the western frontage was mitraillée. One still sees the prints of the balls of ¾ of book launched by the Biscayens Swedish. It is Bole which was then owner. Under the Revolution, a lawyer of Besancon, Jean-Charles Pertusier bought the building become quite national for the sum of 900.987 books. The house and its park were acquired by the commune in 1935. This dwelling remains one of rare testimonys of the Renaissance in Haut-Doubs.
  • current the Mairie was built in 1590 by the sieurs Fauche. Occupied by the officers of Saxony-Weimar, she did not suffer from the Guerre and passed in the hands of the Bénédictin S, then in those of the Roussel brothers. The commune of Morteau acquired in of it 1793. It shelters today part of the municipal services and also famous black Livre, preciously preserved in the office of the Mayor. It is in 1454 qu ' a notary of the city consigned in this book all the document concerning to the Prieuré. It has as dimensions 30 cm X 22 cm X 6 cm, its cover is formed by two wood small planks covered with black corrugated Cuir. It contains 54 charters conceded of 1188 with 1514, of the letters of franknesses, the sentences, the stops and conventions. Taken along in Swiss during the Swedish invasion, it could be recovered intact after the war.

Striking facts and personalities related to the commune

Twinning

  • , to see

See too

  • Common of Doubs
  • Station of Morteau

Gallery of images

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