ABSTRACT
Montbeliard, in German Mompelgard, a mountainous region bordering on Switzerland, forms an enclave in French territory. The terms of an Imperial decree laying down a code of behaviour for ‘cadets and young officers of Alsace and Montbeliard when invited by a prince’ seem to be addressed to young brutes, ignorant of the most elementary rules of savoir-vivre. Until 1699 the ruler of Montbeliard was Duke Georg, the husband of Anne de Coligny, the great-granddaughter of the famous victim of St Bartholomew’s Night. In November 1721 the Aulic Council annulled the titles which Sponeck had assumed and ‘forbade the burghers of Montbeliard and the inhabitants of the County to recognise any of Leopold-Eberhard’s children’. The day after his cousin’s death Duke Eberhard-Ludwig of Württemberg prepared, in accordance with the Wildbad Treaty, to take possession of the County of Montbeliard. The Princes of Montbeliard had never dreamed of having a country house.
