Morteau

Morteau

Morteau from Mont Vouillot

Coat of arms
Morteau

Coordinates: 47°03′32″N 6°36′25″E / 47.0589°N 6.6069°E / 47.0589; 6.6069Coordinates: 47°03′32″N 6°36′25″E / 47.0589°N 6.6069°E / 47.0589; 6.6069
Country France
Region Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
Department Doubs
Arrondissement Pontarlier
Canton Morteau
Intercommunality Val de Morteau
Government
  Mayor (20082014) Annie Genevard
Area1 14.11 km2 (5.45 sq mi)
Population (2012)2 6,779
  Density 480/km2 (1,200/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
  Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
INSEE/Postal code 25411 / 25500
Elevation 750–1,114 m (2,461–3,655 ft)
(avg. 800 m or 2,600 ft)

1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Morteau is a commune, in the Doubs department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France.

The road of Villers-le-Lac (D215) along the Doubs (river).

Geography

This little city is situated in a widening of the Doubs river valley.

The proximity of Switzerland (11 km to Le Locle, 21 km to La Chaux-de-Fonds) gives jobs to trans-border workers, as well as providing a clientele for the businesses of the Morteau valley.

History

The Roman expansion (200 BCE, 100 CE) began the decline of the Celts. At the Battle of Alesia, at the side of Arvernes, there were an equal number of Mandubiens, the people of Doubs. They were the best riders of Vercingetorix.

Early Middle Ages

At the end of the Roman Empire, the Alamanni invaded the region, followed by the Burgundians.

The region was influenced by the Normans, the Hungarian descendants of the Huns, the Sarrasins. These Arabs stopped by Charles Martel in 732, had followed the valley of the river Saône. Locally, their name was given to the tiny village of Sarrazins above Montlebon.

Middle Ages

In 1105 the name of Morteau appeared for the first time officially. The name of Franche-Comté, however, did not appear until 1366.

A half dozen Benedictine monks of the Cluny order arrived at this time to clear the mountains. They stayed with a resident of the Mondey area and quickly hired workers. They brought in whole families into five districts, each now cities in their own right: Morteau, Villers-le-Lac, Montlebon and Grand'Combe-Châteleu.

Morteau had a feudal castle built on the eastern side of Mondey, it overlooked the ancient Celtic road which linked Besançon to Switzerland. The plague killed two thirds of the valley's inhabitants in 1349. The population was rebuilt by immigrants from the canton of Fribourg and the Aoste valley.

Fires

Over eight centuries, seventeen major fires occurred in Morteau, the worst in 1639, 1683, 1702, 1849 and 1865.

Economy

For many centuries, livestock have formed a mainstay of the economy. It is impossible to give a precise origin to the well known montbéliarde breed since all of the livestock in central Europe have similar characteristics and transborder exchanges were always common. One can see white cattle with red stops in certain provinces of the Czech and Slovak republics similar to those from Franche-Comté. The traditional smoked sausages, Morteau Sausage for example, as well as the drinks (syrups and lemonades Rième) and candies (chocolates and caramels Klaus) have made the city renoun. Smoked "Saucisse de Morteau" has to meet a long list of demanding criteria, such as the origin of the meat, how the animals have been fed with, the type of wood that has been used to smoke the sausages,the specific model of chimney. It also has to be produced in Franche-Comté only. It has recently obtained even more juridical protection in order to maintain the high quality of the product on a long term basis. Every August, a two-day celebration takes place into town, in order to determine the "Sausage Gold Award", and it has been ranked among the top three stupidest and most pointless village fete of the country, by a famous weekly French magazine.

Watchmaking was for many years the principal industry of the region. In 1680, a young smith from Sagne repaired an imported English watch and decided to copy it.

Population

Historical population
YearPop.±%
19625,395    
19686,158+14.1%
19756,690+8.6%
19826,445−3.7%
19906,458+0.2%
19996,375−1.3%
20086,499+1.9%
20116,905+6.2%
20116,779−1.8%

Sights

Notable

International relations

Morteau is twinned with:

Local Groups

See also

References

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