Chalon

The House of Chalon was a Burgundian noble house and cadet branch of the Ivrea line of Burgundy's counts, named after Chalon-sur-Saone, inherited by its founder John the Old from his mother. John, count of Auxonne and Chalon, in 1237 exchanged those lands with Duke Hugh IV of Burgundy for Salins in the Free County, whose salt works made his fortune.

Of his many children, the eldest Hugh married the heiress Adelaide of Merania and became count palatine of Burgundy, while a younger son of his third marriage began the Chalon-Arlay branch at Arlay. In 1337 its branches stretched across the border between France and the Empire.

The Arlay lords proved the most enduring: when John III of Chalon-Arlay married Mary des Baux in 1386, Orange came to the house, and his descendant Rene of Chalon, the last male of the line, left Orange in 1544 to his cousin William of Nassau, future William the Silent, begetting Orange-Nassau.