Bar

The counts of Bar came from the House of Montbeliard, a branch of the Ardennes family. In 1033 Sophia, daughter of the duke of Upper Lorraine, inherited the county, ruling it with her husband Count Louis; their son Theodoric II founded the line. The counts balanced between Empire and France, and in 1301 the western part of the county, the Barrois mouvant, became a French fief.

In 1337 Edward I of Bar died and his son Henry IV succeeded. Robert, ruling from 1352, became duke and peer of France in 1354; he died in 1411, and his successor Edward III fell at Agincourt in 1415. The last male duke, Cardinal Louis, died in 1431, leaving Bar to his great-nephew Rene of Anjou.

From Rene's death in 1480 Bar remained united with Lorraine, and a testament of 1506 bound them permanently. In 1738 the Treaty of Vienna gave Bar to the exiled Polish king Stanislaw Leszczynski, and on his death in 1766 it reverted to the French crown.