Belley

Belley stands among the hills of Bugey, near the Rhône. Its bishops were also lords of the town, sharing a political landscape shaped by the counts and dukes of Savoy. In 1601 the Treaty of Lyon ended war between Henry IV and Charles Emmanuel of Savoy and brought Bugey into France. The duke's officers gave way to royal government, while the cathedral remained the centre of the town's religious life.