Charolles

Charolles was the chief town of the county of Charolais in southern Burgundy. Its lords held a territory that became a valuable possession of the Burgundian dynasty, and the title of count of Charolais was borne by Charles the Bold before he became duke. The town's fate remained bound to the inheritance of that powerful house.

The county had passed to the house of Armagnac by marriage in 1327; Philip of Burgundy acquired it in 1390. After Charles the Bold died in 1477, Louis XI seized it, but Charles VIII ceded it to Maximilian of Austria in 1493. Charolais passed eventually to the Spanish kings and remained a subject of dispute between France and Spain. In 1684 it was assigned to the Prince of Condé, a creditor of the Spanish crown.