Mâcon

Mâcon stands on the Saône, an important river town and bishop's seat at the southern edge of Burgundy. Its crossing and position on the route towards Lyon gave it importance to merchants and armies. The town and its county passed between the French crown and the dukes of Burgundy in the struggles of the fifteenth century.

The Treaty of Arras in 1435 gave Mâcon to Philip of Burgundy; it returned to France after the death of Charles the Bold in 1477. Religious war brought a new contest for the town. Protestant forces took Mâcon in 1562, but the Catholic royal governor Tavannes recovered it that August. Protestant worship was restored in 1564, only to be interrupted again when the town again changed hands in 1567.