BESANÇON, a city of France, capital of the department of Doubs, 45 miles E. of Dijon, on ihe River Doubs, which flows round it on three sides. It is well protected by strong fortifications and a citadel on an almost impregnable rock, 410 feet above the river. The town is in general well built, and has three main streets running from N. to S. The principal buildings are the Gothic cathedral of St Jean, a court-house, a town-hall, the Gran velle palace, the royal college, an arsenal, a large hospital, barracks, a theatre, a library of 300,000 volumes, a museum and picture gallery, and several handsome fountains. Among the numerous Roman remains are a triumphal arch erected in honour of Crispus Caesar, son of Constantine, a theatre, and an amphitheatre. Besançon is the see of an archbishop, has tribunals of primary jurisdiction and commerce, and is the head court for the departments of Doubs, Jura, and Haute Saône. It possesses also a university-academy, a diocesan seminary, a royal academy of science and belles-lettres, a lyceum, an antiquariau museum, a society of agriculture, and schools of medicine, artillery, and design, besides two deaf and dumb institutions. The chief branch of industry is the manufacture of watches and jewellery. There are also some considerable breweries and manufactories of carpets, porcelain, hardware, Seltzer-water, artificial flowers, Ac. Besançon enjoys a good position for the commerce between F rance and Switzerland. Population in 1872, 39,868. Long. 5° 56'26" E., lat. 47° 14' 12" N....
Besançon is a place of great antiquity Under the name of Vesεntio, it wa3, in the time of Caesar, the chief town of the Sequani. Under the Romm emperors it was rich and prosperous, and Aurelian especially had a great liking for the place. Many of the streets still bear the old Roman names. It was frequently destroyed and rebuilt during the Middle Ages, and the present city stands twenty feet above the original level. In the 12th century it passed with the rest of Franche-Comté to the German empire, and was made a free city by Frederick I. In 1584, Granvilla, the minister of Charles V. became archbishop of the see, and afterwards founded a university in the town, which existed till the Revolution. By the treaty of Westphalia, Besançon was made over to Spain, and many traces of Spanish occupation still remain. In 1660 Louis XIV. besieged it in person, ana it was assigned to France by the peace of Nimeguen. In 1814 and 1815 it was invested and bombarded by the allies; and in the war of 1870-71 it formed an important position in the movements of the French army.
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