Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor
Besançon became part of the Holy Roman Empire in 1034 as the Archbishopric of Besançon, and in 1184 it gained autonomy as a free imperial city under Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor. The town slowly sought the protection of a number of outside protectors, or captains, such as Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy. After the marriage of Mary of Burgundy to Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor in 1477, the city treated the Habsburgs as its protectors.