Brunstatt (; Alsatian: Brunscht) is a former commune in the Haut-Rhin department in north-eastern France. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune Brunstatt-Didenheim.Arrêté 11 December 2015
It is one of the southern suburbs of the city of Mulhouse, and forms part of the Mulhouse Alsace Agglomération, the inter-communal local government body for the Mulhouse conurbation.
House of Besenval: A Swiss family, well conntected
The communes of Brunstatt, Didenheim and Riedisheim once belonged to the Swiss patrician family von Besenval or de Besenval as they were called in France. The rich and powerful family from Solothurn had considerable influence at the royal court of France. A striking illustration of this is the elevation of the family de Besenval's possession of Brunstatt to a French barony by the King of France on 11 August 1726, from which the family derived the title Baron de Besenval de Brunstatt.Gabrielle Claerr Stamm: De Soleure à Paris : La saga de la famille de Besenval, seigneurs de Brunstatt, Riedisheim et Didenheim, Chapitre: Brunstatt devient une baronnie: Le 11 août 1726, Louis XV, roi de France, élève la terre de Brunstatt, propriété de la famille de Besenval, au rang de baronnie. Société d’Histoire du Sundgau, 2015, pp. 102–103
Pierre Victor de Besenval de Brunstatt One of the most prominent members of the family was Pierre Victor, Baron de Besenval de Brunstatt, a Swiss military officer in French service and a favorite of Queen Marie Antoinette. The baron received tout-Paris at his residence on the Rue de Grenelle, the Hôtel de Besenval. The hôtel particulier was also the setting for the affair known as: An Incident at the Opera Ball on Mardi Gras in 1778. The Hôtel de Besenval has housed the Embassy of the Swiss Confederation since 1938.Jean-Jacques Fiechter / Benno Schubiger: L’Ambassade de Suisse à Paris, Ambassade de Suisse, 2ème édition, août 1994, p. 11Gabrielle Claerr Stamm: De Soleure à Paris : La saga de la famille de Besenval, seigneurs de Brunstatt, Riedisheim et Didenheim, Société d’Histoire du Sundgau, 2015, p. 139Pierre Victor, Baron de Besenval: Mémoires de M. Le Baron de Besenval, imprimerie de Jeunehomme, rue de Sorbonne no. 4, Paris, 1805 – chez F. Buisson, libraire, rue Hautefeuille no. 31, Paris, tome II, pp. 282–329
See also Communes of the Haut-Rhin department
References
Further reading In alphabetical order Andreas Affolter / Guillaume Poisson: Pierre-Victor de Besenval (1721–1791) – Une vie au service du roi de France, Société d'Histoire de la Suisse Romande (Fonds Butticaz) / Schloss Waldegg, 2024 Gabrielle Claerr Stamm: De Soleure à Paris : La saga de la famille de Besenval, seigneurs de Brunstatt, Riedisheim et Didenheim, Société d'Histoire du Sundgau, 2015
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