Brunstatt

{{Short description|Commune in Haut-Rhin, France}} {{Infobox French commune |name = Brunstatt |native name = Brunstatt / Brunscht |image = |image coat of arms = Blason de la ville de Brunstatt (68).svg |arrondissement = Mulhouse |canton = Brunstatt-Didenheim |commune = Brunstatt-Didenheim |INSEE = 68056 |postal code = 68350 |coordinates = {{coord|47.7239|7.3233|format=dms|display=inline,title}} |elevation m = 245 |elevation min m = 240 |elevation max m = 329 |area km2 = 9.66 |population = 6376 |population date = 2022 |population footnotes = <ref name=pop2022>{{cite web|url=https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/fichier/8290591/ensemble.pdf|title=Populations de référence 2022|language=fr|trans-title=Reference populations 2022|publisher=INSEE|date=December 2024}}</ref> }}

'''Brunstatt''' ({{IPA|fr|bʁunʃtat}}; 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.<ref>[http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jo_pdf.do?id=JORFTEXT000031741123 Arrêté] 11 December 2015 {{in lang|fr}}</ref>

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.<ref name=maahome>{{cite web | url = http://www.mulhouse-alsace.fr/ | title = Mulhouse Alsace Agglomération | publisher = Mulhouse Alsace Agglomération | accessdate = 2011-04-07}}</ref>

== House of Besenval: A Swiss family, well conntected == [[File:Arms of alliance de Besenval and Bielińska.jpg|thumb|left|The arms of alliance of the families de Besenval (quartered shield) and Bieliński. The horseshoe represents the Barony of Brunstatt. The silver doe represents Riedisheim and the silver mermaid Didenheim, the two other possessions of the family de Besenval in the Alsace. Engraving by Ricardo de los Ríos.]] 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.<ref name="Gabrielle Claerr Stamm 102">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</ref>

=== 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.<ref name="Besenval Ambassade11">Jean-Jacques Fiechter / Benno Schubiger: ''L’Ambassade de Suisse à Paris,'' Ambassade de Suisse, 2ème édition, août 1994, p. 11</ref><ref name="Gabrielle Claerr Stamm 139">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, p. 139</ref><ref name="Pierre Victor de Besenval Mémoires 282">Pierre 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</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

== Further reading == <small> In alphabetical order </small> * 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

== External links == *{{commons category-inline|Brunstatt}}

Category:Former communes of Haut-Rhin