Louis XIV died in his Palace of Versailles on September 1, 1715. At once, couriers hurried with the news to all the provinces of the kingdom. One of them reached Franche-Comté five days later. The Magistrat of Besançon immediately declared the provincial capital in mourning, ordered a ban on balls and all other forms of public gaiety, and awaited further instructions from the regent, the duc d'Orléans, on the proper rites to mark the passing of the king. But when they came, the Bisontins observed them with none of the high emotion that had greeted the royal visit of 1683; their attitude to the elaborate rounds of requiem masses and other solemn ceremonies was rather one of stolid indifference. Or worse: the judges of the Parlement embroiled themselves in a bitter dispute over precedence with the archbishop and, as a result, refused to participate in a service for the salvation of the king's soul. Not even a stern reprimand from Chancellor Daniel Voysin could compel them to change their minds.

Thus the end of the Grand Règne in Franche-Comté was an anticlimax. Exhausted by a quarter century of warfare, fiscal exploitation, food short-ages, and economic recession, its rulers could muster little grief for the passing of Louis XIV. Yet during the forty years in which he ruled over them, the king had thoroughly transformed their province. After conquering it, he had successfully integrated it into the kingdom of France.