Background
He was the son of John, Count of Chalon and Laure de Commercy, a couple who had thirty castles built on the Jurassian part of the county of Burgundy around their new seigneurie of Salins, including the Château d"Arlay (upon the death of Otto III in 1248, the elder John had become regent of the county of Burgundy on behalf of his son Hugh III, his daughter-in-law Adelaide, and his grandson Otto).