1.
Mediomatrici
–
The Mediomatrici were an ancient Celtic people of Gaul, who belong to the division of Belgae. Julius Caesar shows their position in a way when he says that the Rhine flows along the territories of the Sequani, Mediomatrici, Triboci or Tribocci. Ptolemy places the Mediomatrici south of the Treviri, divodurum was the capital of the Mediomatrici. Besides Metz, settlements in France include the oppidum of Hérapel, other settlements and oppida in Germany were thought to be Saarbrücken, Speyer, Homburg, and Rodalben, although today the ascription of Speyer, Homburg und Rodalben is hotly disputed. The name Mediomatrici has been explained as the people between the Matrona and the Matra and this agrees with Strabo, who says that the Sequani and Mediomatrici inhabit the Rhine, among whom are settled the Triboci, a Germanic nation which had crossed over from their own country. Elements of the Mediomatrici may have settled near Novara, in northern Italy and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Smith, William, ed. Belgae. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography
Mediomatrici
–
Civitas of the Mediomatrici
Mediomatrici
–
City scape of Divodurum Mediomatricum (ca. 2nd century AD), ancestor of present-day
Metz, capital of the Mediomatrici.
2.
Leuci
–
The Leuci were a Gallic tribe, recorded to have lived in the southern part of what is now Lorraine. They are mentioned by Julius Caesar as a people supplying wheat to the Roman army in 58 BC, along with the Lingones, strabo in his Geographica describes the Leuci and a part of the Lingones dwelling above the Mediomatrici, whose capital was at Metz. Hillforts in the region of the Leuci include some small ones in the Vosges, there is also a possible oppidum in Geneviève. Toul was the Roman capital civitas of the tribe, but Ptolemy listed Naix-aux-Forges also as a civitas of the Leuci, and it was probably larger. Celtic camp at Bure City of the Leuci
Leuci
–
Map with the location of Belgica shortly before Roman conquest
3.
Gallia Belgica
–
Gallia Belgica was a province of the Roman empire located in Belgium, in the northern and eastern parts of Roman Gaul. It began as one of the three provinces of Gaul described by its Roman conqueror Julius Caesar. An official Roman province was created by emperor Augustus in 22 BC. The province is named for the Belgae as the largest tribal confederation in the area, the southern border of Belgica, formed by the Marne and Seine rivers, was reported by Caesar as the original cultural boundary between the Belgae and the Gauls who he distinguished as Celts. The province was re-organized several times, first increased and later decreased in size, the capital of Belgica Prima, Trier, became an important late western Roman capital. In 57 BC, Julius Caesar led the conquest of northern Gaul and this definition became the basis of the later Roman province of Belgica. Indeed, the Belgian tribes closest to the Rhine he distinguished as the Germani cisrhenani, apart from the southern Remi, all the Belgic tribes allied against the Romans, angry at the Roman decision to garrison legions in their territory during the winter. At the beginning of the conflict, Caesar reported the combined strength at 288,000, led by the Suessione king. Due to the Belgic coalitions size and reputation for uncommon bravery, instead, he used cavalry to skirmish with smaller contingents of tribesmen. Only when Caesar managed to isolate one of the tribes did he risk conventional battle, the tribes fell in a piecemeal fashion and Caesar claimed to offer lenient terms to the defeated, including Roman protection from the threat of surrounding tribes. Most tribes agreed to the conditions, a series of uprisings followed the 57 BC conquest. The largest revolt was led by the Bellovaci in 52 BC, during this rebellion, it was the Belgae who avoided direct conflict. They harassed the Roman legions, led personally by Caesar, with cavalry detachments, the rebellion was put down after a Bellovaci ambush of the Romans failed. Following a census of the region in 27 BC, Augustus ordered a restructuring of the provinces in Gaul, the capital of this territory was Reims, according to the geographer Strabo, though later the capital moved to modern day Trier. The date of this move is uncertain, successive Roman emperors struck a balance between Romanizing the people of Gallia Belgica and allowing pre-existing culture to survive. The Romans allowed local governments to survive, typically in the form of cantons, Roman government was run by Concilia in Reims or Trier. Additionally, local notables from Gallia Belgica were required to participate in a festival in Lugdunum which typically celebrated or worshiped the emperor’s genius, the gradual adoption of Romanized names by local elites and the Romanization of laws under local authority demonstrate the effectiveness of this concilium Galliarum. With that said, the concept and community of Gallia Belgica did not predate the Roman province, during the 1st century AD, the provinces of Gaul were restructured
Gallia Belgica
–
Map of Roman Gaul with Belgica in orange. (Droysens Allgemeiner historischer Handatlas, 1886)
Gallia Belgica
Gallia Belgica
–
'Belgica Foederata' was the Latin name the
Dutch Republic
4.
Lotharingia
–
It was named after King Lothair II who received this territory after the kingdom of Middle Francia of his father Lothair I was divided among his sons in 855. Neither Lotharingia nor Middle Francia had any natural coherence, but each was conceived after territorial division of a larger realm. Conflict between East and West Francia over Lotharingia was based on the fact that these were the old Frankish homelands of Austrasia, the latter term, formed with the Germanic suffix -ing, indicating ancestral or familial relationships, gave rise to the Latin term Lotharingia in the tenth century. Later French terms like Lorraine and Lothier are derived from this Latin term, in 817 emperor Louis the Pious made plans for division of the Carolingian Empire among his three sons after his death. Unforeseen in 817 was a further heir besides Louiss three grown sons, a fourth son, Charles the Bald was born to Louiss second wife Judith of Bavaria in 823. When Louis tried in 833 to re-divide the empire for the benefit of Charles, he met with opposition of his sons, Lothair, Pepin. A decade of war and fluctuating alliances followed, punctuated by brief periods of peace. Pepin died in 838, and Louis the Pious in 840, the remaining three brothers made peace and divided Empire with the 843 Treaty of Verdun. Lothair, as the eldest, kept the title and received a long strip of territories stretching from the North Sea to southern Italy. Middle Francia thus included all the land between Aachen and Rome and it has sometimes called by historians the Lotharingian axis. In 855, when Lothair I was dying in Prüm Abbey, to the eldest son, Louis II went Italy, with the imperial title. To the youngest, Charles, still a minor, went Provence, to the middle son, Lothair II, went the remaining territories to the north of Provence, a kingdom which lacked ethnic or linguistic unity. Lothair II ruled from Aachen and did not venture outside his kingdom, when he died in 869 Lothair II left no legitimate children, but one illegitimate son - Hugh, Duke of Alsace. Thus Lotharingia, as a kingdom, ceased to exist for some years. In 876 Charles the Bald invaded eastern Lotharingia with the intent to capture it, in 879 Louiss son, king Louis the Younger was invited by a faction of the West Frankish nobility to succeed king Louis the Stammerer, Charless son, on the throne of West Francia. After a brief war, Louis the Stammerers young sons, Carloman II and Louis III, the border between the two kingdoms was established at Saint-Quentin in 880 by the Treaty of Ribemont. In November 887 Arnulf of Carinthia called a council of East Frankish nobility to depose emperor Charles the Fat, who by 884 had succeeded to thrones of all the kingdoms of the Empire. The Lotharingian aristocracy, in attempt to assert its right to elect a sovereign, joined the other East Frankish nobles in deposing Charles the Fat in 887 and elected Arnulf as their king
Lotharingia
–
Threefold division of the Frankish empire by the Treaty of Verdun in 843, showing West Francia (pink), Middle Francia (green), and East Francia (yellow).
Lotharingia
–
Lotharingia's division in 959 Blue: Alsace, ceded to Swabia in 925 Orange: Upper Lorraine after 928 Green: Lower Lorraine after 977
Lotharingia
–
Territorial divisions from the Treaty of Verdun (843) to the Treaty of Meerssen (870).
5.
Duchy of Lorraine
–
The Duchy of Lorraine, originally Upper Lorraine, was a duchy now included in the larger present-day region of Lorraine in northeastern France. It was founded in 959 following the division of Lotharingia into two duchies, Upper and Lower Lorraine, the westernmost parts of the Holy Roman Empire. The Lower duchy was quickly dismantled, while Upper Lorraine came to be known as simply the Duchy of Lorraine, the Duchy of Lorraine was coveted and briefly occupied by the Dukes of Burgundy and the Kings of France. When Stanisław died on 23 February 1766, Lorraine was annexed by France, lorraines predecessor, Lotharingia, was an independent Carolingian kingdom under the rule of King Lothair II. Its territory had originally been a part of Middle Francia, created in 843 by the Treaty of Verdun, Middle Francia was allotted to Emperor Lothair I, therefore called Lotharii Regnum. On his death in 855, it was divided into three parts, of which his son Lothair II took the northern one. His realm then comprised a territory stretching from the County of Burgundy in the south to the North Sea. In French, this became known as Lorraine, while in German. In the Alemannic language once spoken in Lorraine, the -ingen suffix signified a property, thus, in a figurative sense, stuck in the conflict with his rival Hugh the Great, in 942 King Louis IV of France renounced all claims to Lotharingia. In 953, the German king Otto I had appointed his brother Bruno the Great Duke of Lotharingia, in 959, Bruno divided the duchy into Upper and Lower Lorraine, this division became permanent following his death in 965. The Upper Duchy was further up the system, that is, it was inland. Upper Lorraine was first denominated as the Duchy of the Moselle, the usage of Lotharingia Superioris and Lorraine in official documents begins later, around the fifteenth century. The first duke and deputy of Bruno was Frederick I of Bar, Lower Lorraine disintegrated into several smaller territories and only the title of a Duke of Lothier remained, held by Brabant. After the duchy of the Moselle came into the possession of René of Anjou, the name Duchy of Lorraine was adopted again, only retrospectively called Upper Lorraine. At that time, several territories had already split off, such as the County of Luxembourg, the Electorate of Trier, the County of Bar, the border between the Empire and the Kingdom of France remained relatively stable throughout the Middle Ages. In 1301, Count Henry III of Bar had to receive the part of his lands as a fief by King Philip IV of France. In 1475, the Burgundian duke Charles the Bold campaigned for the Duchy of Lorraine, in the 1552 Treaty of Chambord, a number of insurgent Protestant Imperial princes around Elector Maurice of Saxony ceded the Three Bishoprics to King Henry II of France in turn for his support. In the 17th century, the French kings began to covet Lorraine, while the central Imperial authority decayed in the course of the Thirty Years War, Chief Minister Cardinal Richelieu urged the occupation of the duchy in 1641
Duchy of Lorraine
–
1618-1648
Duchy of Lorraine
–
Flag
6.
Duchy of Bar
–
The County of Bar, from 1354 the Duchy of Bar, was a principality of the Holy Roman Empire encompassing the pays de Barrois and centred on the city of Bar-le-Duc. Part of the county, the so-called Barrois mouvant, became a fief of the Kingdom of France in 1301, the Barrois non-mouvant remained a part of the Empire. From 1480, it was united to the imperial Duchy of Lorraine, both imperial Bar and Lorraine were ceded to France in 1738. With the death of the last duke, Stanislaus Leszczynski, in 1766, the county of Bar originated in the frontier fortress of Bar that Duke Frederick I of Upper Lorraine built on the bank of the river Ornain around 960. The fortress was originally directed at the counts of Champagne, who had made incursions into Fredericks allodial lands, Frederick also confiscated some lands from the nearby Abbey of Saint-Mihiel and settled his knights on it. The original Barrois was thus a mixture of the dukes allodial lands, on the death of Duke Frederick III in 1033, these lands passed to his sister, Sophia, who was the first person to associate the comital title with Bar, styling herself Countess of Bar. Sophias descendants, of the House of Montbéliard, expanded Bar by usurpation, conquest, purchase and its population was francophone and culturally French, and the counts were involved in French politics. Count Reginald II married Agnes, a sister of the queen of France and his son, Henry I, died on the Third Crusade in 1190. From 1214 to 1291 Bar was ruled by Henry II and Theobald II, in the Treaty of Bruges of 1301 Henry was forced to recognise all of his county west of the river Meuse as a fief of France. This was the origin of the Barrois mouvant, a territory that was turned into a fief was said to have moved and entered the mouvance of its suzerain and it was subject to the Parliament of Paris. The Treaty of Bruges did not represent any expansion of French territory, the territory to the west of the Meuse was French since the Treaty of Verdun of 843, but in 1301 it became a direct fief of the crown, including its allodial parts. In 1354 the Count of Bar took the title and was thereafter recognised as a Peer of France. Père Anselme believed that Count Robert had been created a duke by King John II of France in preparation for the marriage to Johns daughter. The rulers of Bar were not created dukes by imperial appointment, the only title Count Robert received by imperial grant in 1354 was that of Margrave of Pont-à-Mousson. This margraviate was bestowed by the Dukes of Bar on their heirs apparent. In that same year the emperor raised the County of Luxembourg into a duchy, Bar passed to his great-nephew, René I, who was married to Isabella, Duchess of Lorraine. In 1431 the couple inherited Lorraine, on Renés death in 1480, Bar passed to his daughter Yolanda and her son, René II, who was already Duke of Lorraine. In 1482 he conquered the prévôté of Virton, a part of the Duchy of Luxembourg, in 1484 Peter II, Duke of Bourbon, regent for King Charles VIII of France, formally installed him in the Duchy of Bar
Duchy of Bar
–
The former ducal palace at Bar-le-Duc is today a museum, the Musée Barrois.
Duchy of Bar
–
France in 1477, showing the duchy of Bar in "Valois-Anjou" colours
7.
Cross of Lorraine
–
The Cross of Lorraine was originally a heraldic cross. The two-barred cross consists of a vertical line crossed by two horizontal bars. In most renditions, the bars are graded with the upper bar being the shorter. The Lorraine name has come to signify several cross variations, including the cross with its bars near the top. The Cross of Lorraine consists of one vertical and two horizontal bars, the Cross of Lorraine came from the Kingdom of Hungary to the Duchy of Lorraine. In Hungary, Béla III was the first monarch to use the cross as the symbol of royal power in the late 12th century. He probably adopted it from the Byzantine Empire, according to historian Pál Engel, René II, Duke of Lorraine inherited the two-barred cross as a symbol from his ancestors from the House of Anjou. His grandfather, René the Good, who used it as his sigil, laid claim to four kingdoms. The cross was known as the cross of Anjou in the 16th century. René II placed the symbol on his flag before the Battle of Nancy in January 1477, in the battle, René defeated the army of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, who had occupied the Duchy of Lorraine, and regained his duchy. All coins struck for René bore the symbol thereafter, the Cross of Lorraine is an emblem of Lorraine in eastern France. Between 1871 and 1918, the quarter of Lorraine was annexed to Germany. During that period the Cross served as a point for French ambitions to recover its lost provinces. This historical significance lent it considerable weight as a symbol of French patriotism, during World War II, Capitaine de corvette Thierry dArgenlieu suggested the Cross of Lorraine as the symbol of the Free French Forces led by Charles de Gaulle as an answer to the Nazi swastika. In France, the Cross of Lorraine was the symbol of Free France during World War II, the liberation of France from Nazi Germany, the Cross was displayed on the flags of Free French warships, and the fuselages of Free French aircraft. The medal of the Order of Liberation bears the Cross of Lorraine, de Gaulle himself is memorialised by a 43-metre high Cross of Lorraine in his home village of Colombey-les-Deux-Églises. The Cross of Lorraine was later adopted by Gaullist political groups such as the Rally for the Republic, French Jesuit missionaries and settlers to the New World carried the Cross of Lorraine c. The symbol was said to have helped the missionaries to convert the peoples they encountered
Cross of Lorraine
–
The French frigate
Aconit, named after the corvette
Aconit of the
Free French Navy, flies the Cross of Lorraine on her foremast.
Cross of Lorraine
–
Patriarchal cross, in modern times known as the Cross of Lorraine
Cross of Lorraine
–
The
tampion of the
Rubis features the Cross of Lorraine in honour of the Free French submarine
Rubis.
Cross of Lorraine
–
Order of the Cross of Vytis, a
Lithuanian presidential award
8.
Lorrain language
–
Lorrain is a dialect spoken by a minority of people in Lorraine in France, small parts of Alsace and in Gaume in Belgium. It is classified as a language of France and has the recognised status of a regional language of Wallonia. It has been influenced by Lorraine Franconian and Luxembourgish, Germanic languages spoken in nearby or overlapping areas. Ban de la Roche http, //www. travelphrases. info/languages/lorrain. htm Essai sur le patois lorrain des environs du comté du Ban de la Roche, Jeremias Jacob Oberlin,1775
Lorrain language
–
Lorrain, at the east among other
oïl languages
9.
Lorraine Franconian
–
The term Lorraine Franconian has multiple denotations. Some scholars use it to refer to the group of West Central German dialects spoken in the French Lorraine region. In 1806 there were 218,662 speakers of Lorraine Franconian in Moselle and 41,795 speakers in Meurthe. In part from the ambiguity of the term, estimates of the number of speakers of Lorraine Franconian in France vary widely, ranging from 30,000 to 400,000. The most reliable data comes from the Enquête famille carried out by INSEE as part of the 1999 census, approximately 78,000 people were reported to speak Lorraine Franconian, but fewer than 50,000 passed basic knowledge of the language on to their children. Another statistic illustrating the point is that of all adult men who used Franconian regularly when they were 5. Langues régionales et relations transfrontalières dans l’espace Saar-Lor-Lux, la dynamique des langues en France au fil du XXe siècle. Bilingualism in North-East France with specific reference to Rhenish Franconian spoken by Moselle Cross-border workers, in Preisler, Bent, et al. eds. The Consequences of Mobility, Linguistic and Sociocultural Contact Zones, Roskilde, Denmark, Roskilde Universitetscenter, Institut for Sprog og Kultur. — Historical, literary, and linguistic information Gau un Griis — Association for the defense and promotion of Lorraine Franconian Plattweb
Lorraine Franconian
Lorraine Franconian
–
Lorraine Franconian
Lorraine Franconian
Lorraine Franconian
10.
Low Alemannic German
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Low Alemannic is a branch of Alemannic German, which is part of Upper German. Its varieties are only partly intelligible to non-Alemannic speakers, the feature that distinguishes Low Alemannic from Swabian is the retention of the Middle High German monophthongs, for instance Huus house vs. Swabian Hous or Ziit time vs. Swabian Zejt. Sometimes diminutives require umlaut, other times not, weak Declension Strong Declension Comparative Standard ending -er Superlative Standard ending -schd Irregular Personal Pronouns 1. Infinitive Infinitive ends in -e Some monosyllabic verbs do not have this ending 2, conjugation 3.1 Present Tense 3.1.1 Regular Verb Alemannic encyclopedia -German-
Low Alemannic German
–
Low Alemannic
11.
Roman Catholicism
–
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church or the Universal Church, is the largest Christian church, with more than 1.28 billion members worldwide. As one of the oldest religious institutions in the world, it has played a prominent role in the history, headed by the Bishop of Rome, known as the Pope, the churchs doctrines are summarised in the Nicene Creed and the Apostles Creed. Its central administration is located in Vatican City, enclaved within Rome, the Catholic Church is notable within Western Christianity for its sacred tradition and seven sacraments. It teaches that it is the one church founded by Jesus Christ, that its bishops are the successors of Christs apostles. The Catholic Church maintains that the doctrine on faith and morals that it declares as definitive is infallible. The Latin Church, the Eastern Catholic Churches, as well as such as mendicant orders and enclosed monastic orders. Among the sacraments, the one is the Eucharist, celebrated liturgically in the Mass. The church teaches that through consecration by a priest the sacrificial bread and wine become the body, the Catholic Church practises closed communion, with only baptised members in a state of grace ordinarily permitted to receive the Eucharist. The Virgin Mary is venerated in the Catholic Church as Queen of Heaven and is honoured in numerous Marian devotions. The Catholic Church has influenced Western philosophy, science, art and culture, Catholic spiritual teaching includes spreading the Gospel while Catholic social teaching emphasises support for the sick, the poor and the afflicted through the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. The Catholic Church is the largest non-government provider of education and medical services in the world, from the late 20th century, the Catholic Church has been criticised for its doctrines on sexuality, its refusal to ordain women and its handling of sexual abuse cases. Catholic was first used to describe the church in the early 2nd century, the first known use of the phrase the catholic church occurred in the letter from Saint Ignatius of Antioch to the Smyrnaeans, written about 110 AD. In the Catechetical Discourses of Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, the name Catholic Church was used to distinguish it from other groups that call themselves the church. The use of the adjective Roman to describe the Church as governed especially by the Bishop of Rome became more widespread after the Fall of the Western Roman Empire and into the Early Middle Ages. Catholic Church is the name used in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church follows an episcopal polity, led by bishops who have received the sacrament of Holy Orders who are given formal jurisdictions of governance within the church. Ultimately leading the entire Catholic Church is the Bishop of Rome, commonly called the pope, in parallel to the diocesan structure are a variety of religious institutes that function autonomously, often subject only to the authority of the pope, though sometimes subject to the local bishop. Most religious institutes only have male or female members but some have both, additionally, lay members aid many liturgical functions during worship services
Roman Catholicism
–
Saint Peter's Basilica,
Vatican City
Roman Catholicism
–
St. Peter's Basilica,
Vatican City
Roman Catholicism
–
Pope Francis, elected in the
papal conclave, 2013
Roman Catholicism
–
Traditional graphic representation of the Trinity: The earliest attested version of the diagram, from a manuscript of
Peter of Poitiers ' writings, c. 1210
12.
Roman Catholic Diocese of Metz
–
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Metz is a Diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic church in France. In the Middle Ages it was in effect an independent state, part of the Holy Roman Empire and it was annexed to France by King Henry II in 1552, this was recognized by the Holy Roman Empire in the Peace of Westphalia of 1648. It then was part of the province of the Three Bishoprics, since 1801 the Metz diocese is a public-law corporation of cult. Metz was definitely a bishopric by 535, but may date from earlier than that, metzs Basilica of Saint-Pierre-aux-Nonnains is built on the site of a Roman basilica which is a likely location for the one of the earliest Christian congregations of France. Originally the diocese was under the metropolitan of Trier, after the French Revolution, the last prince bishop, Cardinal Louis de Montmorency-Laval fled and the old organization of the diocese was broken up. With the Concordat of 1801 the diocese was re-established covering the departments of Moselle, Ardennes, and Forêts, in 1817 the parts of the diocese which became Prussian territory were transferred to the Diocese of Trier. As of 1910 there were about 533,000 Catholics living in the diocese of Metz, after World War I it was returned to France, but the concordatary status has been preserved since as part of the Local law in Alsace-Moselle. In 1940, after the French defeat, it came under German occupation till 1944 when it became French again, together with the Archdiocese of Strasbourg the bishop of the see is nominated by the French government according to the concordat of 1801. The concordat further provides for the clergy being paid by the government, according to the traditional list of bishops, the current bishop Pierre René Ferdinand Raffin is the 105th bishop of Metz. According to this list, the first bishop was Saint Clement, the first fully authenticated bishop however is Sperus or Hesperus, who was bishop in 535. Many of the bishops were declared holy or blessed, like Saint Arnulf, adelbero was bishop of Metz in 933 AD. The bishop of Metz is appointed by the President of the Republic
Roman Catholic Diocese of Metz
–
Metz Cathedral
13.
Holy See
–
The Holy See, also referred to as the See of Rome, is the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, the episcopal see of the Pope, and an independent sovereign entity. It serves as the point of reference for the Catholic Church everywhere. Today, it is responsible for the governance of all Catholics, organised in their Particular Churches, Patriarchates, as an independent sovereign entity, holding the Vatican City enclave in Rome as sovereign territory, it maintains diplomatic relations with other states. Diplomatically, the Holy See acts and speaks for the whole church and it is also recognised by other subjects of international law as a sovereign entity, headed by the Pope, with which diplomatic relations can be maintained. The creation of the Vatican City state was meant to ensure the diplomatic, in Greek, the adjective holy or sacred is constantly applied to all such sees as a matter of course. The word see comes from the Latin word sedes, meaning seat, while Saint Peters basilica in Vatican City is perhaps the church most associated with the Papacy, the actual cathedral of the Holy See is the church of Saint John Lateran within the city of Rome. The Pope governs the Catholic Church through the Roman Curia, the Secretariat of State, under the Cardinal Secretary of State, directs and coordinates the Curia. The incumbent, Archbishop Pietro Parolin, is the Sees equivalent of a prime minister, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, Secretary of the Section for Relations with States of the Secretariat of State, acts as the Holy Sees minister of foreign affairs. Parolin was named in his role by Pope Francis On 31 August 2013, mamberti was named in his role by Pope Benedict XVI in September 2006. The Secretariat of State is the body of the Curia that is situated within Vatican City. The others are in buildings in different parts of Rome that have rights similar to those of embassies. The Roman Rota handles normal judicial appeals, the most numerous being those that concern alleged nullity of marriage and it also oversees the work of other ecclesiastical tribunals at all levels. The most important of these is the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See, the Prefecture of the Papal Household is responsible for the organization of the papal household, audiences, and ceremonies. The Holy See does not dissolve upon a Popes death or resignation and it instead operates under a different set of laws sede vacante. The government of the See, and therefore of the Catholic Church, canon law prohibits the College and the Camerlengo from introducing any innovations or novelties in the government of the Church during this period. In 2001, the Holy See had a revenue of 422.098 billion Italian lire, the Guardian newspaper described Mennini and his role in the following manner. Paolo Mennini, who is in effect the popes merchant banker, Mennini heads a special unit inside the Vatican called the extraordinary division of APSA – Amministrazione del Patrimonio della Sede Apostolica – which handles the patrimony of the Holy See. The Holy See has been recognized, both in practice and in the writing of modern legal scholars, as a subject of public international law, with rights
Holy See
–
The
papal throne (
cathedra), in the apse of
Archbasilica of St. John Lateran, symbolises the Holy See.
14.
Roman Catholic Diocese of Nancy
–
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Nancy and Toul is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic church in France. After a considerable political struggle between Louis XV, Louis XVI, and the Dukes of Lorraine, the diocese was erected by Pope Pius VI on 17 December 1777, the diocese is currently suffragan to the Archdiocese of Besançon. The title of count and the rights of sovereignty of the medieval Bishops of Toul originated in certain grants which Henry the Fowler gave St. Gauzelin in 927. During the Conflict of Investitures in 1108, the chapter became divided, the majority elected Riquin of Commercy as bishop, Henry V granted Conrad the title of bishop, with the stipulation that he did not exercise episcopal office. In 1271 grave differences broke out again in the chapter of Toul, in 1278 Pope Nicholas III personally appointed Conrad of Tübingen as bishop. Thereafter, it was generally the Holy See which appointed the bishops, as a result, many Italian prelates held this important see until 1552, when Toul was occupied by France. In 1648 according to the Treaty of Westphalia the bishoprics of Metz, Toul, the duchy of Lothringen, surrounded by French territories and repeatedly occupied by French troops, finally fell to the French, and Lorraine became a French province. The population of Toul was around 10,000 persons in 1688, after the French revolution of 1789 France was divided into departments—Lorraine consisted of the departments of Meurthe, Meuse, Moselle and Vosges. Nancy, Verdun, Metz and Epinal became the capitals of these departments, in 1688, the Cathedral of Toul had a Chapter with ten dignities and forty Canons. In the city of Toul there were seven parishes, seven houses of male religious, the diocese had around 200 parishes. In 1777, the Cathedral of Nancy had a Chapter in which there were three dignities and twenty-four Canons, in the city of 30,000 persons there were 7 parishes, twelve houses of male religious, and ten monasteries of monks. All cathedral chapters in France were abolished in 1790 by the Constituent Assembly, in 1777 and 1778 Toul lost territories out of which were formed two new dioceses, Saint-Die and Nancy, both of them suffragans of Trier. The Concordat of 1802, suppressing Toul, made Nancy the seat of a vast diocese which included three Departments, Meurthe, Meuse, and Vosges, the diocese of Nancy was abolished during the French Revolution by the Legislative Assembly, under the Civil Constitution of the Clergy. Its territory was subsumed into the new diocese, called Meurthe, erection of new dioceses and transfer of bishops, moreover, was not in the competence of civil authorities or of the Church in France. The result was schism between the Constitutional Church and the Roman Catholic Church, the legitimate bishop of Nancy, Anne Louis Henri de La Fare, refused to take the oath, and therefore the episcopal seat was declared vacant. On 13 March 1791 the electors of Meurthe were assembled, chatelain, a Professor at the Seminary in Toul. After some considerable consideration, he refused the election and he was consecrated a bishop at Notre Dame in Paris on 29 May by Jean-Baptiste Gobel, the titular Bishop of Lydda, who had been installed as Constitutional Bishop of Paris. On 3 June he made his entry into Nancy, where he began a war of pamphlets with Bishop de la Fare
Roman Catholic Diocese of Nancy
–
Nancy Cathedral
Roman Catholic Diocese of Nancy
–
Toul Cathedral
15.
Roman Catholic Diocese of Verdun
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The Roman Catholic Diocese of Verdun is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic church, in France. Currently a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Besançon, the diocese corresponds to the department of Meuse in the Region of Lorraine, the diocese is subdivided into 577 parishes. The diocese dates back to the 4th century, traditionally the city was first evangelized around 332 by St. Sanctinus, Bishop of Meaux, who became the first bishop. Until 1801 Verdun was part of the province of the Archbishop of Trier. On November 29,1801 it was suppressed and added to the Diocese of Nancy, on October 6,1822 the diocese was re-established. Lépiscopat français depuis le Concordat jusquà la Séparation, website of the diocese Catholic hierarchy CatholiCity – Diocese of Verdun
Roman Catholic Diocese of Verdun
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Verdun Cathedral and Cloister
16.
Protestantism
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Protestantism is a form of Christianity which originated with the Reformation, a movement against what its followers considered to be errors in the Roman Catholic Church. It is one of the three divisions of Christendom, together with Roman Catholicism and Orthodoxy. The term derives from the letter of protestation from German Lutheran princes in 1529 against an edict of the Diet of Speyer condemning the teachings of Martin Luther as heretical. Although there were earlier breaks from or attempts to reform the Roman Catholic Church—notably by Peter Waldo, John Wycliffe, Protestants reject the notion of papal supremacy and deny the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation, but disagree among themselves regarding the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. The Five solae summarize the reformers basic differences in theological beliefs, in the 16th century, Lutheranism spread from Germany into Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, the Baltic states, and Iceland. Reformed churches were founded in Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Scotland, Switzerland and France by such reformers as John Calvin, Huldrych Zwingli, the political separation of the Church of England from Rome under King Henry VIII brought England and Wales into this broad Reformation movement. Protestants developed their own culture, which made major contributions in education, the humanities and sciences, the political and social order, the economy and the arts, some Protestant denominations do have a worldwide scope and distribution of membership, while others are confined to a single country. A majority of Protestants are members of a handful of families, Adventism, Anglicanism, Baptist churches, Reformed churches, Lutheranism, Methodism. Nondenominational, evangelical, charismatic, independent and other churches are on the rise, and constitute a significant part of Protestant Christianity. Six princes of the Holy Roman Empire and rulers of fourteen Imperial Free Cities, the edict reversed concessions made to the Lutherans with the approval of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V three years earlier. During the Reformation, the term was used outside of the German politics. The word evangelical, which refers to the gospel, was more widely used for those involved in the religious movement. Nowadays, this word is still preferred among some of the historical Protestant denominations in the Lutheran and Calvinist traditions in Europe, above all the term is used by Protestant bodies in the German-speaking area, such as the EKD. In continental Europe, an Evangelical is either a Lutheran or a Calvinist, the German word evangelisch means Protestant, and is different from the German evangelikal, which refers to churches shaped by Evangelicalism. The English word evangelical usually refers to Evangelical Protestant churches, and it traces its roots back to the Puritans in England, where Evangelicalism originated, and then was brought to the United States. Protestantism as a term is now used in contradistinction to the other major Christian traditions, i. e. Roman Catholicism. Initially, Protestant became a term to mean any adherent to the Reformation movement in Germany and was taken up by Lutherans. Even though Martin Luther himself insisted on Christian or Evangelical as the only acceptable names for individuals who professed Christ, French and Swiss Protestants preferred the word reformed, which became a popular, neutral and alternative name for Calvinists
Protestantism
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(
The Ninety-Five Theses)
Protestantism
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The Memorial Church in
Speyer, Germany
Protestantism
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Key figures of the Protestant Reformation: Martin Luther and John Calvin depicted on a church
pulpit. These reformers emphasised preaching and made it a centerpiece of worship.
Protestantism
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The Bible translated into
vernacular by Martin Luther. The supreme authority of
scripture is a fundamental principle of Protestantism.
17.
Moselle (department)
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Moselle is the most populous department in Lorraine, in the east of France, and is named after the river Moselle, a tributary of the Rhine, which flows through the western part of the department. Inhabitants of the department are known as Mosellans, Moselle is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4,1790. It was created from the province of Lorraine. One of its first prefects was the comte de Vaublanc, from 1805 to 1814, by the Treaty of Paris of 1814 following the first defeat and abdication of Napoleon, France had to surrender almost all the territory it had conquered since 1792. In northeastern France, the Treaty did not restore the 1792 borders, however, as a result, France ceded the exclave of Tholey as well as a few communes near Sierck-les-Bains to Austria. France thus became a net beneficiary of the Treaty of Paris, all the new territories ceded to her being far larger, all these new territories were incorporated into the Moselle department, and so Moselle had now a larger territory than ever since 1790. However, with the return of Napoleon and his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo. Tholey and the communes around Sierck-les-Bains were still to be ceded as agreed in 1814, at the end of 1815 Austria transferred all these territories to Prussia, making for the first time a shared border for those two states. Thus, by the end of 1815, the Moselle department had finally the limits that it would keep until 1871, between 1815 and 1871, the department had an area of 5,387 km². It had four arrondissements, Metz, Briey, Sarreguemines, France merged the remaining area of Briey with the truncated Meurthe department to create the new Meurthe-et-Moselle department with its préfecture at Nancy. In 1919, following the French victory in the First World War, however, it was decided not to recreate the old separate departments of Meurthe and Moselle by reverting to the old department borders of before 1871. Instead, Meurthe-et-Moselle was left untouched, and the part of Lorraine was reconstituted as the new department of Moselle. Thus, the Moselle department was reborn, but with different borders from those before 1871. The new Moselle department now reached its current area of 6,216 km², larger than the old Moselle because the areas of Château-Salins and Sarrebourg were far larger than the area of Briey and Longwy. At the declaration of World War II on September 3,1939 around 30% of Moselles territory lay between the Maginot Line and the German front,302,732 people, around 45% of the departments population, were evacuated to departments in central and western France during September 1939. Of those evacuated, around 200,000 returned after the war, in spite of the June 22,1940 armistice, Moselle was again annexed by Germany in July of that year, it became part of the Gau Westmark. Adolf Hitler considered Moselle and Alsace parts of Germany, and as a result the inhabitants were drafted into the German Wehrmacht, several organized groups were formed in resistance to the German occupation, notably the Groupe Mario, led by Jean Burger, and the Groupe Derhan. During these years more than 10,000 Mosellans were deported to camps, many to the Sudetenland, the United States Army liberated Moselle from the Third Reich in the Battle of Metz in September 1944, although combat continued in the northeastern part of the department until March 1945
Moselle (department)
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Prefecture building of the Moselle department, in Metz
Moselle (department)
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The Moselle département till 1793 (including
Bouquenom and
Vieux Sarverden)
Moselle (department)
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Saint-Stephen cathedral in
Metz, prefecture of Moselle.
Moselle (department)
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Metz Cathedral
18.
Jewish
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The Jews, also known as the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group originating from the Israelites, or Hebrews, of the Ancient Near East. Jews originated as a national and religious group in the Middle East during the second millennium BCE, the Merneptah Stele appears to confirm the existence of a people of Israel, associated with the god El, somewhere in Canaan as far back as the 13th century BCE. The Israelites, as an outgrowth of the Canaanite population, consolidated their hold with the emergence of the Kingdom of Israel, some consider that these Canaanite sedentary Israelites melded with incoming nomadic groups known as Hebrews. The worldwide Jewish population reached a peak of 16.7 million prior to World War II, but approximately 6 million Jews were systematically murdered during the Holocaust. Since then the population has risen again, and as of 2015 was estimated at 14.3 million by the Berman Jewish DataBank. According to the report, about 43% of all Jews reside in Israel and these numbers include all those who self-identified as Jews in a socio-demographic study or were identified as such by a respondent in the same household. The exact world Jewish population, however, is difficult to measure, Israel is the only country where Jews form a majority of the population. The modern State of Israel was established as a Jewish state and defines itself as such in its Declaration of Independence and its Law of Return grants the right of citizenship to any Jew who requests it. The English word Jew continues Middle English Gyw, Iewe, according to the Hebrew Bible, the name of both the tribe and kingdom derive from Judah, the fourth son of Jacob. The Hebrew word for Jew, יְהוּדִי ISO 259-3 Yhudi, is pronounced, with the stress on the syllable, in Israeli Hebrew. The Ladino name is ג׳ודיו, Djudio, ג׳ודיוס, Djudios, Yiddish, ייִד Yid, ייִדן, Yidn. The etymological equivalent is in use in languages, e. g. but derivations of the word Hebrew are also in use to describe a Jew, e. g. in Italian. The German word Jude is pronounced, the corresponding adjective jüdisch is the origin of the word Yiddish, in such contexts Jewish is the only acceptable possibility. Some people, however, have become so wary of this construction that they have extended the stigma to any use of Jew as a noun, a factual reconstruction for the origin of the Jews is a difficult and complex endeavor. It requires examining at least 3,000 years of ancient human history using documents in vast quantities, as archaeological discovery relies upon researchers and scholars from diverse disciplines, the goal is to interpret all of the factual data, focusing on the most consistent theory. In this case, it is complicated by long standing politics and religious, Jacob and his family migrated to Ancient Egypt after being invited to live with Jacobs son Joseph by the Pharaoh himself. The patriarchs descendants were later enslaved until the Exodus led by Moses, traditionally dated to the 13th century BCE, Modern archaeology has largely discarded the historicity of the Patriarchs and of the Exodus story, with it being reframed as constituting the Israelites inspiring national myth narrative. The growth of Yahweh-centric belief, along with a number of practices, gradually gave rise to a distinct Israelite ethnic group
Jewish
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Baruch Spinoza
Jewish
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David Ben-Gurion
Jewish
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George Gershwin
Jewish
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Map of
Canaan
19.
Metz
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Metz is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Great East region, located near the tripoint along the junction of France, Germany, and Luxembourg, the city forms a central place of the European Greater Region and the SaarLorLux euroregion. The city has been steeped in Romance culture, but has strongly influenced by Germanic culture due to its location. Because of its historical, cultural, and architectural background, Metz has been submitted on Frances UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List, Metz is home to some world-class venues including the Arsenal Concert Hall and the Centre Pompidou-Metz museum. A basin of urban ecology, Metz gained its nickname of The Green City, as it has extensive open grounds, the historic city centre is one of the largest commercial pedestrian areas in France. A historic garrison town, Metz is the heart of the Lorraine region, specialising in information technology. In ancient times, the town was known as city of Mediomatrici, after its integration into the Roman Empire, the city was called Divodurum Mediomatricum, meaning Holy Village or Holy Fortress of the Mediomatrici, then it was known as Mediomatrix. During the 5th century AD, the name evolved to Mettis, Metz has a recorded history dating back over 3,000 years. Before the conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar in 52 BC, between the 6th and 8th centuries, the city was the residence of the Merovingian kings of Austrasia. After the Treaty of Verdun in 843, Metz became the capital of the Kingdom of Lotharingia and was integrated into the Holy Roman Empire. During the 12th century, Metz rose to the status of Republic, with the signature of the Treaty of Chambord in 1552, Metz passed to the hands of the Kings of France. Under French rule, Metz was selected as capital of the Three Bishoprics, with creation of the departments by the Estates-General of 1789, Metz was chosen as capital of the Department of Moselle. Metz remained German until the end of World War I, when it reverted to France, however, after the Battle of France during the Second World War, the city was annexed once more by the German Third Reich. In 1944, the attack on the city by the U. S, Third Army freed the city from German rule and Metz reverted one more time to France after World War II. During the 1950s, Metz was chosen to be the capital of the newly created Lorraine region, with the creation of the European Community and the later European Union, the city has become central to the Greater Region and the SaarLorLux Euroregion. Metz is located on the banks of the Moselle and the Seille rivers,43 km from the Schengen tripoint where the borders of France, Germany, and Luxembourg meet. The city was built in a place where branches of the Moselle river creates several islands. The terrain of Metz forms part of the Paris Basin and presents a plateau relief cut by river valleys presenting cuestas in the north-south direction
Metz
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The
Saint-Stephen Cathedral, view of the northern façade
Metz
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Henry II of France entering Metz in 1552, putting an end to the Republic of Metz.
Metz
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Dawn sky in Metz
Metz
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Paul Verlaine by
Edmond Aman-Jean, 1892, oil on canvas,
Golden Courtyard museums — Paul Verlaine, Ode to Metz, Invectives, 1896
20.
Nancy, France
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Nancy is the capital of the north-eastern French department of Meurthe-et-Moselle, and formerly the capital of the Duchy of Lorraine, and then the French province of the same name. The metropolitan area of Nancy had a population of 410,509 inhabitants at the 1999 census,103,602 of whom lived in the city of Nancy proper. The motto of the city is Non inultus premor, Latin for Im not touched with impunity—a reference to the thistle, the earliest signs of human settlement in the area date back to 800 BC. Early settlers were attracted by easily mined iron ore and a ford in the Meurthe River. A small fortified town named Nanciacum was built by Gérard, Duke of Lorraine around 1050, Duke Charles the Bold of Burgundy, was defeated and killed in the Battle of Nancy in 1477, René II, Duke of Lorraine became the ruler. In 1736 Emperor Charles arranged her marriage to Duke François of Lorraine, exiled Polish king Stanisław Leszczyński, father-in-law of French king Louis XV, was given the vacant duchy instead. Under his nominal rule, Nancy experienced growth and a flowering of Baroque culture and architecture, with his death in 1766, the duchy became a regular French province and Nancy lost its position as a residential capital city with its own princely court and patronage. As unrest surfaced within the French armed forces during the French Revolution, a few reliable units laid siege to the town and shot or imprisoned the mutineers. In 1871, Nancy remained French when Prussia annexed Alsace-Lorraine, the flow of refugees reaching Nancy doubled its population in three decades. Artistic, academic, financial and industrial excellence flourished, establishing what is still the Capital of Lorraines trademark to this day, Nancy was freed from Nazi Germany by the U. S. Third Army in September 1944, during the Lorraine Campaign of World War II at the Battle of Nancy ), in 1988, Pope John Paul II visited Nancy. In 2005, French President Jacques Chirac, German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, Nancy is situated on the left bank of the river Meurthe, about 10 km upstream from its confluence with the Moselle. The Marne–Rhine Canal runs through the city, parallel to the Meurthe, Nancy is surrounded by hills that are about 150 m higher than the city center, which is situated at 200 m amsl. The area of Nancy proper is small,15 km2. Its built-up area is continuous with those of its adjacent suburbs, the neighboring communes of Nancy are, Jarville-la-Malgrange, Laxou, Malzéville, Maxéville, Saint-Max, Tomblaine, Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy and Villers-lès-Nancy. Adjacent to its south is the quarter Charles III – Centre Ville and this quarter contains the famous Place Stanislas, the Nancy Cathedral, the Opéra national de Lorraine and the main railway station. The old city centers heritage dates from the Middle Ages to the 18th century, the cathedral of Nancy, the Triumphal Arch and the Place de la Carriere are a fine examples of 18th-century architecture. The Palace of the Dukes of Lorraine is the princely residence of the rulers
Nancy, France
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Place Stanislas – Fountain of Amphitrite
Nancy, France
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A panoramic view of
Place Stanislas
Nancy, France
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The emblem of the
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth on Notre-Dame de Bon Secours
Nancy, France
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Cours-Léopold
21.
Meurthe-et-Moselle
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Meurthe-et-Moselle is a department in the Grand Est region of France, named after the Meurthe and Moselle rivers. Meurthe-et-Moselle was created in 1871 at the end of the Franco-Prussian War from the parts of the departments of Moselle. The current boundary between Meurthe-et-Moselle and Moselle was the border between France and Germany from 1871 to 1919 and again between 1940 and 1944, parts of Meurthe-et-Moselle belong to the Lorraine Regional Natural Park. The department extends for 130 km from north to south and is between 7 and 103 km wide and its chief rivers are, the Moselle the Meurthe the Chiers the Vezouze The economy was highly dependent on mining until the 1960s. There are iron, salt, and lime extraction sites, the urban area around Nancy has a very dynamic economy based largely on services, research, and higher education. The inhabitants of the department are known as Meurthe-et-Mosellans, the area around Nancy has become highly urbanized, whereas the Saintois in the south is quite rural
Meurthe-et-Moselle
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Prefecture building of the Meurthe-et-Moselle department, in Nancy
Meurthe-et-Moselle
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Detail of the
Place Stanislas in
Nancy, a
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Meurthe-et-Moselle
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Walls and cathedral of
Toul
Meurthe-et-Moselle
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House near the château of
Prény
22.
Capital city
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A capital city is the municipality exercising primary status in a country, state, province, or other region, usually as its seat of government. A capital is typically a city that encompasses the offices and meeting places of its respective government. In some jurisdictions, including countries, the different branches of government are located in different settlements. In some cases, a distinction is made between the capital and the seat of government, which is in another place. The word capital derives from the Latin caput, meaning head, in several English-speaking states, the terms county town, county seat, and borough seat are also used in lower subdivisions. In unitary states, subnational capitals are known as administrative centres. The capital is often, but not necessarily, the largest city of its constituent, historically, the major economic centre of a state or region often becomes the focal point of political power, and becomes a capital through conquest or federation. Examples are Ancient Babylon, Abbasid Baghdad, Ancient Athens, Rome, Constantinople, Changan, Ancient Cusco, Madrid, Paris, London, Moscow, Beijing, Tokyo, Vienna, and Berlin. Some of these cities are or were also religious centres, e. g. Constantinople, Rome, Jerusalem, Ancient Babylon, Moscow, Belgrade, Paris, and Peking. A capital city that is also the economic, cultural. The convergence of political and economic or cultural power is by no means universal, traditional capitals may be economically eclipsed by provincial rivals, e. g. Nanking by Shanghai, Quebec City by Montreal, and numerous US state capitals. The decline of a dynasty or culture could also mean the extinction of its city, as occurred at Babylon. Although many capitals are defined by constitution or legislation, many long-time capitals have no legal designation as such, for example Bern, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London, Paris, are located in or near them. In Canada, there is a capital, while the ten provinces. The states of such countries as Mexico, Brazil, and Australia all have capital cities, for example, the six state capitals of Australia are Adelaide, Brisbane, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney. In Australia, the capital cities is regularly used, to refer to the aforementioned state capitals plus the federal capital Canberra and Darwin. Abu Dhabi is the city of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. In unitary states which consist of multiple constituent countries, such as the United Kingdom or the Kingdom of Denmark, the national capitals of Germany and Russia, the Stadtstaat of Berlin and the Federal City of Moscow, are also constituent states of both countries in their own right
Capital city
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Parliament Hill, the national legislative buildings, in
Ottawa, the capital of
Canada.
Capital city
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The
Roman Forum was surrounded by many government buildings as the capital of
Ancient Rome.
Capital city
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The
Western Wall is one of the greatest findings of the Jewish history in
Jerusalem.
Capital city
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Cornwall Council headquarters in the
county town of
Truro.
23.
Meuse (department)
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Meuse is a department in northeast France, named after the River Meuse. Parts of Meuse belong to Parc naturel régional de Lorraine, front lines in trench warfare during World War I ran varying courses through the department and it hosted an important battle/offensive in 1916 in and around Verdun. Meuse is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790, the new departments were to be uniformly administered and approximately equal to one another in size and population. The department was created from the provinces of Barrois and Three Bishoprics. From about 500 AD, the Franks controlled this part of northeastern France, the Carolingian territories were divided into three sections in 843 at the Treaty of Verdun, and the area that is now the department of Meuse, became part of Middle Francia. Lothair II died without heirs and Lotharingia was divided into an east and west part. The Battle of Sedan was fought in the part of the department during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. It resulted in the capture of the Emperor Napoleon III and large numbers of his troops and effectively decided the war in favour of Prussia, the area was again a battleground in World War I when the Battle of Verdun was fought in 1916. In the Second World War it again saw action in battle when the Germans sought to establish a base from which to capture the Meuse bridges. Meuse is a department in northeastern France and is part of the region of Grand Est, the capital and largest town in the department is Bar-le-Duc, and other large towns are Commercy and Verdun. The main rivers flowing through the department are the River Meuse, the Aire, a ridge running from south to north separates the watersheds of the Seine and the Rhine. These hills are called the Argonne and are clothed in oak forests, the area of the department is 2,408 sq mi. The principal crops grown are wheat, barley and oats, potatoes, oilseed rape, vegetables, livestock is raised and timber is extracted from the forests. The main industries are brewing and the manufacture of glass and tiles, lace-making is a traditional craft in the department. Part of the department is in the Lorraine Regional Natural Park, the park has many natural habitats including calcareous grassland, forested valleys, wet meadows, ponds and streams. There are many Natura 2000 protected areas and it is an important resting area for migratory birds, among the different habitats it includes a stretch of coast, the plain of Woëvre, the Lac de Madine, the Meuse valley and the Hague plateau. The total area of the park is 205,000 hectares, since the mid-nineteenth century, the exodus of the countryside inhabitants to the cities has caused the population of rural France to fall. Meuse has no big cities to receive population and the population of the department has thus decreased
Meuse (department)
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Prefecture building of the Meuse department, in Bar-le-Duc
Meuse (department)
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Spring in Meuse
Meuse (department)
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Bar-le-Duc
Meuse (department)
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Le Transi de René de Chalon by
Ligier Richier in
Bar-le-Duc
24.
Bar-le-Duc
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Bar-le-Duc, formerly known as Bar, is a commune in the Meuse département, of which it is the capital. The department is in Grand Est in northeastern France and it is limited towards the north-east by the Marne-Rhine Canal, on the south-west by a small arm of the Ornain, called the Canal des Usines, on the left bank of which the upper town is situated. Bar-le-Duc was at one time the seat of the countship, later Duchy of Bar, though probably of ancient origin, the town was unimportant until the 10th century when it became the residence of the counts. Originally part of the medieval duchy of Upper Lorraine, at some stage in the early modern period it was acquired by the neighbouring dukes of Lorraine. The Ville Haute, which is reached by staircases and steep narrow thoroughfares, is intersected by a long, quiet street, bordered by houses of the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. In this quarter are the remains of the château of the dukes of Bar, dismantled in 1670, the old clock-tower, and the college, built in the latter half of the 16th century. The lower town contains the buildings and the churches of Notre-Dame, the most ancient in the town. Among the statues of distinguished natives of the town is one to Nicolas Oudinot, other sights include the Notre-Dame Bridge, with five arches surmounted by a chapel in the middle. The highly rarefied Bar-le-duc jelly, also known as Lorraine Jelly, is a preparation of white currant or red currant fruit preserves. First referenced in the record in 1344, it is also colloquially referred to as Bar Caviar. Bar-le-Duc was the birthplace of, Jean de Lorraine, Cardinal de Lorraine, Bishop of Metz, Archbishop of Narbonne. net, photos of Bar-le-Duc
Bar-le-Duc
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Clock tower
Bar-le-Duc
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Saint-Étienne Church and the court house (right) on the Saint-Pierre Square in Bar-le-Duc
Bar-le-Duc
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Notre-Dame Bridge over the
Ornain
Bar-le-Duc
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Statue of
Ernest Bradfer (1833–1882)
Lorraine topics
