Everything about Lorraine Region totally explained
» This article is about the French administrative région of Lorraine. For the historical duchy and province of Lorraine, see Lorraine (province).
Lorraine is one of the 26
régions of
France. Its main city is
Metz. The region's name is derived from the medieval
Lotharingia.
Administrative history
It is important to note that the current
région of Lorraine is larger than the historical
duchy of Lorraine which gradually came under French sovereignty between
1737 and
1766. The modern
région includes
provinces and areas that were historically separate from the duchy of Lorraine proper. These are:
Some people consider that the traditional
province of Lorraine is limited to the duchy of Lorraine proper, while other people consider that it includes Barrois and the Three Bishoprics. The problem is that the duchy of Lorraine was at the origin duchy of
upper Lorraine, not including the whole area called
Lorraine.
The case of Barrois is the most complicated: the western part of Barrois (west of the
Meuse River), known as Barrois mouvant, was detached from the rest of Barrois in the early 14th century and passed under French sovereignty. On the other hand, the largest part of Barrois (east of the Meuse River) was a duchy (
Duchy of Bar) part of the
Holy Roman Empire and united with the duchy of Lorraine in the 15th century by the marriage of the Duke of Bar,
René I of Naples, with the daughter of the Duke of Lorraine,
Isabella. Thus the duchies of Bar and Lorraine were united in
personal union under the same duke, although formally they kept separate existence until their incorporation into France in
1766.
During the
French Revolution, four
départements were created on the main parts of the territories of Barrois, Three Bishoprics and the Duchy of Lorraine:
Meuse,
Meurthe,
Moselle and
Vosges. After 1870 some parts of
Moselle and
Meurthe became German and the parts that stayed French formed the new
Meurthe et Moselle. After 1918
Moselle became French again.
When the French
régions were created in the middle of the 20th century, it was decided to gather
Meurthe et Moselle,
Meuse,
Moselle and
Vosges into a single
region, simply called "Lorraine".
Lotharingia experienced great prosperity during the 12th and 13th centuries under the
Hohenstaufen emperors, but this prosperity was terminated in the 14th century by a series of harsh winters, bad harvests, and the
Black Death. During the
Renaissance, prosperity returned to Lothringia under
Habsburg administration, until the
Thirty Years' War devastated large parts of southern
Germany. Most of Elsaß was ceded to France at the
Peace of Westphalia in 1648, which marked its start, along with
Alsace, as a contested territory between France and Germany (French-German enmity). In which from
1871 until
1918 a large part of the region was part of the
German Empire as the Imperial Province
Elsaß-Lothringen.
Geography
Lorraine is the only French region to have borders with three other countries:
Belgium (
Wallonia),
Luxembourg, and Germany (
Saar,
Rhineland-Palatinate). It also borders the French regions of
Franche-Comté, Alsace, and
Champagne-Ardenne. The location of Lorraine led to it being seen as a strategic asset and as the crossroads of four nations, it had a very important role in European affairs. Many rivers run through Lorraine, including the
Rhine,
Moselle,
Meurthe, and
Meuse.
Culture
Most of Lorraine has a clear French identity. For this reason, Bismarck only annexed about a third of today's Lorraine to the German Empire following the
Franco-Prussian War. The disputed third, known as
Moselle, had a culture not easily classifiable as either
French or
German, possessing both
Romance and
Germanic dialects. Like many border regions, Lorraine was a patchwork of ethnicities and dialects, sometimes not even mutually intelligible with either French or German.
Despite the French government's "single language" policy, local Germanic dialects still survive in the northern part of the region. They are known as a whole as
Lorraine Franconian in English,
francique or
platt (lorrain) in French (not to be confused with
lorrain, the Romance dialect spoken in the region). These dialects are distinct from the neighbouring
Alsatian language, to the south, although the two are often confused. Neither has any form of official recognition. Historically, there are two dialect familiies spoken in Germanic Lorraine. Both Moselle and Lorraine Franconian are spoken in the region. They are similar to the dialects native to the neighboring west central German dialets spoken in Luxembourg and Germany.
Like most of
France's regional languages (such as
Breton,
Flemish,
Catalan,
Provençal and
Alsatian), Lorraine and Moselle Franconian German have been largely replaced by French since the advent of mandatory public schooling in the 19th and 20th centuries. However, there are efforts underway to preserve the dialects and many older people still speak them.
Cross of Lorraine
During World War II, the cross was adopted as the official symbol of the
Free French Forces (French:
Forces Françaises Libres, or FFL) under
Charles de Gaulle.
The
capitaine de corvette Thierry d'Argenlieu suggested the adoption of the
Cross of Lorraine as the symbol of the Free French, both to recall the perseverance of
Joan of Arc (whose symbol it had been), and as an answer to the
Swastika.
In his General Order n° 2 of
3 July 1940, vice-admiral
Émile Muselier, then chief of the naval and air forces of the Free French for only two days, created the bow flag displaying the French colours with a red Cross of Lorraine, and a
cockade also featuring the Cross of Lorraine.
Appropriately, de Gaulle is memorialised by a gigantic 43-meter high Cross of Lorraine at his home village of
Colombey-les-Deux-Églises.
The cross was also carried on the fuselages of aircraft flying on behalf of the
Forces Aériennes Françaises Libres (FAFL) from 1940 to 1943 to distinguish them from the aircraft of the
Vichy French air force, which continued to sport the traditional roundels of the
French Air Force (
Armée de l'Air), dating from
World War I.
The Cross of Lorraine was later adopted by
Gaullist movements such as the
Rally for the Republic (RPR).
Cuisine
The use of the
potato in Lorraine can be traced back to 1665 and it's used in various traditional dishes of the region such as the
potée lorraine. The Breux potato, which takes its name from the village of
Breux in the north of the Meuse, is considered to be excellent by experts due to the perfect conditions of the area.
Smoked bacon is also a traditional ingredient of the cuisine of Lorraine. It is used in various traditional dishes of the region, including the famous
Quiche Lorraine. The
mirabelle plum of Lorraine is the emblematic fruit of Lorraine. It is used in pies and other desserts, as well as in
alcoholic beverages.
Traditional dishes in the region include:
Quiche Lorraine
Pâté lorrain (chopped pork and veal flavoured with white wine and baked in puff pastry)
Potée lorraine (a stew of smoked meats and sausages, with cabbage and root vegetables)
Andouille (tripe sausage)
Beverages
Wine: The most well-known wine of the region is the pinot noir of Toul. There are vineyards in the valley of the Moselle, the valley of Seille, the valley of Metz, and the valley of Sierck.
Beer: Historically, Lorraine was the location of many breweries, including the Champigneulles, Vézelise, Tantonville, Ligny-In-Barrois, Uckange, and Metz.
Today, these breweries have closed down, but there are still breweries operating in the region, including Les Brasseurs de Lorraine in Pont-à-Mousson.
Economy
With 44 billion euros, Lorraine generates 3.4% of France's GDP, and ranks 8th out of the 22 regions of France. The logistics and service sectors have experienced the strongest growth in recent years while the traditional industries (textiles, mining, metallurgy) have experienced a decline and consequently the region has experienced a major difficulty with a rising unemployment rate that's near the national average. In 1997 the last iron ore mine in Lorraine, which once produced over 50 million tonnes of iron, was closed.
|
Lorraine |
France |
| GDP 2000 |
44.3 Billion Euros |
1.816 Trillion Euros |
| Agriculture |
2.5% |
2.8% |
| Industry |
30.7% |
25.6% |
| Service |
66.8% |
71.6% |
| Unemployment June 2002 |
8.4% |
9% |
Major communities
Épinal
Forbach
Lunéville
Metz
Montigny-lès-Metz
Nancy
Saint-Dié-des-Vosges
Sarreguemines
Thionville
Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy
Verdun
Fauna and regional Flora
Fauna
Lynx
Fox
Flora
Boxwood
Charm
Thistle
Spruce
Maple
Fern
Ash
Geranium
Beech
Mirabelle
Lily of the Valley
Bilberry
Sage
Notable Lorrainians
Art and Literature
Jacques Callot (1592-1635)
(1600-1682}
Émile Erckmann (1822-1899)
Alexandre Chatrian (1826-1890)
Paul Verlaine (1844-1896)
Émile Jules Gallé (1846-1904
Jules Bastien Lepage (1848-1884
Eugène Vallin (1856-1922)
Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)(pictured)
(1858-1943)
Louis Majorelle (1859-1926)
Lucien Weissenburger (1860-1929)
Émile Friant (1863-1932)
(1865 - 1953)
(1870-1937)
(1870-1936)
Émile André (1871-1933)
Jean-Marie Straub (1933-)
(1947-)
Bernard-Marie Koltès (1948-1989)
Economy and Industry
(1859-1932)
(1864-1930)
(1853-1909)
Military
Godfrey de Bouillon (1060-1100)
Joan of Arc (1412-1431)
Georges Mouton (1770-1838)
(1774-1828)
Louis-Hubert Lyautey (1854-1934)
Musicians, actors and comedians
Florent Schmitt (1870-1958)
Darry Cowl (1925-2006)
(1956-)
(1959-)
Patricia Kaas (1966-)
Politicians
Pierre-Louis Roederer (1754-1835)
Jules Ferry (1832-1893)
Raymond Poincaré (1860-1934)
Maurice Barrès (1862-1923)
Albert Lebrun (1871-1950)
Robert Schuman (1886-1963)
Jack Lang (1939-)
Religion
Bruno d'Eguisheim-Dagsbourg Pope Leo IX (1002-1054)
Henri Grégoire (1750 - 1831)
Sciences
Charles Messier (1730-1817)
Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier (1757-1785)
Jean-Victor Poncelet (1788-1867)
Charles Hermite (1822-1901)
Edmond Laguerre (1834-1886)
Henri Poincaré
Marie Marvingt (1875-1963)
Louis Camille Maillard (1878-1936)
Hubert Curien (1924-2005)
Sport
Michel Platini
Divers
Raymond Schwartz (1894-1973)Further Information
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