Lorraine (redirected from Lorraine, France)

Lorraine (lôrĕn`), Ger. Lothringen, region and former province, NE France, bordering in the N on Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany, in the E on Alsace, in the S on Franche-Comté, and in the W on Champagne. It is now divided into four departments—Moselle, Meurthe-et-Moselle, Meuse, and Vosges. In Moselle dept., of which Metz is the capital, German is widely spoken along with French. The rest of Lorraine is French-speaking. Nancy is its economic and intellectual center.

Economy

Except for the Vosges Mts. in the southeast and the ridges paralleling the Moselle and Meuse rivers, Lorraine is a slightly rolling plateau with pastures and some agricultural districts. Hops are grown (Lorraine has large breweries), and there are numerous vineyards. In the east salt is mined; coal was formerly mined. The northeastern section of the region has turned into a rustbelt, with its mining and steel industries, once a mainstay of the economy, losing thousands of jobs since the early 1980s as the low-grade iron ore found near the Belgian and Luxembourg borders and near Nancy lost markets to low-cost high-grade iron ore from abroad. Lorraine is linked to Berlin, Amsterdam, Brussels, Milan, and Basel by rail.

History

Lorraine, as its name indicates, was in the 9th cent. part of the kingdom of Lotharingia; it became a duchy under the Holy Roman Empire. It passed in 1048 to the house of Alsace, which then became the house of Lorraine and controlled the duchy until 1738. Several fiefs emerged in the 12th–13th cent. that escaped the control of the dukes. Chief of these were the county of Barrois, later the duchy of Bar (see Bar-le-Duc), and the three bishoprics of Metz, Toul, and Verdun. Bar and Lorraine were reunited when Lorraine passed by marriage to René of Anjou, duke of Bar; the three bishoprics were finally annexed by France in 1552. René II of Lorraine helped (1477) to defeat, at Nancy, Charles the Bold of Burgundy, who had seized most of the duchy.

In the 16th cent. a cadet branch of the house of Lorraine, the Guise family, gained tremendous influence in France, while Lorraine itself, under Duke Charles II (1559–1608), enjoyed a period of relative order and prosperity amid a Europe torn by religious and imperialistic strife. Lorraine was occupied by France in the Thirty Years War (1618–48). Duke Charles IV spent most of his life trying to recover his lands, and his successor, Charles V, although he helped to recover Hungary from Turkey, never managed to recover Lorraine. At last, in the Treaty of Ryswick (1697), Leopold I was recognized in possession of the duchy.

Leopold's heir, Francis III, married Maria Theresa of Austria, became emperor as Francis I, and founded the house of Hapsburg-Lorraine. By an arrangement (1735) with Louis XV, he exchanged the duchies of Lorraine and Bar for Tuscany; Lorraine and Bar were given to Louis XV's father-in-law, Stanislaus I, ex-king of Poland, upon whose death (1766) they passed to France. As a French province, Lorraine continued to enjoy certain exemptions and privileges.

In 1871, as a result of the Franco-Prussian War, the eastern part of Lorraine was ceded to Germany and united with Alsace as the imperial land (Reichsland) of Alsace-Lorraine. Those parts of Lorraine remaining French were organized into the present department of Meurthe-et-Moselle. After World War I, Alsace-Lorraine was returned to France, but it was again annexed (1940–44) by Germany during World War II. (The unique problems of Alsace-Lorraine are discussed in the article Alsace.) During both world wars Lorraine suffered heavily.

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Lorraine

Historical duchy of western Europe and government region of France. Originally known as Upper Lorraine and later simply as Lorraine, it was formed by the division of Lorraine (Lotharingia) into two duchies in 959. Upper Lorraine, in the region of the Meuse and Moselle rivers, was ruled by one ducal family from the 11th to the 15th century. Metz, Toul, and Verdun, outside the dukes' control, were seized by France in 1552. Lorraine came permanently under the French crown in 1766 and was divided into départements in 1790. After the Franco-Prussian War, part of Lorraine was ceded to Germany as part of Alsace-Lorraine. Roughly coextensive with the historical region of Lorraine, the current administrative région of Lorraine (pop., 1999: 2,310,376) covers 9,092 sq mi (23,547 sq km). Its capital is Metz.

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Lorraine

 or Lotharingia

Medieval region, present-day northeastern France. By the Treaty of Verdun (843), it became part of the realm of Lothar I. Inherited by his son Lothar, it became the kingdom of Lotharingia. After Lothar's death, it was contested by Germany and France and came under German control in 925.

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Lorraine

1. a region and former province of E France; ceded to Germany in 1871 after the Franco-Prussian war and regained by France in 1919; rich iron-ore deposits

2. Kingdom of. an early medieval kingdom on the Meuse, Moselle, and Rhine rivers: later a duchy

3. a former duchy in E France, once the S half of this kingdom