Grandfontaine, Bas-Rhin
Encyclopedia
Grandfontaine is a commune
in the Bas-Rhin
department in Alsace
in north-eastern France
. In the German dialect
of the region it is called Grosbrun.
. The name Framont comes from the name of the mountain that overlooks the village, derived from the latinate name "Ferratus mons" (Iron-rich mountain) recorded in 1261. Today the name Framont is used only for a small site at the bottom of the valley where metal based industries grew up.
département and on the departmental boundary with the Moselle
département. 40 kilometres (25 mi) west of Molsheim
, Grandfontaine stretches out beside several mountain streams which feed in to the River Bruche at Schirmeck
5 kilometres (3 mi) to the east. This is a mountain village, with most of the buildings at between 400 and 700 meters above sea level, and the rest of the territory being occupied almost entirely by the forest. Surrounding peaks include the Donon (1008m), the Tête des Blanches Roches (916 m), the Corbeille (899 m), the Maxe (863 m), the Rond Perthuis (849m), the Tête Mathis (838 m) and the Haut de la Charaille (758 m).
Following the boundary changes of 1872 (see below) whereby the land imputed to Alsatian Grandfontaine was expanded to include forests which, formerly, had been part of Lorraine, two rivers that flow through Lorraine
, the Plaine and the White Sarre
, both have their source in the commune.
By road Grandfontaine is accessible using the departmental road RD 392 which runs from Schirmeck
a short distance to the south-east through Grandfontaine to the Donon Pass (718 m) which is where the road leaves Alsace and enters Lorraine. The nearest railway station, at Schirmeck, is on the regional
Strasbourg-Molsheim-Saales-Saint-Dié-Épinal line.
lies to the north-east, Schirmeck
to the south-east, Moussey
to the south-west, and Vexaincourt
, Luvigny
, Raon-sur-Plaine
and Raon-lès-Leau
are all over the mountains to the west. Turquestein-Blancrupt
is to the north-west.
).
The history of Grandfontaine is closely linked to the exploitation of the iron deposits in the adjacent hills, which predates written records and probably dates back to antiquity, but was certainly the defining activity of the community during the later Middle Ages and, above all, between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. The first surviving mention of the metal extraction arises in connection with the troubled the thirteenth century when the area found itself caught between the expansionist ambitions of the Counts of Salm
and the wish of the Bishop of Metz, Jacob of Lorraine, to limit the power of the major secular land owners. The resulting struggles dislocated the metallurgy
businesses of "Ferratus Mons" (the Iron Mountain). The industry appears to have been restored by the sixteenth century when mining and the associated iron works reached a hitherto unprecedented scale, marked in the middle of the century by the introduction of modern blast furnaces which were able to last for several years and, weather permitting, produce Cast iron
blocks. These more robust and profitable furnaces were introduced to Grandfontaine by Thierry Buron from Varennes-en-Argonne
, site of another booming iron business a hundred or so kilometres to the west. The exercise involved transferring a successful technology from the iron works controlled by the Counts of Salm
to an iron area on the frontiers of Lorraine
and Alsace
. The resulting climate of exceptional prosperity together with the monopoly over iron production in the region enjoyed by the Salm family were lost following the destruction inflicted by the Thirty years War, and the subsequent warring between France
and The Empire
which continued until after the death of Louis XIV, by which time Alsace
was becoming accustomed to being part of France.
After 1715, the focus of French expansionism moved increasingly overseas: the death of the Sun King triggered a return to prosperity for the iron foundries of Grandfontaine. Under the dynamic leadership of a new director named Pierre Launay the Forges of Framont quickly regained their reputation: in 1720 the Duke of Lorraine
looked no further for the iron castings needed for the construction of his new château at Lunéville
. Along with the rest of Alsace, the community experienced a prolonged period of prosperity through the rest of the eighteenth century.
By the middle of the nineteenth century it was becoming more difficult to provide cast iron product of consistent quality, the best veins of ore having by now been exhausted. Recovering the remaining ore became more expensive and the economics of the smelting process were adversely affected by the increasing cost of charcoal
. The loss of profitability prompted several attempts to reorganise the business, but the best years were clearly over and on April 7, 1863 the forges were closed.
In 1871 Grandfontaine benefited from a last minute renegotiation following the surrender
of Alsace
and Lorraine to Germany
. France was keen to retain a railway line of which, under the terms originally imposed, six kilometres near Avricourt
would have ended up in Germany. The Germans were however persuaded to return the small amount of land involved to France in return for a large area of woodland surrounding the nearby communes of Raon-sur-Plaine
and Raon-lès-Leau
in Lorraine. The woodland provided excellent scope for profitable forestry and contributed to the prosperity of Grandfontaine (now in Germany). After 1919
and again in 1944, when Alsace and Lorraine were transferred back to France, there was no appetite for returning to the pre-1871 frontier between Alsace and Lorraine: the lucrative forests remain in Alsace and the Grandfontaine commune has retained them, notwithstanding the protests from Raon across the mountains
in Lorraine.
died at his home in Grandfontaine on July 20, 2003.
Communes of France
The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or villages in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany...
in the Bas-Rhin
Bas-Rhin
Bas-Rhin is a department of France. The name means "Lower Rhine". It is the more populous and densely populated of the two departments of the Alsace region, with 1,079,013 inhabitants in 2006.- History :...
department in Alsace
Alsace
Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...
in north-eastern France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. In the German dialect
Alsatian language
Alsatian is a Low Alemannic German dialect spoken in most of Alsace, a region in eastern France which has passed between French and German control many times.-Language family:...
of the region it is called Grosbrun.
Name
For many centuries the names Grandfontaine et Framont were used interchangeably. The name Grandfontaine and its Alsatian equivalent both describe an abundant water springSpring (hydrosphere)
A spring—also known as a rising or resurgence—is a component of the hydrosphere. Specifically, it is any natural situation where water flows to the surface of the earth from underground...
. The name Framont comes from the name of the mountain that overlooks the village, derived from the latinate name "Ferratus mons" (Iron-rich mountain) recorded in 1261. Today the name Framont is used only for a small site at the bottom of the valley where metal based industries grew up.
Geography
The village is positioned in the south of the Bas-RhinBas-Rhin
Bas-Rhin is a department of France. The name means "Lower Rhine". It is the more populous and densely populated of the two departments of the Alsace region, with 1,079,013 inhabitants in 2006.- History :...
département and on the departmental boundary with the Moselle
Moselle
Moselle is a department in the east of France named after the river Moselle.- History :Moselle is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...
département. 40 kilometres (25 mi) west of Molsheim
Molsheim
Molsheim is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France. The total population in 2006 was 9,382. Molsheim had been a very fast growing city between the French censuses of 1968 and 1999, passing from 5,739 to 9,331 inhabitants, but this increase came to a noticeable halt...
, Grandfontaine stretches out beside several mountain streams which feed in to the River Bruche at Schirmeck
Schirmeck
Schirmeck is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.-References:*...
5 kilometres (3 mi) to the east. This is a mountain village, with most of the buildings at between 400 and 700 meters above sea level, and the rest of the territory being occupied almost entirely by the forest. Surrounding peaks include the Donon (1008m), the Tête des Blanches Roches (916 m), the Corbeille (899 m), the Maxe (863 m), the Rond Perthuis (849m), the Tête Mathis (838 m) and the Haut de la Charaille (758 m).
Following the boundary changes of 1872 (see below) whereby the land imputed to Alsatian Grandfontaine was expanded to include forests which, formerly, had been part of Lorraine, two rivers that flow through Lorraine
Lorraine (région)
Lorraine is one of the 27 régions of France. The administrative region has two cities of equal importance, Metz and Nancy. Metz is considered to be the official capital since that is where the regional parliament is situated...
, the Plaine and the White Sarre
Saar River
The Saar is a river in northeastern France and western Germany, and a right tributary of the Moselle. It rises in the Vosges mountains on the border of Alsace and Lorraine and flows northwards into the Moselle near Trier. It has two headstreams , that both start near Mont Donon, the highest peak...
, both have their source in the commune.
By road Grandfontaine is accessible using the departmental road RD 392 which runs from Schirmeck
Schirmeck
Schirmeck is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.-References:*...
a short distance to the south-east through Grandfontaine to the Donon Pass (718 m) which is where the road leaves Alsace and enters Lorraine. The nearest railway station, at Schirmeck, is on the regional
TER Alsace
TER Alsace is the regional rail network serving the région of Alsace, eastern France.- Rail:-Road:* Cernay - Sewen* Colmar - Turckheim - Munster - Metzeral* Colmar - Volgelsheim* Haguenau - Niederbronn - Bitche...
Strasbourg-Molsheim-Saales-Saint-Dié-Épinal line.
Adjacent communes
WischesWisches
Wisches is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.-References:*...
lies to the north-east, Schirmeck
Schirmeck
Schirmeck is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.-References:*...
to the south-east, Moussey
Moussey, Vosges
Moussey is a commune in the Vosges department in Lorraine in northeastern France.Inhabitants are called Mousséens.- Geography :Positioned on the eastern side of Lorraine, the village of Moussey is the last inhabited settlement along the Senones Valley before, eventually, the road crosses the Prayé...
to the south-west, and Vexaincourt
Vexaincourt
Vexaincourt is a commune in the Vosges department in Lorraine in northeastern France....
, Luvigny
Luvigny
Luvigny is a commune in the Vosges department in Lorraine in northeastern France....
, Raon-sur-Plaine
Raon-sur-Plaine
Raon-sur-Plaine is a commune in the Vosges department in Lorraine in northeastern France.Inhabitants are called Raonnais.-Geography:Raon-sur-Plaine is positioned in the Celles Valley, to the west of the highest point of the North Vosges Mountains, the Donon Peak...
and Raon-lès-Leau
Raon-lès-Leau
Raon-lès-Leau is a commune in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in north-eastern France.-See also:*Communes of the Meurthe-et-Moselle department...
are all over the mountains to the west. Turquestein-Blancrupt
Turquestein-Blancrupt
Turquestein-Blancrupt is a commune in the Moselle department in Lorraine in north-eastern France....
is to the north-west.
History
For a more detailed political history of the district, please refer to the entry on Salm-en-Vosges (currently only available in FrenchFrench language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
).
The history of Grandfontaine is closely linked to the exploitation of the iron deposits in the adjacent hills, which predates written records and probably dates back to antiquity, but was certainly the defining activity of the community during the later Middle Ages and, above all, between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. The first surviving mention of the metal extraction arises in connection with the troubled the thirteenth century when the area found itself caught between the expansionist ambitions of the Counts of Salm
House of Salm
The House of Salm was a noble family originating in the Belgian Ardennes and ruling Salm. It is above all known for the experiences of the branch which came to be located in the Vosges Mountains and over time came to rule over a principality whose capital was Badonviller then Senones.Its notable...
and the wish of the Bishop of Metz, Jacob of Lorraine, to limit the power of the major secular land owners. The resulting struggles dislocated the metallurgy
Metallurgy
Metallurgy is a domain of materials science that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their intermetallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are called alloys. It is also the technology of metals: the way in which science is applied to their practical use...
businesses of "Ferratus Mons" (the Iron Mountain). The industry appears to have been restored by the sixteenth century when mining and the associated iron works reached a hitherto unprecedented scale, marked in the middle of the century by the introduction of modern blast furnaces which were able to last for several years and, weather permitting, produce Cast iron
Cast iron
Cast iron is derived from pig iron, and while it usually refers to gray iron, it also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due...
blocks. These more robust and profitable furnaces were introduced to Grandfontaine by Thierry Buron from Varennes-en-Argonne
Varennes-en-Argonne
Varennes-en-Argonne or simply Varennes is a commune in the Meuse department in Lorraine in north-eastern France.Population : 691.-Geography:Varennes-en-Argonne lies on the river Aire to the northeast of Sainte-Menehould, near Verdun.-History:...
, site of another booming iron business a hundred or so kilometres to the west. The exercise involved transferring a successful technology from the iron works controlled by the Counts of Salm
Salm (state)
Salm is the name of several historic countships and principalities in present Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and France.-Origins:The County of Salm arose in the 10th century in Vielsalm, in the Ardennes region of present Belgium...
to an iron area on the frontiers of Lorraine
Lorraine (province)
The Duchy of Upper Lorraine was an historical duchy roughly corresponding with the present-day northeastern Lorraine region of France, including parts of modern Luxembourg and Germany. The main cities were Metz, Verdun, and the historic capital Nancy....
and Alsace
Alsace
Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...
. The resulting climate of exceptional prosperity together with the monopoly over iron production in the region enjoyed by the Salm family were lost following the destruction inflicted by the Thirty years War, and the subsequent warring between France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and The Empire
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
which continued until after the death of Louis XIV, by which time Alsace
Alsace
Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...
was becoming accustomed to being part of France.
After 1715, the focus of French expansionism moved increasingly overseas: the death of the Sun King triggered a return to prosperity for the iron foundries of Grandfontaine. Under the dynamic leadership of a new director named Pierre Launay the Forges of Framont quickly regained their reputation: in 1720 the Duke of Lorraine
Leopold, Duke of Lorraine
Leopold , surnamed the Good, was Duke of Lorraine and Bar from 1690 to his death.-Early life:Leopold Joseph Charles Dominique Agapet Hyacinthe was the son of Charles V, Duke of Lorraine, and his wife Eleonora Maria Josefa of Austria, a half-sister of Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor.At the time of...
looked no further for the iron castings needed for the construction of his new château at Lunéville
Château de Lunéville
The Château de Lunéville which had belonged to the Dukes of Lorraine since the thirteenth century, was rebuilt as “the Versailles of Lorraine” by Duke Léopold from 1703 to 1723, from designs of Pierre Bourdict and Nicolas Dorbay and then of the architect Germain Boffrand, whose masterwork it became...
. Along with the rest of Alsace, the community experienced a prolonged period of prosperity through the rest of the eighteenth century.
By the middle of the nineteenth century it was becoming more difficult to provide cast iron product of consistent quality, the best veins of ore having by now been exhausted. Recovering the remaining ore became more expensive and the economics of the smelting process were adversely affected by the increasing cost of charcoal
Charcoal
Charcoal is the dark grey residue consisting of carbon, and any remaining ash, obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents from animal and vegetation substances. Charcoal is usually produced by slow pyrolysis, the heating of wood or other substances in the absence of oxygen...
. The loss of profitability prompted several attempts to reorganise the business, but the best years were clearly over and on April 7, 1863 the forges were closed.
In 1871 Grandfontaine benefited from a last minute renegotiation following the surrender
Treaty of Frankfurt (1871)
The Treaty of Frankfurt was a peace treaty signed in Frankfurt on 10 May 1871, at the end of the Franco-Prussian War.- Summary :The treaty did the following:...
of Alsace
Alsace
Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...
and Lorraine to Germany
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
. France was keen to retain a railway line of which, under the terms originally imposed, six kilometres near Avricourt
Avricourt, Meurthe-et-Moselle
Avricourt is a commune in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in north-eastern France.- See also :* Communes of the Meurthe-et-Moselle department...
would have ended up in Germany. The Germans were however persuaded to return the small amount of land involved to France in return for a large area of woodland surrounding the nearby communes of Raon-sur-Plaine
Raon-sur-Plaine
Raon-sur-Plaine is a commune in the Vosges department in Lorraine in northeastern France.Inhabitants are called Raonnais.-Geography:Raon-sur-Plaine is positioned in the Celles Valley, to the west of the highest point of the North Vosges Mountains, the Donon Peak...
and Raon-lès-Leau
Raon-lès-Leau
Raon-lès-Leau is a commune in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in north-eastern France.-See also:*Communes of the Meurthe-et-Moselle department...
in Lorraine. The woodland provided excellent scope for profitable forestry and contributed to the prosperity of Grandfontaine (now in Germany). After 1919
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...
and again in 1944, when Alsace and Lorraine were transferred back to France, there was no appetite for returning to the pre-1871 frontier between Alsace and Lorraine: the lucrative forests remain in Alsace and the Grandfontaine commune has retained them, notwithstanding the protests from Raon across the mountains
Vosges mountains
For the department of France of the same name, see Vosges.The Vosges are a range of low mountains in eastern France, near its border with Germany. They extend along the west side of the Rhine valley in a northnortheast direction, mainly from Belfort to Saverne...
in Lorraine.
Notable people
British author Nicolas FreelingNicolas Freeling
Nicolas Freeling, born Nicolas Davidson , was a British crime novelist, best known as the author of the Van der Valk series of detective novels...
died at his home in Grandfontaine on July 20, 2003.