Luxeuil-les-Bains is a commune

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 Haute-Saône

Haute-Saône

Haute-Saône is a French department of the Franche-Comté région, named after the Saône River.- History :The department was created in the early years of the French Revolution through the application of a law dated 22 December 1789, from part of the former province of Franche-Comté...

 department in the region

Régions of France

France is divided into 27 administrative regions , 22 of which are in Metropolitan France, and five of which are overseas. Corsica is a territorial collectivity , but is considered a region in mainstream usage, and is even shown as such on the INSEE website...

 of Franche-Comté

Franche-Comté

Franche-Comté the former "Free County" of Burgundy, as distinct from the neighbouring Duchy, is an administrative region and a traditional province of eastern France...

 in eastern France.

History

Luxeuil (sometimes rendered Luxeu in older texts) was the Roman Luxovium and contained many fine buildings at the time of its destruction by the Huns

Huns

The Huns were a group of nomadic people who, appearing from east of the Volga River, migrated into Europe c. AD 370 and established the vast Hunnic Empire there. Since de Guignes linked them with the Xiongnu, who had been northern neighbours of China 300 years prior to the emergence of the Huns,...

 under Attila in 451. In 590, St Columban

Columbanus

Columbanus was an Irish missionary notable for founding a number of monasteries on the European continent from around 590 in the Frankish and Lombard kingdoms, most notably Luxeuil and Bobbio , and stands as an exemplar of Irish missionary activity in early medieval Europe.He spread among the...

 here founded the Abbey of Luxeuil, afterwards one of the most famous in Franche-Comté

Franche-Comté

Franche-Comté the former "Free County" of Burgundy, as distinct from the neighbouring Duchy, is an administrative region and a traditional province of eastern France...

. In the 8th century, it was destroyed by the Saracens; afterwards rebuilt, monastery and town were devastated by the Normans

Normans

The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...

, Magyars, and Muslims in the 9th century and pillaged on several occasions afterwards. The burning of the monastery and ravaging of the town are commonly used to illustrate the point that no place in Europe was safe during the invasions.

The abbey schools were celebrated in the Middle Ages and the abbots had great influence; but their power was curtailed by the emperor Charles V

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor

Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...

 and the abbey was suppressed at the time of the French Revolution

French Revolution

The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...

.

External links

• New tourist office website (in French)
• Tourist office website (in French)
• Picture of Luxeuil-les-Bains Basilica