Lixheim

Commune in Grand Est, France

(2020–2026) Christian Untereiner^[1]Area3.96 km² (1.53 sq mi)Population577 • Density150/km² (380/sq mi)Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET) • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)INSEE/Postal codeElevation268–336 m (879–1,102 ft)
(avg. 350 m or 1,150 ft)¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Lixheim is a commune of France in the northeastern Moselle department of Grand Est, a kilometre southeast of another commune, Vieux-Lixheim.

History

The first Lixheim (now Vieux-Lixheim) was founded by a Benedictine priory in the 12th century.

The new town was founded by Count Palatine George Gustavus in 1608 to replace Phalsbourg, which his father Count Palatine George John I had had to cede. In their small principality of the county of Lutzelstein (La Petite-Pierre), the Counts Palatine wanted to create fortified towns capable of accommodating their Reformed co-religionists, who had been expelled from the Duchy of Lorraine.^[3]

Nevertheless, Lixheim was sold to the Duke of Lorraine in 1623; despite his commitment to freedom of Protestant worship, Duke Henry II The Good did little to resist the pressures that drove many of the Reformed inhabitants into exodus.^[4]

In 1629–1660, Lixheim and Phalsbourg formed the short-lived principality of Phalsbourg and Lixheim, for the benefit of Henriette de Lorraine and her three successive husbands, including Louis de Guise. The princess had coins minted in Lixheim.^[3]

On the death of the princess, the principality's territories reverted to the Duchy of Lorraine. Duke Leopold observed in his own way the tolerance promised by Henry II: the Reformed were allowed to worship in the neighboring county of Nassau-Sarrewerden (Alsace bossue), a modest but commendable concession from a sovereign whose House had always fiercely defended Catholicism.^[3]

See also

• Communes of the Moselle department

References

External links

• Media related to Lixheim at Wikimedia Commons