The Alsace bossue ( Alemannic and

Frankish Frankish may refer to: * Franks, a Germanic tribe and their culture ** Frankish language or its modern descendants, Franconian languages * Francia, a post-Roman state in France and Germany * East Francia, the successor state to Francia in Germany ...

: ''S'Gromme/S'Krumme Elsass'', German: ''das krumme Elsass/ Krummes Elsass''), is a territory of

Bas-Rhin Bas-Rhin (; Alsatian: ''Unterelsàss'', ' or '; traditional german: links=no, Niederrhein; en, Lower Rhine) is a department in Alsace which is a part of the Grand Est super-region of France. The name means 'Lower Rhine', referring to its low ...

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

, which includes the three former cantons of

Sarre-Union Sarre-Union () is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. It consists of two older towns that were unified on 16 June 1794. On the east bank of the river Sarre is the town of Bouquenom () and on the west bank ...

, Drulingen and

La Petite-Pierre La Petite-Pierre (; german: Lützelstein; Rhine Franconian: ''Lítzelstain'') is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. It lies in the historical and cultural region of Alsace (Elsass in German). Petit-Pierre ...

(today all part of the canton of Ingwiller). Just like nearby parts of

Lorraine Lorraine , also , , ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; german: Lothringen ; lb, Loutrengen; nl, Lotharingen is a cultural and historical region in Northeastern France, now located in the administrative region of G ...

, the Alsace bossue is linguistically predominantly located into the

Rhine Franconian __NOTOC__ Rhenish Franconian or Rhine Franconian (german: Rheinfränkisch ) is a dialect chain of West Central German. It comprises the varieties of German spoken across the western regions of the states of Saarland, Rhineland-Palatinate, north ...

area.

History

The current borders of this territory date back from 1793, when the County of Saarwerden was annexed by the young

French First Republic In the history of France, the First Republic (french: Première République), sometimes referred to in historiography as Revolutionary France, and officially the French Republic (french: République française), was founded on 21 September 1792 ...

. Initially, the county of Saarwerden was meant to be fragmented and distributed between the departments of

Moselle The Moselle ( , ; german: Mosel ; lb, Musel ) is a river that rises in the Vosges mountains and flows through north-eastern France and Luxembourg to western Germany. It is a left bank tributary of the Rhine, which it joins at Koblenz. ...

, Meurthe and/or

, but its inhabitants were against the fragmentation, and as such the project was afterwards cancelled. The county was then temporarily absorbed by the nearby districts of Moselle and Meurthe until a final decision was made. Towards the end of the year 1793, it was finally decided that the entire territory would be given to the Bas-Rhin department, essentially due to religious reasons, as the Sarrewerden county had been

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to ...

since the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and i ...

while

(Moselle and Meurthe) had remained almost exclusively catholic. At the same time, the Moselle department gave to Bas-Rhin the municipalities of Bouquenom and Vieux Sarverden (today

Sarrewerden Sarrewerden (; ) is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in northeastern France. The localities of ''Bischtroff-sur-Sarre'' and ''Zollingen'' are incorporated in the commune since 1972. See also * Communes of the Bas-Rhin departm ...

),Ldh/EHESS/Cassini - Notice Communale both historical capitals of the Saarwerden county, which had been

enclaves An enclave is a territory (or a small territory apart of a larger one) that is entirely surrounded by the territory of one other state or entity. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is sometimes used improperly to deno ...

of the

Duchy of Lorraine The Duchy of Lorraine (french: Lorraine ; german: Lothringen ), originally Upper Lorraine, was a duchy now included in the larger present-day region of Lorraine in northeastern France. Its capital was Nancy. It was founded in 959 following th ...

or the

Kingdom of France The Kingdom of France ( fro, Reaume de France; frm, Royaulme de France; french: link=yes, Royaume de France) is the historiographical name or umbrella term given to various political entities of France in the medieval and early modern period. ...

within the county since 1697. Another county that is often considered to be a part of Alsace bossue was the ''County of Lützelstein'' (comté de la Petite-Pierre), which belonged to the

Rhine Palatinate The Palatinate (german: Pfalz; Palatine German: ''Palz'') is a region of Germany. In the Middle Ages it was known as the Rhenish Palatinate (''Rheinpfalz'') and Lower Palatinate (''Unterpfalz''), which strictly speaking designated only the we ...

throughout most of its existence. Although most of the county is today part of the

department, some of its historical villages, including Achen, Berling, Bourscheid, Hangviller,

Lixheim Lixheim is a commune in the Moselle department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. The commune Vieux-Lixheim lies 1 km to the north-west. See also * Communes of the Moselle department The following is a list of the 725 communes of the ...

, Montbronn,

Phalsbourg Phalsbourg (; ; Lorraine Franconian: ''Phalsburch'') is a commune in the Moselle department in Grand Est in north-eastern France, with a population of about 5,000. It lies high on the west slopes of the Vosges, northwest of Strasbourg by rail. ...

, Vescheim, Wintersbourg and Zilling, are today part of the

department.

References

{{Authority control Geography of Bas-Rhin History of Alsace History of Lorraine