Mirecourt
Encyclopedia
Mirecourt is a commune
in the Vosges
department in Lorraine
in northeastern France
. Mirecourt is known for lace-making and the manufacture of musical instruments, particularly those of the violin
family
. Inhabitant are called Mirecurtiens.
positioned in the Xantois district at the heart of the Vosges plain, at the confluence of the River Madon
with the Arol Valley. Most of the town is laid out on the west side of the Madon on a succession of levels. Visitors are attracted by the richness of the town's architecture and by the natural advantages of the site.
Mirecourt is also at the heart of a road crossing, 24 kilomaters (15 miles) from Vittel
, 35 kilometres (21.7 mi) from Épinal
to the east-south-est, 40 kilometres (24.9 mi) from Neufchâteau
and 48 kilometres (29.8 mi) from Nancy. For much of the twentieth century Mirecourt was a staging post on the RN66, a major road towards Paris. Following improvements to the autoroute network
towards the end of the twentieth century, the nearest major routes to Paris are now, the A31 autoroute
and the RN57 respectively some fifteen kilometres (9 miles) to the west and to the east. The RN 66 has been correspondingly declassified: elements of the economic focus that once followed the old route nationale has followed the traffic away to the newer routes: in the final forty years of the twentieth century the registered population declined by around 25%, though the level appears subsequently to have plateaued at around 6,400.
and lace
making bring significant amounts of wealth and employment to twenty-first century Mirecourt.
ie seems to date back to the end of the sixteenth century and the travels of the Dukes of Lorraine
and their retinues to Italy. It was particularly in Mirecourt that the business of making stringed instruments
took off, with 43 luthiers in 1635, and the business continued to grow into the twentieth century, by when it was claimed that Mirecourt was producing more than 80,000 instruments annually. This is frequently a family business which can grow into a dynastic one: numbered among Mirecourt's Lutherie dynasties have been the Derazey, Aldric, Lupot, Langonet, Gand, Bernard, Jacquot, Nicolas, Mougenot, Charotte, Apparut, Hilaire, Collin, Laberte, Magnié, Peccate, Bazin, Ouchard and Vuillaume families including, most famously, Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume 1798 - 1875.
By 1925 the craft was organised into 18 workshops and 4 factories employing 680 workers. The economic and political hardships of the mid-twentieth century coincided with the disappearance of the workshops. However, the creation in the 1970s at Mirecourt of the National School of Lutherie (École nationale de lutherie) http://www.ac-nancy-metz.fr/pres-etab/Vuillaume/poirot/1slorraine/lutherie/index.html signalled a renaissance which has endured into the present century. Notably, Jean-Jacques Pages has produced outstanding instruments by copying famous eighteenth century models by the likes of Stradivarius
and Amati
. The Gérome brothers, now retired from making guitars and mandolins, have had their work endorsed by Georges Brassens
who has purchased one off their guitars.
The industry is celebrated by the presence in Mirecourt of a municipal Lutherie Museum.
with the violin makers sponsored by the Dukes of Lorraine. Peter Fourier
, the priest at nearby Mattaincourt
, who would subsequently become a saint in recognition of his energetic work
resisting the Protestant currents from east
of the River Rhine, established the Convent of Notre-Dame (Our Lady)
and there encouraged instruction in lace making both at the school which was operated by the Sisters and at the orphanage. The project was a great success with daughters of rich families and with girls of the peasant class. By 1790 lace makers from Mirecourt were supplying merchants from abroad, and despite the political and social turbulence of the early nineteenth century, the lace business continued to flourish and grow, with the middle of the nineteenth century a golden age. Nevertheless, by the middle of the twentieth century lace had fallen out of favour and the industry locally was much diminished. It has nevertheless survived, and today, supported by 140 participants, the Mirecourt lace business has recovered some of its international reputation. Lace making courses and permanent exhibitions of the craft remain a feature of the town.
The commune's territory also contains the Mirecourt-Epinal aerodrome, which is managed by the departmental Chamber of Commerce
.
to the cult of the god Mercury
. Early on, the town was part of the property of the Counts of Toul
.
The first surviving written record of Mirecourt dates from 960. This is the text of a donation made by a man called Urson who transferred his domain of Mirecourt (two farmsteads and environs) to the Abbey of Bouxières-aux-Dames.
The heirs to the Counts of Toul were the Dukes of Lorraine who owned the little town during the thirteenth century. An act of 1284, during the time of Duke Frederick III
, confirms the annexation of Mirecourt and its lands to the Duchy of Lorraine. Mirecourt, the main town in the important Vôge Bailiwick
, was above all a great trading centre. A European focus of economic and commercial energy during the sixteenth century was Lombardy
from where the Dukes of Lorraine introduced to Mirecourt the manufacture of string instruments, a tradition which continues to flourish. At the same time Mirecourt became a centre of organ
building.
The last Duke of Lorraine to rule the territory was the former Polish
king, Stanisław Leszczyński. He died early in 1766 and Lorraine
passed to his grandson, by now King of France
. In this way the long struggle to control the territories between France and the Rhine was settled in a manner which no doubt would have pleased Le Grand Monarque. Ten years later, in 1776, the office of Lieutenant-General of the Bailiwick was sold to the young François de Neufchâteau
.
Under the secular regime established in the wake of the French Revolution
, Mirecourt became the administrative centre of the district and then of the entire arrondissement
. This last distinction was lost in 1926, and today Mirecourt falls within the Arrondissement of Neufchâteau.
One of the first boys' primary schools in France was founded at Mirecourt in 1828.
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 Vosges
Vosges
Vosges is a French department, named after the local mountain range. It contains the hometown of Joan of Arc, Domrémy.-History:The Vosges department is one of the original 83 departments of France, created on February 9, 1790 during the French Revolution. It was made of territories that had been...
department in 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...
in northeastern 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...
. Mirecourt is known for lace-making and the manufacture of musical instruments, particularly those of the violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
family
Violin family
The violin family of musical instruments was developed in Italy in the sixteenth century. The standard modern violin family consists of the violin, viola, cello, and double bass....
. Inhabitant are called Mirecurtiens.
Geography
Mirecourt is the administrative capital of a cantonCanton of Mirecourt
The Canton of Mirecourt is an French administrative grouping of communes in the Vosges département of eastern France and in the region of Lorraine.-Composition:The Canton of Mirecourt comprises the following 32 communes...
positioned in the Xantois district at the heart of the Vosges plain, at the confluence of the River Madon
Madon
The Madon is a long river in the Vosges and Meurthe-et-Moselle départements, northeastern France. Its source is near Vioménil. It flows generally north...
with the Arol Valley. Most of the town is laid out on the west side of the Madon on a succession of levels. Visitors are attracted by the richness of the town's architecture and by the natural advantages of the site.
Mirecourt is also at the heart of a road crossing, 24 kilomaters (15 miles) from Vittel
Vittel
Vittel is a commune in the Vosges department in Lorraine in northeastern France.Mineral water is bottled and sold here by Nestlé Waters France, under the Vittel brand.-History:...
, 35 kilometres (21.7 mi) from Épinal
Épinal
Épinal is a commune in northeastern France and the capital of the Vosges department. Inhabitants are known as Spinaliens.-Geography:The commune has a land area of 59.24 km²...
to the east-south-est, 40 kilometres (24.9 mi) from Neufchâteau
Neufchâteau, Vosges
Neufchâteau is a commune in the Vosges department in Lorraine in northeastern France.Inhabitants are called Néocastriens.-Geography:Positioned at the confluence of the Rivers Meuse and Mouzon, the little town dominates the Vosges Plain...
and 48 kilometres (29.8 mi) from Nancy. For much of the twentieth century Mirecourt was a staging post on the RN66, a major road towards Paris. Following improvements to the autoroute network
Autoroutes of France
The Autoroute system in France consists largely of toll roads, except around large cities and in parts of the north. It is a network of worth of motorways. Autoroute destinations are shown in blue, while destinations reached through a combination of autoroutes are shown with an added autoroute logo...
towards the end of the twentieth century, the nearest major routes to Paris are now, the A31 autoroute
A31 autoroute
The A31 autoroute is a French autoroute. It runs from the Franco-Luxembourg border to Beaune where it joins the A6. The north of the autoroute is free, up to the town of Toul, but it is a toll road south of there...
and the RN57 respectively some fifteen kilometres (9 miles) to the west and to the east. The RN 66 has been correspondingly declassified: elements of the economic focus that once followed the old route nationale has followed the traffic away to the newer routes: in the final forty years of the twentieth century the registered population declined by around 25%, though the level appears subsequently to have plateaued at around 6,400.
Artisanal
An unusual feature of Mirecourt is the extent to which the local economy continues to be underpinned by the same skilled crafts that have supported the local community for centuries. Both musical instrumentViolin making and maintenance
Making an instrument of the violin family may be done in different ways, many of which have changed very little in nearly 500 years since the first violins were made. Some violins, called "bench-made" instruments, are made by a single individual, either a master maker, or an amateur working alone...
and lace
Lace
Lace is an openwork fabric, patterned with open holes in the work, made by machine or by hand. The holes can be formed via removal of threads or cloth from a previously woven fabric, but more often open spaces are created as part of the lace fabric. Lace-making is an ancient craft. True lace was...
making bring significant amounts of wealth and employment to twenty-first century Mirecourt.
String instruments
Mirecourt's tradition of luthierLuthier
A luthier is someone who makes or repairs lutes and other string instruments. In the United States, the term is used interchangeably with a term for the specialty of each maker, such as violinmaker, guitar maker, lute maker, etc...
ie seems to date back to the end of the sixteenth century and the travels of the Dukes of Lorraine
Charles III, Duke of Lorraine
Charles III , known as the Great, was Duke of Lorraine from 1545 until his death.-History:He was the eldest surviving son of Francis I, Duke of Lorraine, and Christina of Denmark...
and their retinues to Italy. It was particularly in Mirecourt that the business of making stringed instruments
Violin making and maintenance
Making an instrument of the violin family may be done in different ways, many of which have changed very little in nearly 500 years since the first violins were made. Some violins, called "bench-made" instruments, are made by a single individual, either a master maker, or an amateur working alone...
took off, with 43 luthiers in 1635, and the business continued to grow into the twentieth century, by when it was claimed that Mirecourt was producing more than 80,000 instruments annually. This is frequently a family business which can grow into a dynastic one: numbered among Mirecourt's Lutherie dynasties have been the Derazey, Aldric, Lupot, Langonet, Gand, Bernard, Jacquot, Nicolas, Mougenot, Charotte, Apparut, Hilaire, Collin, Laberte, Magnié, Peccate, Bazin, Ouchard and Vuillaume families including, most famously, Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume 1798 - 1875.
By 1925 the craft was organised into 18 workshops and 4 factories employing 680 workers. The economic and political hardships of the mid-twentieth century coincided with the disappearance of the workshops. However, the creation in the 1970s at Mirecourt of the National School of Lutherie (École nationale de lutherie) http://www.ac-nancy-metz.fr/pres-etab/Vuillaume/poirot/1slorraine/lutherie/index.html signalled a renaissance which has endured into the present century. Notably, Jean-Jacques Pages has produced outstanding instruments by copying famous eighteenth century models by the likes of Stradivarius
Stradivarius
The name Stradivarius is associated with violins built by members of the Stradivari family, particularly Antonio Stradivari. According to their reputation, the quality of their sound has defied attempts to explain or reproduce, though this belief is controversial...
and Amati
Amati
Amati is the name of a family of Italian violin makers, who flourished at Cremona from about 1549 to 1740.-Andrea Amati:Andrea Amati was not the earliest maker of violins whose instruments still survive today...
. The Gérome brothers, now retired from making guitars and mandolins, have had their work endorsed by Georges Brassens
Georges Brassens
Georges Brassens , 22 October 1921 – 29 October 1981), was a French singer-songwriter and poet.Brassens was born in Sète, a town in southern France near Montpellier...
who has purchased one off their guitars.
The industry is celebrated by the presence in Mirecourt of a municipal Lutherie Museum.
Lace
Lace making is believed to have been introduced to Lorraine only in the sixteenth century, when the art arrived from LombardyLombardy
Lombardy is one of the 20 regions of Italy. The capital is Milan. One-sixth of Italy's population lives in Lombardy and about one fifth of Italy's GDP is produced in this region, making it the most populous and richest region in the country and one of the richest in the whole of Europe...
with the violin makers sponsored by the Dukes of Lorraine. Peter Fourier
Peter Fourier
Saint Peter Fourier, C.R.S.A., was a French canon regular who is honored as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church, who had served as a pastor in Mattaincourt , and who also helped to found a religious congregation of canonesses dedicated to the care of poor children...
, the priest at nearby Mattaincourt
Mattaincourt
Mattaincourt is a commune in the Vosges department in Lorraine in northeastern France.Inhabitants are called Mattaincurtiens.-Geography:Mattaincourt lies on the southern part of the Lorraine Plateau, in a wooded area of gentle hills known as the Vôge. It is some to the east-northeast of Vittel and...
, who would subsequently become a saint in recognition of his energetic work
Counter-Reformation
The Counter-Reformation was the period of Catholic revival beginning with the Council of Trent and ending at the close of the Thirty Years' War, 1648 as a response to the Protestant Reformation.The Counter-Reformation was a comprehensive effort, composed of four major elements:#Ecclesiastical or...
resisting the Protestant currents from east
Lutheranism
Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...
of the River Rhine, established the Convent of Notre-Dame (Our Lady)
Convent
A convent is either a community of priests, religious brothers, religious sisters, or nuns, or the building used by the community, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church and in the Anglican Communion...
and there encouraged instruction in lace making both at the school which was operated by the Sisters and at the orphanage. The project was a great success with daughters of rich families and with girls of the peasant class. By 1790 lace makers from Mirecourt were supplying merchants from abroad, and despite the political and social turbulence of the early nineteenth century, the lace business continued to flourish and grow, with the middle of the nineteenth century a golden age. Nevertheless, by the middle of the twentieth century lace had fallen out of favour and the industry locally was much diminished. It has nevertheless survived, and today, supported by 140 participants, the Mirecourt lace business has recovered some of its international reputation. Lace making courses and permanent exhibitions of the craft remain a feature of the town.
Public and service sectors
The Vosges psychiatric hospital (le centre hospitalier psychiatrique/CHS) remains the largest employer in the commune of Mirecourt, with over 1,000 salaried staff on the payroll.The commune's territory also contains the Mirecourt-Epinal aerodrome, which is managed by the departmental Chamber of Commerce
Chamber of commerce
A chamber of commerce is a form of business network, e.g., a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to advocate on behalf of the business community...
.
History
Mirecourt was founded during the first millennium. Mercuri Curtis was dedicated by the RomansRoman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
to the cult of the god Mercury
Mercury (mythology)
Mercury was a messenger who wore winged sandals, and a god of trade, the son of Maia Maiestas and Jupiter in Roman mythology. His name is related to the Latin word merx , mercari , and merces...
. Early on, the town was part of the property of the Counts of Toul
Toul
Toul is a commune in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in north-eastern France.It is a sub-prefecture of the department.-Geography:Toul is located between Commercy and Nancy, and situated between the Moselle River and the Canal de la Marne au Rhin....
.
The first surviving written record of Mirecourt dates from 960. This is the text of a donation made by a man called Urson who transferred his domain of Mirecourt (two farmsteads and environs) to the Abbey of Bouxières-aux-Dames.
The heirs to the Counts of Toul were the Dukes of Lorraine who owned the little town during the thirteenth century. An act of 1284, during the time of Duke Frederick III
Frederick III, Duke of Lorraine
Frederick III was the Duke of Lorraine from 1251 to his death. He was the only son and successor of Matthias II and Catherine of Limburg....
, confirms the annexation of Mirecourt and its lands to the Duchy of Lorraine. Mirecourt, the main town in the important Vôge Bailiwick
Bailiwick
A bailiwick is usually the area of jurisdiction of a bailiff, and may also apply to a territory in which the sheriff's functions were exercised by a privately appointed bailiff under a royal or imperial writ. The word is now more generally used in a metaphorical sense, to indicate a sphere of...
, was above all a great trading centre. A European focus of economic and commercial energy during the sixteenth century was Lombardy
Lombardy
Lombardy is one of the 20 regions of Italy. The capital is Milan. One-sixth of Italy's population lives in Lombardy and about one fifth of Italy's GDP is produced in this region, making it the most populous and richest region in the country and one of the richest in the whole of Europe...
from where the Dukes of Lorraine introduced to Mirecourt the manufacture of string instruments, a tradition which continues to flourish. At the same time Mirecourt became a centre of organ
Pipe organ
The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass...
building.
The last Duke of Lorraine to rule the territory was the former Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
king, Stanisław Leszczyński. He died early in 1766 and 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....
passed to his grandson, by now King of France
Louis XVI of France
Louis XVI was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792, before being executed in 1793....
. In this way the long struggle to control the territories between France and the Rhine was settled in a manner which no doubt would have pleased Le Grand Monarque. Ten years later, in 1776, the office of Lieutenant-General of the Bailiwick was sold to the young François de Neufchâteau
François de Neufchâteau
Nicolas-Louis François de Neufchâteau was a French statesman, poet, and scientist.-Early years:Born at Saffais, in Meurthe-et-Moselle, the son of a schoolteacher, he studied at the Jesuit college of Neufchâteau in the Vosges, and at the age of fourteen published a volume of poetry which obtained...
.
Under the secular regime established in the wake 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...
, Mirecourt became the administrative centre of the district and then of the entire arrondissement
Arrondissements of France
The 101 French departments are divided into 342 arrondissements, which may be translated into English as districts.The capital of an arrondissement/district is called a subprefecture...
. This last distinction was lost in 1926, and today Mirecourt falls within the Arrondissement of Neufchâteau.
One of the first boys' primary schools in France was founded at Mirecourt in 1828.
Personalities
- Charles Jean Baptiste Collin-MezinCharles Jean Baptiste Collin-MezinCharles Jean Baptiste Collin-Mezin was a distinguished French maker of violins, violas, cellos, basses and bows. He was an Officier de l'Académie des Beaux-Arts and won gold and silver medals at the Paris Exhibitions in 1878, 1889, and 1900....
, French violin maker (1841-1923) - Louis BuffetLouis BuffetLouis Joseph Buffet was a French statesman.He was born at Mirecourt, Vosges. After the revolution of February 1848 he was elected deputy for the department of the Vosges, and in the Assembly sat on the right, pronouncing for the repression of the insurrection of June 1848 and for Louis Napoleon...
, Statesman (1818 - 1898) - Peter FourierPeter FourierSaint Peter Fourier, C.R.S.A., was a French canon regular who is honored as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church, who had served as a pastor in Mattaincourt , and who also helped to found a religious congregation of canonesses dedicated to the care of poor children...
, Scholar, saintSaintA saint is a holy person. In various religions, saints are people who are believed to have exceptional holiness.In Christian usage, "saint" refers to any believer who is "in Christ", and in whom Christ dwells, whether in heaven or in earth...
and Counter reformation campaigner (1565 - 1640) - Jean-Marie Georgeot, Biblical scholar (born 1923)
- Jack LangJack Lang (French politician)Jack Mathieu Émile Lang is a French politician. A member of the Socialist Party, he served as France's Minister of Culture from 1981 to 1986 and 1988 to 1992, and as Minister of Education from 1992 to 1993 and 2000 to 2002. He was also the Mayor of Blois from 1989 to 2000...
, Socialist PartySocialist Party (France)The Socialist Party is a social-democratic political party in France and the largest party of the French centre-left. It is one of the two major contemporary political parties in France, along with the center-right Union for a Popular Movement...
politician (born 1939) - Jérôme Thibouville-Lamy (Most important French mass production musical instrument maker, had his factory there from 1860)
- Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume, French violin maker (1798-1875)
- Nicolas François VuillaumeNicolas François VuillaumeNicholas François Vuillaume was an important French Luthier of the Vuillaume family, and younger brother of the illustrious Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume...
, French violin maker (1802-1876) - Emile Auguste OuchardEmile Auguste OuchardEmile Auguste Ouchard was a French bow maker of repute and son and pupil of Emile Francois Ouchard. Honors & awards include the Grand Prix of the 1942 International Paris Exhibition.-Biography:...
(1900-1969), bow maker - Bernard OuchardBernard OuchardBernard Ouchard was a French master bow maker and teacher in the School of Violin and Bowmaking of Mirecourt, France...
(1925-1979), bow maker