Meuse
The Meuse ( , , , ; wa, Moûze ) or Maas ( , ; li, Maos or ) is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a ...
Grand Est
Grand Est (; gsw-FR, Grossa Oschta; Moselle Franconian/ lb, Grouss Osten;
Rhine Franconian: ''Groß Oschte''; german: Großer Osten ; en, "Great East") is an administrative region in Northeastern France. It superseded three former administr ...
in north-eastern France. The 18th-century Lorraine historian
Nicolas Luton Durival
Nicolas-Luton Durival (13 November 1713, in Commercy – 21 December 1795, in Heillecourt) was an 18th-century Lorrain civil servant, historian and geographer who became French after 1766.
Biography
The elder son of Jean-Baptiste Luton Duriva ...
(1713–1795) was born in Commercy.
History
Commercy dates back to the 9th century, and at that time its lords were dependent on the bishop of Metz. In 1544 it was besieged by Charles V in person. For some time the lordship was in the hands of
Jean François Paul de Gondi
Jean François Paul de Gondi, cardinal de Retz (20 September 1613 – 24 August 1679) was a French churchman, writer of memoirs, and agitator in the Fronde.
The Florentine banking and noble Gondi family had been introduced into France by Cather ...
, cardinal de Retz, who lived in the town for a number of years, and there composed his memoirs. From him it was purchased by Charles IV, Duke of Lorraine. In 1744 it became the residence of Stanisław Leszczyński, king of Poland, who spent a great deal of care on the embellishment of the town, castle and neighbourhood.
Commercy is the home of the Madeleines referred to by
Marcel Proust
Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust (; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, critic, and essayist who wrote the monumental novel '' In Search of Lost Time'' (''À la recherche du temps perdu''; with the previous ...
in ''
À la recherche du temps perdu
''In Search of Lost Time'' (french: À la recherche du temps perdu), first translated into English as ''Remembrance of Things Past'', and sometimes referred to in French as ''La Recherche'' (''The Search''), is a novel in seven volumes by French ...
''.
Population
People from Commercy
* Nicolas Durival (1723–1795), historian
* Nicolas Alaidon (1738–1827), curé de
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 between Commercy and Nancy, and the river Moselle and Canal de la Marne au Rhin.
Climate
Toul ...
, emigrated during the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...
, author of the ''Journal d'un prêtre pendant la Révolution''. (24 October 1738 – 1827).
* Henri Braconnot (1780–1855), chemist
* Henri Brocard (1845–1922), mathematician
* Georges Mangin (1873–1908), officer and explorer
*
Benno Vigny
Benno Vigny (real name Benoit Philippe Weinfeld; 28 October 1889 – 31 October 1965) was a French-German novelist and screenwriter.
Life and works
Vigny was born in Commercy and grew up in Vienna. He moved to Berlin in the 1920s. There he b ...
Dominique Desseigne
Dominique Desseigne (born 19 August 1944 in Commercy) is a French businessperson. He is the chief executive of Groupe Lucien Barrière.
After refusing to submit to a paternity test, he was recognized by a court of law as the father of Rachida D ...
(1944), entrepreneur
*
Pascal Vigneron
Pascal Vigneron (born 23 June 1963) is a French classical musician, both trumpeter, organist, and conductor.
Life
Born in Commercy (Lorraine), Vigneron's genealogy goes back to 1841, when his ancestors lived in the town of Bruley. He has bee ...
(born 23 June 1963), organist, trumpeter, conductor, director of the Toul Bach Festival.
In fiction
Commercy is the key location for action in the 1964 film '' The Train'' although this did not use the town for filming purposes.