Gries () is a

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

in the

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 ...

département in

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 It superseded three former administra ...

in north-eastern France. It lies 7 km to the south-southeast of Haguenau.

Etymology

The first document mentioning the name of the village is dated 13 March 826. Gries is mentioned for the first time under the name ''Gerareshusa''. By 830, it is called ''Gerireshusa''. According to the pastor Guggenbühl the name comes from the given name Gerhard. The name of the village would therefore be in modern standard High German ''Gerhardshausen'', which suggests that it was owned by a certain "Gerhard", whose identity so far has not been discovered. A document from 974 uses the name ''Grioz'' which more closely resembles the current name of the village. Guggenbühl explains that name change as follows: very fast the suffix -hausen of ''Gerireshausen'' has been abandoned, the resulting ''Gerires'' being transformed over the years first to ''Grioz'', then to ''Grieze'' and finally to current ''Gries''.

History

Belonging to the

landgrave Landgrave (german: Landgraf, nl, landgraaf, sv, lantgreve, french: landgrave; la, comes magnus, ', ', ', ', ') was a noble title used in the Holy Roman Empire, and later on in its former territories. The German titles of ', ' (" margrave"), ...

s of Lower Alsace until 1332, the town passed subsequently to

Lichtenberg Lichtenberg () is the eleventh borough of Berlin, Germany. In Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it absorbed the former borough of Hohenschönhausen. Overview The district contains the Tierpark Berlin in Friedrichsfelde, the larger of Berlin ...

and then to

Zweibrücken-Bitsch The County of Zweibrücken-Bitsch (, ) was a territory of the Holy Roman Empire that was created between 1286 and 1302 from the eastern part of the County of Zweibrücken and the Barony of Bitche (german: Bitsch) in Lorraine. It continued to exist ...

, before belonging to the count of

Hanau-Lichtenberg The County of Hanau-Lichtenberg was a territory in the Holy Roman Empire. It emerged between 1456 and 1480 from a part of the County of Hanau and one half of the Barony of Lichtenberg. Following the extinction of the counts of Hanau-Lichtenberg in ...

who introduced 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 in ...

. Thus its population became Protestant by virtue of the principle cujus regio, ejus religio. In 1622 – during the

Thirty Years War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of battl ...

– Gries was completely destroyed by the troops of

Mansfeld Mansfeld, sometimes also unofficially Mansfeld-Lutherstadt, is a town in the district of Mansfeld-Südharz, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Protestant reformator Martin Luther grew up in Mansfeld, and in 1993 the town became one of sixteen places in ...

upon which its inhabitants fled to Strasbourg. To repopulate the region, settlers from Switzerland ( Swiss German) came to the town. The landgraves of Hesse-Darmstadt were the last masters of the village from 1736 until 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 coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

, when it was annexed by France. The landgraves contributed significantly to its development.

Sights

Southeast of the village is a mound, the only remains of an ancient castle, the residence of the

bishop of Strasbourg {{Unreferenced, date=December 2009 These persons were bishop, archbishop or prince-bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Strasbourg (including historically Prince-Bishopric of Strasbourg): Bishops and prince-bishops * Amandus *Justinus ...

, which remained occupied until the late fifteenth century, when it was destroyed.

Organ

The Protestant church contains an organ built by

Johann Andreas Silbermann Johann Andreas Silbermann, also known as Jean-André Silbermann (26 June 1712, in Strasbourg – 11 February 1783, in Strasbourg) was an 18th-century organ-builder, as were his father Andreas Silbermann and his paternal uncle Gottfried Silberman ...

in 1781.

Administration

The present mayor is Éric Hoffstetter, elected in 2020. He succeeded Claude Kern, who was in office from 2001 until 2020.Ville de Gries
annuaire-mairie.fr, accessed 23 May 2022.

Demographics

Notable people

* Andreas Thurman (born 1591 in

Gartz Gartz is a town in the Uckermark district in Brandenburg, Germany. It is located on the West bank of the Oder River, on the border with Poland, about 20 km south of Szczecin, Poland. It is located within the historic region of Western Pomer ...

Pomerania Pomerania ( pl, Pomorze; german: Pommern; Kashubian: ''Pòmòrskô''; sv, Pommern) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The western part of Pomerania belongs to ...

, died 6 February 1672 in Gries) was pastor in Gries, Kurtzenhausen, Weitbruch and Geudertheim in 1628–1672. He was also deacon and schoolmaster in Westhoffen in 1622–27, and a preacher of the ducal court in Bischwiller from 1633. He married Maria Pfau, daughter of a brewer, on 28 April 1623 in the Saint-Pierre-le-Jeune Church in Strasbourg. Widowed, he married Anna Barbara Dannhauer on 14 March 1642 at

Schiltigheim Schiltigheim (, , and sometimes by non-local speakers of French; Alsatian: ''Schelige'' ; ) is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. The inhabitants are called ''Schilikois'' in French and ''Scheligemer'' ...

, becoming the brother-in-law of the theologian Johann Conrad Dannhauer.

Twin towns – sister cities

Gries is twinned with: * Gries,

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

since 20 May 1979 This other Gries lies in the west of the Palatinate about 20 km west of Kaiserslautern. Since the 1979 establishment of the partnership, it has been well developed. The relatively short distance between Gries and Gries – only about 110 km – has made private contacts easy. Even a Palatine-Alsatian marriage, complete with children, has sprung from this partnership. There are regular visits back and forth by each municipality's councils.