La Petite-Pierre (; ;

Rhine Franconian __NOTOC__ Rhenish Franconian or Rhine Franconian ( ) 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, northwest Baden-Württember ...

: ''Lítzelstain'') is a commune in the

Bas-Rhin Bas-Rhin () is a department in Alsace which is a part of the Grand Est region of France. The name means 'Lower Rhine', referring to its lower altitude among the two French Rhine departments: it is downstream of the Haut-Rhin (Upper Rhine) de ...

department in

Grand Est Grand Est (; ) is an Regions of France, administrative region in northeastern France. It superseded three former administrative regions, Alsace, Champagne-Ardenne and Lorraine, on 1 January 2016 under the provisional name of Alsace-Champagne-A ...

in north-eastern

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

.INSEE commune file
/ref> It lies in the historical and cultural region of

Alsace Alsace (, ; ) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in the Grand Est administrative region of northeastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine, next to Germany and Switzerland. In January 2021, it had a population of 1,9 ...

(Elsass in German). Petit-Pierre literally means ''little rock''. The town lies in the

Northern Vosges Regional Nature Park The Northern Vosges Regional Natural Park ( French: ''Parc naturel régional des Vosges du Nord'') is a protected area of woodland, wetland, farmland and historical sites in the Grand Est region in northeastern France. The area was officially d ...

which has its headquarter in the château (Maison du Parc).

History

Lützelstein castle was built by Count Hugo, who was the son of Hugh, Count of

Blieskastel Blieskastel () is a city in the Saarpfalz-Kreis, Saarpfalz (Saar-Palatinate) district, in Saarland, Germany which is divided into villages. It is situated on the river Blies, approximately southwest of Homburg (Saar), west of Zweibrücken, and e ...

. It was claimed by the

Bishop of Strasbourg Archbishops

*Charles Amarin Brand (16 July 1984 – 23 October 1997) (with rank of archbishop from 1988) *Joseph Doré (23 October 1997 – 25 August 2006) *Jean-Pierre Grallet (21 April 2007 – 18 February 2017) *Luc Ravel (18 February 2017 ...

in 1223, but the count successfully defended it. After Count Friedrich died without a male successor, the county was subject to a protracted inheritance dispute between his uncle, Frederick Burkhard, and his sister, who was married to John of Leiningen. Both John and the sons of Burkhard died within a short time and without heirs, so the entire county was passed to the

Electoral Palatinate The Electoral Palatinate was a constituent state of the Holy Roman Empire until it was annexed by the Electorate of Baden in 1803. From the end of the 13th century, its ruler was one of the Prince-electors who elected the Holy Roman Empero ...

in 1462. During the partition of the

House of Wittelsbach The House of Wittelsbach () is a former Bavarian dynasty, with branches that have ruled over territories including the Electorate of Bavaria, the Electoral Palatinate, the Electorate of Cologne, County of Holland, Holland, County of Zeeland, ...

territories in 1533, Lützelstein county was passed to the Palatinate-Zweibrücken.

Wolfgang, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken Count Palatine Wolfgang of Zweibrücken (; 26 September 1526 – 11 June 1569) was member of the Wittelsbach family of the Counts Palatine and Duke of Zweibrücken from 1532. With the support of his regent, his uncle Rupert (later made the C ...

gave it to Ruprecht, Count Palatine of Veldenz, his uncle.

George John I, Count Palatine of Veldenz George John I (German: Georg Johann I.; sometimes called George Hans) (11 April 1543 – 18 April 1592) was the Count of Veldenz from 1544 until 1592. Life George John was born in 1543 as the only son of Rupert, Count Palatine of Veldenz. George ...

attempted to develop his Alsatian territories as the focus of his state, which led to him building the city of Pfalzburg in 1570 and populating it with Protestant refugees from the

Duchy of Lorraine The Duchy of Lorraine was a principality of the Holy Roman Empire which existed from the 10th century until 1766 when it was annexed by the kingdom of France. It gave its name to the larger present-day region of Lorraine in northeastern France ...

. The project was so grand and unaffordable that in 1583 he was forced to sell the city and half the County of Lützelstein to Lorraine. After the death of George John I, Anna Maria of Sweden ruled the county as regent. After the division of Palatinate-Veldenz in 1598, the County of Lützelstein was passed to John Augustus, Count Palatine of Lützelstein. John Augustus himself died without issue in 1611 and was succeeded by his younger brother Count Palatine George John II of Guttenberg, who renamed the united state

Palatinate-Lützelstein-Guttenberg Palatinate-Lützelstein-Guttenberg was a state of the Holy Roman Empire based around La Petite-Pierre in the far northeast of France. Palatinate-Lützelstein-Guttenberg was created in 1611 when George John II of Palatinate-Guttenberg inherit ...

. As he himself left no surviving children upon his death in 1654, his territory fell back to Palatinate-Veldenz. After Leopold Louis, Count Palatine of Veldenz died without issue, the county was returned to Palatinate-Zweibrücken in 1694. However, Palatinate rule of Lützelstein after 1680 was nominal due to French occupation of it. After the signing of the

Treaty of Ryswick The Peace of Ryswick, or Rijswijk, was a series of treaties signed in the Dutch city of Rijswijk between 20 September and 30 October 1697. They ended the 1688 to 1697 Nine Years' War between France and the Grand Alliance, which included the Dutc ...

, Lützelstein was nominally ruled by Zweibrücken as a French fief, but was de facto ruled by the

Kingdom of France The Kingdom of France is the historiographical name or umbrella term given to various political entities of France in the Middle Ages, medieval and Early modern France, early modern period. It was one of the most powerful states in Europe from th ...

. Vauban, the French marshall, expanded its fortress. The fortress was again expanded in 1815 but was partially demolished in 1872 by Germans. Finally it was formally annexed by

with the Palatinate-Zweibrücken and was part of the

department in 1801. Thereafter it has shared the fate of

since 1801.

Notable people

* François Antoine Louis Bourcier, a French cavalry officer and divisional general of the

French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars () were a series of sweeping military conflicts resulting from the French Revolution that lasted from 1792 until 1802. They pitted French First Republic, France against Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain, Habsb ...

and the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

. *

René Char René Émile Char (; 14 June 1907 – 19 February 1988) was a French poet and member of the French Resistance. Biography Char was born in L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue in the Vaucluse department of France, the youngest of the four children of Emile ...

, hid in the woods between la Petit-Pierre and

Petersbach Petersbach is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. Peteresbach is within the Northern Vosges Regional Nature Park (French: ''Parc naturel régional des Vosges du Nord'') that lies in the northern foothills ...

, for about six months, during the

phoney war The Phoney War (; ; ) was an eight-month period at the outset of World War II during which there were virtually no Allied military land operations on the Western Front from roughly September 1939 to May 1940. World War II began on 3 Septembe ...

Tourism

The upper part of the town is built as a fortified city around the

Château de La Petite-Pierre A château (, ; plural: châteaux) is a manor house, or palace, or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking reg ...

(also known as Chateau de Lützelstein). There is also a church, which was built in the fifteenth century (parts of which remain) and has some nice artwork. The area around the town is suitable for walking or hiking. There are a number of marked trails. The town has its own division of Club Vosgien.

International relations

La Petite-Pierre is twinned with *

Veldenz Veldenz is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Bernkastel-Wittlich district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the former main seat of the County of Veldenz, ...

, Germany

History

Notable people

Tourism

International relations

See also