Méménil () is a commune in the

Vosges The Vosges ( , ; ; Franconian and ) is a range of medium mountains in Eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a single geomorphological unit and ...

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 It superseded three former administrative regions, Alsace, Champagne-Ardenne and Lorraine, on 1 January 2016 under the provisional name of Alsace-Champagne-A ...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 northeastern

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 ...

Geography

Méménil is positioned some ten kilometres (six miles) to the east-north-east of

Épinal Épinal (; ; ) is a Communes of France, commune in northeastern France and the prefecture of the Vosges (department), Vosges Departments of France, department. Geography The commune has a land area of . It is situated on the river Moselle, so ...

, along one of the routes to

Saint-Dié-des-Vosges Saint-Dié-des-Vosges (; , before 1999: ''Saint-Dié'') is a Communes of France, commune in the Vosges department, Grand Est, northeastern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture of the department. Geography Saint-Dié is locat ...

. Surrounding communes are Fontenay to the west, Girecourt-sur-Durbion to the north and Viménil to the east. The forested hillside to the south of the village is part of the commune of Méménil. The commune is surrounded by forests and is crossed by two little streams, the Rouot and the Grande Roye: these cross the north of the commune through an unusually complex array of little channels before both feed into the little River Durbion, which itself runs through the commune to the east of the village itself.

History

The name ''Memesnil'' dates back at least to 1594 when Méménil was part of the territory belonging to Dompierre under the

bailiwick A bailiwick () is usually the area of jurisdiction of a bailiff, and once also applied to territories in which a privately appointed bailiff exercised the sheriff's functions under a royal or imperial writ. In English, the original French combi ...

of Bruyere. In 1656 there is a reference to the village as ''Memeny''. The Church, consecrated to the

Assumption of Our Lady The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII defined it on 1 November 1950 in his apostolic constitution as follows: It leaves open the question of whether Mary died or whether she was ra ...

, was controlled by the parish of nearby Aydoilles. It is recorded that in 1892 the 60 families of the village owned between them 140 head of

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are calle ...

. On 27 September 1944, towards the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, 70 buildings suffered in a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

bombing attack. Victims included the church windows.

Features

The village is the setting for a

Christmas market A Christmas market is a street market associated with the celebration of Christmas during the four weeks of Advent. These markets originated in Germany, but are now held in many countries. Some in the U.S. have Phono-semantic matching, adapted ...

at the end of each November. The Church of the Assumption of Our Lady retains its dominating position in the heart of the village: villagers are particularly proud of three substantial church bells: Agathe (321 kg), Anne (440 kg) and Marie herself (647 kn).

Geography

History

Features

See also