Inheritance and history

Some Words Of History
Etymology

The 32 000 inhabitants of Saint-Dizier are called Bragards. The popular tradition would like that this name comes from François the 1st who would have exclaimed "Ah, brave gars" when learning about the resistance of the city in 1544.
It is more probable than its etymology comes from the brague, a kind of mast laid out on the Marne boats or the rafts assembled in Saint-Dizier. The surroundings of the commercial zone of Saint-Amand Oak, revealed the traces of occupation starting from the age of Bronze to the Middle Ages, with the presence of a Gallo-Roman villa, habitats and burials merovingian and Carolingian and medieval low hearths attesting the seniority of the local metallurgy. But in the IXth century, Saint-Dizier is still only a modest village located between the older villages of Noue (Olonna) and Gigny.

It is only in the XIIth century that the name of Saint-Dizier as a locality appears, thanks to lord GUI II of Dampierre who chooses to establish his field in the confluence of the turnip fields Marne and Ornel. It is there that he built his castle (current sub-prefecture) and the Notre-Dame church in 1202, around which Villeneuve develops gradually. From its strategic position, in the limits of the borders of the kingdom of France and vis-a-vis to Lorraine, Saint-Dizier quickly becomes a fortified town, girded with ramparts and ditches.
The most outstanding fact of the history of Saint-Dizier is undoubtedly the siege of 1544 .Vis-a-vis to the troops of Charles Quint (estimated at 40 000 soldiers and 3 000 riders), this humble garrison of 2 500 men on foot, a hundred policemen and a population of approximately 2 000 souls manage to resist for 43 days the siege and the ceaseless shootings, which will be worth the homage to François the Ist.
The abundant ore of the area allows, from the XVth to the XIXth century, the rise of the city and its population thanks to the iron and steel industry. The decline of this activity, at the beginning of the XXth century, does not prevent the city and its surroundings to illustrate itself in the field of the cast iron of Art, since with the advent of the new art (Art nouveau), Hector Guimard chooses the Foundries of Saint-Dizier to melt his creations. Lastly, in the agro-alimentary field, one could not omit the famous factory of ices of Miko, established by Louis Ortiz in Saint-Dizier in 1922, whose fame is from now on worldwide.

ON THE ROAD OF TOUR
Joinville
Be surprised by Joinville!
Historical Champagne city, cradle of the Dukes of Guise, Joinville gave birth, thanks to its princes, to all the other Joinville. Cultural centre of Meeting, window of the department of Haute-Marne, the Castle, floret of the architecture of the Renaissance, offers throughout the year, its gardens and its romantic park, as well as exhibitions and internationally-known concerts.
From its geographical position, joinville is an essential relay in the industrial and commercial reinforcement of Haute-Marne. The City engages a vast building site of restoration of the downtown area and develops its remarkable architectural heritage.
Wassy
In 1562, Wassy was the theatre of the first bloody episode of the Wars of religion.
Being quarreled with Protestants assembled in a barn, the soldiers, who carry arquebis ,of François de Cuise devoted themselves to a true massacre. The Protestant Museum of Grange recalls the history of the French protestantism and proposes a local exhibition of the history of the church of Wassy that witnessed a reform during the XVIth and XVII th centuries.
The Notre Dame church of Wassy was built in the middle of the XIIth century. The nave, the chancel and the bell-tower are Roman, while the frontage and the gantry is of strengthened Rhenish style.
Montier-en-Der
It is a borough-center of the Country of DER, country of the half-timbered houses and the ashy cranes. City of flowers,. Abbey of St-Pierre-St-Paul of X thcentury, opened to the visit (radiocontrolled) everyday. Its preroman nave is oldest of France .To see: organ, stained glasses of Master Petit (XXth century) and the concise exhibition. Discover the national stud farm founded by Napoleon the 1st in 1806 in the buildings of the old monastery. Many races, ranging from the English trotters to the Arab thoroughbred, while passing by the horses of Ardennes: on Thursdays the Stud farm can be discovered by each one. Enjoy the estival races on the hippodrome of Crouée, that is one of the most important of the East of France (PMU), as wwell as the international festival of the Animalist Photograph and Nature, on the 3rd weekend of November