Pont-à-Mousson | ||
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Commune | ||
The Moselle and the Premonstratensian abbey in Pont-à-Mousson.
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Coordinates: 48°54′19″N 6°03′17″E / 48.9053°N 6.0547°ECoordinates: 48°54′19″N 6°03′17″E / 48.9053°N 6.0547°E | ||
Country | France | |
Region | Grand Est | |
Department | Meurthe-et-Moselle | |
Arrondissement | Nancy | |
Canton | Pont-à-Mousson | |
Intercommunality | Pays de Pont-à-Mousson | |
Government | ||
• Mayor (2009–2014) | Jacques Choquenet | |
Area1 | 21.6 km2 (8.3 sq mi) | |
Population (2012)2 | 15,053 | |
• Density | 700/km2 (1,800/sq mi) | |
• Urban | 26,948 | |
Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | |
• Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | |
INSEE/Postal code | 54431 /54700 | |
Elevation | 172–382 m (564–1,253 ft) (avg. 183 m or 600 ft) |
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Website | www.ville-pont-a-mousson.fr | |
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. 2Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once. |
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
Pont-à-Mousson (French pronunciation: [pɔ̃.ta.mu.sɔ̃]) is a commune in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in northeastern France.
Population (1999): 14,592 (Mussipontains). It is an industrial town (mainly steel industry), situated on the Moselle River. Pont-à-Mousson has several historical monuments, including the 18th century Premonstratensian abbey.
In 1572 Cardinal Charles of Lorraine established a Jesuit university at Pont-à-Mousson. With the Protestant revolution building in the German-speaking lands, still part of the Holy Roman Empire, directly to the east, and the Duchy of Lorraine vulnerable to pressure from an increasingly assertive French state directly to the west, the Duchy participated in the wars of religion on the side of the Counter-Reformation. The Tridentine strategy promulgated by the Holy See involved the creation of a "Roman Catholic backbone" (sometimes termed the Lotharingian axis from the territories, including Lorraine, between France and the Habsburg Empire).
During the seventeenth century the university grew rapidly until there were about 2,000 students. There were four faculties covering theology, the arts, law and medicine. Students were drawn from across western and central Europe. Over time a rivalry grew up between students in the St Martin district, located on the right-bank of the river and dominated by Jesuits, and the left-bank students based in the St Laurent quarter and considered the rowdier of the two student tribes. Rivalry peaked with the violent "printers' battles" when the rival factions were known respectively as the "Ponti Mussoni" and the "Mussiponti". The "Mussiponti" won, and in the region the inhabitants of the town became known thereafter as "Mussipontains/Mussipontines".