Nancy - Eglise des Cordeliers

Around 1050 Count Gerard, Duke of Lorraine, built a castle herre called Nanciacum, from which the town was to develop. In 1218 troops of Emperor Frederick II., fighting Theobald I, Count of Champagne, pilagged and looted the town. Rebuilt and surrounded by a wall, Nancy was granted city rights in 1265 and became the capital of the duchy in the following decades.

In 1477, Charles the Bold of Burgundy failed in the Battle of Nancy in his attempt to seize the city - and died during the battle.

Nancy belonged to the Duchy of Lorraine and thus to the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation until the 18th century. Finally, the Duchy of Lorraine came to the Kingdom of France in an exchange between the House of Habsburg and the French King in the 18th century. Louis XV awarded Lorraine in 1737 to the deposed Polish king, Stanislaus I Leszczyński, who ruled the duchy from Nancy as Duke of Lorraine. After his death, in 1766, Nancy and the duchy finally fell to the French crown.

"Saint-François-des-Cordeliers" was erected around 1620 under and funded by René II of Lorraine after the battle of Nancy, it was consecrated in 1487, next to the Ducal Palace rebuilt at the same time.

The church became the burial place of the Dukes of Lorraine.

The building has a total length of 73 metres and a width of only 9 metres. The large single nave is typical of the architecture of the Cordeliers' churches. The convent´s buildings that survived the times are now used as museums, just like the church.
The sculpture, created end of the 12th century, shows a knight returning from a crusade. The sculpture comes from the priory of Belval a Portieux, in the Vosges.

There are two theories as to who is depicted here.

Augustin Calmet (aka "Dom Calmet") described the sculpture in the "Histoire de Lourraine" (1745) and believed that it is Gerard de Vaudemont and his wife Helvide de Dabo, founder of Belval a Portieux. However, most historians today follow Michel Antoine. He recognises Hugues I de Vaudemont and his wife Adeline de Lorraine.

Hugues I founded the abbey of Ferrières and the abbey of Flabémont. In 1147, he joined King Louis VII of France for the Second Crusade. Hugh did not return home with the king, which is why he was considered dead by his contemporaries. It was not until around 1153 that an old crusader arrived in Vaudémont, identified by the countess as Hugh. He died shortly afterwards and was buried in the priory of Belval.