Châteaux et prieurés vers 1100 en Lotharingie centrale : de la dynamique de la fondation aux rapports ambivalents. Useldange et les autres

The study of the priory of Useldange, founded at the end of the 11th or at the beginning of the 12th century nearby the homonymous castle, allows us to deepen our understanding of the more general question of castral priory foundations in the Meuse-Moselle area. Numerous such foundations are documented for the southern Lorraine region, most notably those of the Burgundian Molesme Abbey. Dispatching monks to the North, more precisely to Useldange, was an exceptional move and deserves study. Aside from the more local context, this foundation enables an in-depth study of the features that characterise this period of profound upheavals: the social hierarchy of the lay aristocracy, the appearance of combined castral and monastic seigneuries (“seigneuries bifaces), the radiation of the Benedictine resurgence in rural areas and its influence on the origins of small towns, and, lastly, the peculiarities of the different types of castle landscapes (“Burglandschaften”) and monastery landscapes (“Klosterlandschaften”) on both sides of the frontier between France and the Empire.