The Danube is a 4.5-kilometre-long river in Lorraine, France, which flows through the Rhine into the North Sea. There are no major European capitals on its banks, the largest settlement at its mouth has only 314 inhabitants.
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| "Le Danube" the river of Verdenal |
I would never have found this hydrographic curiosity on my own, but luckily Eric Baude, the French author of the Danube Culture website, brought it to my attention over a beer in Zebegény. Most of the pictures are from him, as he had written about "Le Danube" before. This post is inspired by his writing, but it is not a literal translation.
From the outset, it is important to note that the most important question can not be answered: where did this stream-like river get its name? Did the French envy their German neighbour's big river? Was it named in memory of the inhabitants who had migrated east on the "real" Danube? Or was it the Romans again...?
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| The valley of Verdenal in 1744. (mapire.eu) |
150 kilometres northwest of the source of the Danube, on the other side of the Rhine, is the Danube river, or "Le Danube". It is called in French exactly the same as its big brother to the east. It's source is in the bucolic hilly landscape of Lorraine between Autrepierre and Verdenal, and flows straight southwards through its valley. At Domèvre Le Danube joins the Vezouze River (see top photo) which comes from the western slopes of the Vosges mountains.
The Vezouze then flows into the River Meurthe near Lunéville. It is from the latter river that the modern-day département of Meurthe-et-Moselle takes its name. Where is the former Principality of Lorraine...?
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| Lorraine landscape near the village of Autrepierre, near the source of 'Le Danube'. |
The name of the French département is revealing of the rest of the hydrography. The Meurthe flows through Nancy, the former seat of the Duchy of Lorraine, where the late descendant of the Dukes of Lorraine, the Royal Hungarian Prince Otto of Habsburg-Lorraine, held his wedding in 1951. A few kilometres below the city, the Meurthe flows into the Moselle, which then flows northwards through the city of Metz, crossing the Franco-German language border and then the Franco-German border. The Moselle finally flows into the Rhine at Coblence.
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| Dammed section north of Verdenal. |
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| Bridge over the 'Le Danube' in Verdenal. |
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| The same bridge on a German postcard from the First World War. |
Few people know, but after the expulsion of the Turks, not only Germans (Swabians, as they are commonly called in Hzngary) from Austrian territory arrived in Hungary, but also French people. Lorraine was not yet part of France in the mid-18th century, and the dukes here had very close links with the Austrian Empire. Frenchmen from Lorraine were also involved in the expulsion of the Turks, one of whom, Claudius Florimund de Mercy, later became governor of Banat, Southern Hungary. He played a major role in bringing the Swabians and the French from Lorraine downstream the Danube to Hungary, especially to Banat. Is it possible that this connection with Hungary is the reason for the name of the river's name in Verdenal?
Image source: Eric Baude (http://www.danube-culture.org/un-danube-lorrain/)
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