Thionville

Thionville (French pronunciation: ​[tjɔ̃vil]; Luxembourgish: Diddenuewen; German:  Diedenhofen ) is a commune in the Moselle department in Alsace-Champagne-Ardenne-Lorraine in north-eastern France. The city is located on the left bank of the river Moselle, opposite its suburb Yutz.

Demographics

The population of Thionville has increased mainly in the first half of the 20th century due to industrial development of the upper Moselle basin. The economic slowdown and the steel crisis of the 1970s affected the town and the surrounding area, causing population decrease.

History

Thionville was settled as early as the time of the Merovingians. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the region was inhabited by the Germanic Alamanni. It was known in the German of that era as Theudonevilla or Totonisvilla. King Pippin had a royal palace constructed here.

The Synod of Thionville was held here beginning on February 2, 835. It reinstated Emperor Louis the Pious and reversed his former conviction on crimes — none of which he actually committed — and deposed the Archbishop of Rheims, Ebbo. The Synod was composed of 43 bishops. On February 28, 835, in Mainz, Ebbo admitted that Louis had not committed the crimes of which he had been indicted and for which he had been deposed as Holy Roman Emperor.