by the Bishop of Toul. Subsequently, the village was included in the Vôge Bailiwick, subject to the provostship of Mirecourt in 1594 and still administered from Mirecourt in 1790. In terms of civil justice, the highest authority would therefore have been that of the Dukes of Lorraine. Spiritually the parish was dependent on the Abbey of Chaumousey which received two-thirds of the tithe, while the rest went to the parish priest. Neighbouring Dombasle-en-Xaintois was also subject to the parish priest of Ménil-en-Xaintois, a post that was filled by an Augustinian friar. Modern The area was spared the worst of the destructive violence of the late eighteenth century, though the administrative reforms and secularization that followed the French Revolution were far reaching in their effect. The second half of the nineteenth century was a period of surging nationalism across most of Europe, and in 1884 the parish priest had the idea of establishing a theatre in the village in order to put on a play in honour of Joan of Arc. The villagers were unwilling to fund Curé Meignien's dream, but with the enthusiastic support of Bishop Foucault of Saint-Dié and the consent of the parishioners, the dream nonetheless became a reality in 1894, ten years later, with a play presented by her compatriots tracing Joan of Arc's life from her birth across the département at Domrémy to her death by burning at Orléans. The villagers of Ménil and of Dombasle-en-Xaintois were recruited to support the production. A wooden audience chamber was built in the village with seating for 2,000. The play was presented annually between 1896 and 1901, the year when the interior of the theatre was destroyed by a storm. Performances resumed in 1907, but by now the project had lost its momentum. In 1908 the theatre and its interior furnishings were sold at auction: today an agricultural building occupies the site. Curé Meignien's dream captured the spirit of the age. At the height of its fame, the little theatre attracted audiences from the leisured classes visiting surrounding thermal spas, as well as religious/political pilgrims from the big cities and beyond, including Jules Méline, Maurice Barrès, and the Shah of Persia. Intellectuals compared the theatre with the best theatres in Germany and there was talk of presenting the play in Paris as part of the Universal Exhibition of 1900. But perhaps the ultimate accolade was the double-page spread that