Moyenmoutier (; ) is a commune in the Vosges department in Grand Est in northeastern France. Inhabitants are called Médianimonastériens. Geography The little town of Moyenmoutier is positioned along the lower part of the Rabodeau valley, at an average altitude of 320 meters. To the north-east, just over away up the valley, is Senones. Further away are Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, to the south and Nancy some to the north-west. Moyenmoutier is arranged into various quarters as follows: Centre Le Rabodeau Le Pair la Chapelle Saint-Prayel la Prelle les Voitines le Grand Himbeaumont le Petit Himbeaumont Saint-Blaise The commune also includes several more isolated hamlets, including les Azelis, le Cadran Bleu, les Quatre Chemins, la Bergerie, la Pépinière, les Baraques and les Fossés. History The origin of the name Moyenmoutier is the obvious one. The monastery (moutier) founded by Saint Hydulphe in 671 was located between four others, at Senones to the east, Étival to the west, Saint-Dié to the south and Bonmoutier (at Val-et-Châtillon) to the north. Taken together these five monasteries subsequently, in a more map conscious age, have become known as the Sacred Cross of Lorraine (la Croix Sacrée de Lorraine). In 915 the abbey was pillaged and torched by Hungarians and Barbarian hordes: it was rebuilt around 960. In the 12th century Aubert of Paroye built a hilltop castle on the Rock of St Peter, but this was destroyed in the 13th century under orders from the Duke of Lorraine. The monastery dominated local life, sharing the ups and downs of the ensuing centuries with the little town that surrounded it. By the end of the 16th century, with the religious world across western Europe undergoing the confrontation between the Protestant winds from Germany and the Counter Reformation forces confronting it, there was a feeling that monasticism in Moyenmoutier had fallen into a sorry state. The commendatory abbot of Moyenmoutier, Eric of Lorraine who was also the Bishop of Verdun and commendatory abbot of the Monastery of St Vanne in Verdun, undertook to restore a more orderly existence to the monks under his authority. He entrusted the task to Dom Didier de La Cour. In 1604 the resulting new constitution of the Congrégation of St. Vanne and St. Hydulphe received papal approval. The reforms became an important element in the Counter Reformation, being copied by other Catholic religious houses and congregations including in 1621, most famously, the Congregation of