Saales. The foundation of Raon achieved its economic objectives, attracting members of the mercantile class which was growing across Europe at this time. The application of the Beaumont Law in the little town enfranchised the merchants, providing an enhanced contractual basis for commerce. Geography also favoured commerce with the presence of two navigable rivers, and economic success was assured through civic privileges conferred by the dukes and through the security afforded by the growth of fortifications and the maintenance of a military garrison. On the left bank of the river, the hamlet of La Neuveville dates back further, having been established during the twelfth century with protection and support from Duke of Lorraine by the cannons of Étival Abbey who provided both the necessary land and the expertise. The port at La Neuveville made it possible for loads of both processed and rough-cut timber to be exported along the river. The little town grew rapidly in size and wealth, and the white monks themselves reverted to a more contemplative existence, while the civilian administration of the dukes seized the initiative in founding Raon-l'Étape on the other side of the river which made it easier to protect transshipment across the river the important Saulniers Way trade route towards the mountains and The Empire beyond. During the fourteenth century the civil influence of the monks declined at La Neuveville as the little town and its important port facilities came increasingly under the sole control of the Dukes, while the citizens continued vigorously to reject the pressing influence of Raon-l'Étape. Neither town grew beyond a population of a few thousand, still separated into two settlements by their river, until the nineteenth century, but by the end of the seventeenth century they nevertheless had grown larger than Saint-Dié up in the mountains to the south-east. In 1864 it was the left bank, and therefore La Neuveville, that was privileged to receive a rail connection on the line from Nancy. The railway brought industrialisation and also put an end to the transportation of timber by floating it down the river, which had contributed to the development of the little port for so long. Paradoxically, it was the prestige of Raon-l'Étape which in some ways benefitted more than that of La Neuveville: tourism began to evolve in France for the first time in the late nineteenth century, and the old right bank town with its picturesque