Origin and history
The Abbey of Haute-Seille, originally called Haute-Selve (from the Latin Alta Silva, "Haute Forêt"), is a Cistercian foundation established in 1140 in Lorraine, on the present municipality of Cirey-sur-Vezouze. She was born from a donation by Countess Agnes of Langenstein, widow of Hermann II of Salm, to the order of Cîteaux, under the probable influence of Saint Bernard, close to the bishop of Metz, Stephen of Bar. About ten monks from Theuley Abbey settled there, and the initial estate, limited to the village of Tanconville, spread rapidly through acquisitions and exchanges, including tithes, cures, and seigneuries around Lorquin.
From the beginning, the abbey faced conflicts with donor families, including the Counts of Salm and the Turquesteins, who tried to regain control of the land and rights granted. In 1184, Henri de Salm sought to seize the canal derived from the Vezouze, causing the intervention of the bishops of Metz and Toul. To protect themselves, the monks sought the support of the lords of Blâmont, then of the Dukes of Lorraine in 1267. The church, consecrated in 1176 by the bishop of Toul, became a symbol of resistance to external pressures.
The successive wars ravaged the abbey: in 1391, a battle near Cirey between Henry III of Blâmont and the Messins; The conflicts between Charles-Quint and France, then the wars of religion, worsened his situation. In 1648, Father Dom Louis Fériet had to mortgage his butt and sell the bells to survive. The reconstruction began under Dom Jacques Moreau de Manour (1699), thanks to the peace established by Duke Léopold of Lorraine. The cloisters and stalls were restored between 1707 and 1711.
In the 18th century, the abbey, almost entirely rebuilt, enjoyed relative stability under the direction of the prior Dom de Marien, despite tensions with the merchant Abbé Nicolas-Joseph Alliot, appointed in 1748. A trial between the monks and Alliot ended in 1754 with a transaction: the abbot resided outside the monastery, leaving management to the prior. The Revolution put an end to this peace: on 1 August 1789, the buildings were destroyed, and the goods sold as early as 1791. The last prior, Antoine Combette, took refuge in Strasbourg.
The architecture of the abbey, redesigned in the 18th century, combines medieval remains (such as the five-arched Romanesque portal) and classical elements. The cloister, measuring 47 meters long, communicated with the church through a door in the middle still visible. The agricultural buildings, organized around a courtyard of 123 meters by 83, included a mill and a canal. The remains of the abbey have been listed as historical monuments since 19 January 1927.
Fiction and dependencies mark his history: daughter of the Abbey of Theuley, Haute-Seille absorbs in 1579 the priory of Hesse, who became secular. During the Revolution, his possessions spread over dozens of Lorrain villages, including farmhouses, mills, ponds, and seigneurial rights. Among his notable abbots, Dom Louis Fériet (1635–1668) and Dom Jacques Moreau de Magour (1699–1729) were distinguished by their reconstruction efforts. The monk Jean de Haute-Seille, author of the Dolopathos at the end of the 12th century, remains a literary figure associated with the monastery.
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