Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Dreipeterstein, or Peter of the three Stones, designates three blocks of red sandstone located in the state forest at the border of the communes of Rosteig (Bas-Rhin), Soucht, Meisenthal and Wingen (Moselle). These stones bear the shields of the Duke of Lorraine, the Count of Hanau, and perhaps the Count of Nassau – although this last coat of arms is too eroded for a certain identification. Their disposition at the boundary of four historical territories suggests a border pillar function from the Middle Ages, perhaps reusing an older site.

According to oral tradition, these stones were used as a table during a banquet organized by three lords (a Duke of Lorraine, a Count of Hanau, and a Count of Nassau, all so-called Peter) at the exact limit of their estates. This legend, probably crowned by troubadours, explains the name Dreipeterstein (three-Pierres), although no Duke of Lorraine bears this name. An alternative hypothesis links the name to a linguistic distortion: Petra (stone in Latin) would have evolved into Peter in German, giving Drei-Peter-Stein (three-stones).

A text from 1170 already mentions this site as the boundary of Bitche County (ad Circulos), and remains of a stone enclosure around the rocks confirm its ancient border role. Ranked a Historic Monument in 1931, the site is sometimes interpreted as a Druidic altar reinvested in the early Middle Ages to materialize feudal boundaries. The engraved coats of arms would date back to 1608, when the stones were attested as boundary between Lorraine, Nassau and Hanau.

The absence of contemporary written sources of the supposed lords and the onomastic inconsistencies (such as the absence of a Duke of Lorraine named Pierre) invite to favour the hypothesis of a topographic and linguistic origin of the name. The site thus illustrates the superimposition of the historical layers: a possible pagan place of worship become medieval territorial marker, before being enriched with courteous legends.

External links