Gries

Gries is a commune in the Bas-Rhin département in Grand Est in north-eastern France, a short distance to the south-southeast of Haguenau.EtymologyThe first document mentioning the name of the village is dated 13 March 826. Gries is mentioned for the first time under the name Gerareshusa. By 830, it is called Gerireshusa.According to the pastor Guggenbühl the name comes from the given name Gerhard. The name of the village would therefore be in modern standard High German Gerhardshausen, which suggests that it was owned by a certain "Gerhard", whose identity so far has not been discovered.A document from 974 uses the name Grioz which more closely resembles the current name of the village. Guggenbühl explains that name change as follows: very fast the suffix -hausen of Gerireshausen has been abandoned, the resulting Gerires being transformed over the years first to Grioz, then to Grieze and finally to current Gries.HistoryBelonging to the landgraves of Lower Alsace until 1332, the town passed subsequently to Lichtenberg and then to Zweibrücken-Bitsch, before belonging to the count of Hanau-Lichtenberg who introduced the Reformation. Thus its population became Protestant by virtue of the principle cujus regio, ejus religio. In 1622 – during the Thirty Years War – Gries was completely destroyed by the troops of Mansfeld upon which its inhabitants fled to Strasbourg.