Puzieux, Vosges

The name Puzieux has mutated from the Gallo-Roman period name which was Puzeoli. Various ideas have been advanced concerning the ancient origin of this name, but the most plausible is that it refers to a pit dug in the ground for the storage of grain. It is known from other sources that Pusieux was at the heart of the Xantois region which produced large amounts of farmed wheat at that time: the presence of grain storage facilities at the heart of such a region would therefore not be surprising.

During the Thirty Years' War the village was destroyed by invading Swedish forces. The first half of the seventeenth century was a miserable period. During the reign, in France, of Louis XIII Puzieux was subjected to the ravages of the French invaders supported by their savage northern allies. At one point it was reported that only three houses of the village remained.

It was only with the return of some measure of peace in 1670 and, more particularly, after 1697 when the Treaty of Ryswick confirmed the restoration of Lorraine to the Dukes of Lorraine, that the village could be reconstructed. Modern research suggests that the village rebuilt during the early decades of the eighteenth century was actually the result of the fusion of three villages that had been destroyed by the Swedes, being those previously known as Puzieux, Méréville and Fontenelle.

• Communes of the Vosges department