Toul

Toul stands at the confluence of the Moselle and the Ingressin in Lorraine. A bishop's seat since late antiquity, it became a city with its own communal institutions as well as a major religious centre. Its Gothic cathedral of Saint-Étienne was built over several centuries, with a fourteenth-century cloister and Renaissance chapels. In 1552 King Henry II of France occupied Toul, along with Metz and Verdun; the incorporation of the Three Bishoprics into France was confirmed by the treaties of Westphalia in 1648. The medieval walls had withstood several sieges, but the French crown later sought a new fortified enclosure. Vauban proposed an expanded circuit with bastions and outworks, and construction began in 1700. Toul's cathedral and fortifications together reflect its long history as an episcopal city and a contested frontier stronghold.