Morzine

In 1181, Morzine (Latin: Morgenes, or "border area") was a grange of Aulps Abbey, a Cistercian monastery 7 km away.[1] In the Middle Ages, granges were agricultural centres from which the monks exploited their landscape and co-ordinated farming and industrial work. The grange was fundamental to the Cistercians' successful expansion and management of their mountain land. The granges supplied the monastery's food, clothing, utensils and building materials. The granges were manned by lay-brothers, who cultivated the lands and reared livestock.[2]

From the 18th to the early 20th century, the exploitation of slate quarries was an important economic activity of Morzine, before winter tourism took over around in 1930.[3] Between 1857 and 1870, the commune received national attention for an unusually high number of women claiming to be possessed.[4][5] In 2015 only a few quarries were still being exploited.

^ Delerce (A.), Recherches sur le chartrier d'Aulps. Reconstitution, édition et commentaire des chartes d'une abbaye cistercienne de montagne (1097–1307), vol. 2, p. 271-273, n° 32. Papal bull of Pope Alexander III ^ Willams (D. H.), The Cistercians in the Early Middle Ages, Leominster, 1998, p. 278 ss. ^ History section, Ardoisière des Sept Pieds ^ Harris, Ruth (1997). "Possession on the Borders: The "Mal de Morzine" in Nineteenth-Century France". The Journal of Modern History. 69 (3): 451–478. doi:10.1086/245535. ISSN 0022-2801. JSTOR 2953593. S2CID 144770540. ^ O'Shea, Stephen (2017). The Alps: a human history from Hannibal to Heidi and beyond. New York: W. W. Norton. p. 27. ISBN 978-0-393-24685-8.