Thank you to Dr. Waxweiler for giving us a better understanding of the influence of those "hungry" French in the Electorate of Trier. One group he did not mention was the family of the Counts of Vianden whose beautifully restored castle is on the Our river in present day Luxembourg. In the thirteenth century their counties extended from Hainault (Henegau) in the west to the Eifel in the east. They were Advocats of the abbey at Prum (of Pepin and Charlemagne--or Karl de Gros, if you prefer--fame). Heinrich I (perhaps Henri' would be more appropriate), "the Sun Count" was married to Margarite d'Courtenay of the French royal family by way of the Latin Kingdom of Constantinople. Though today we consider their Eifel territories to be German, Heinrich died on Crusade with his wife's cousin, St. Louis, King of France. I suspect their was a fair amount of French spoken in their house and region. I also suspect its boundries were frequently the source of the many conflicts with the house of Luxembourg and the Prince/Archbishop/Elector of Trier, a position that was frequently held by a member of the house of Luxembourg. French continues to have a pervasive influence on language in Luxembourg, perhaps more so since WWII. The traditional dialect of the Mosel River valley also has enough French influence to make a northern German wince. Don Kilburg