At this site:
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/mairie.wingen-moder/1_patrim.htm (site of the
municipality of Wingen-sur-Moder), there is talk of three stones:
Breintenstein (a.k.a. Twelve Apostles Stone), Spitzstein, and
Drei-Peterstein. It sais here: 'In the time of the Roman Alsace,
Wingen was part of the homestead of the people of Triboques. On the
side of the old Via Bassoniaca, a forest road between the province of
Belgica and that of Germania, its limits are marked by menhirs: the
Spitzstein, the Drei-Peterstein, and the Breintenstein. In the 18th
century the Breintenstein was transformed in a cross, pending over the
figures of the twelve apostles that are sculpted on the 4 sides of the
stone, hence its name of Twelve Apostles Stone. The Drei-Peterstein
marks the boundary of the seignories of Bitche, Lichtenberg, and La
Petite-Pierre.' [in German: Bitsch, Lichtenberg, Luetzelstein].
So, back to Roman ages?? That would be something...
Peter S.
--- In BoundaryPoint@y..., michael donner <m@d...> wrote:
> the exact locality of the stone of the 12 apostles mentioned & shown
in
> message 1642 is evidently too tiny to appear on most maps
>
> but you can get an idea of its approximate location along the modern
> departmental boundary mentioned by peter in that message
> if you type in wingen sur moder france
> at http://www.mapquest.com
> & notice the blue line running between the resulting target star & a
place
> called meisenthal lying just to its north
>
> & you can then zoom out to find yourself near the northeast corner
of
> modern france
>
> this is an area that appears to have been situated on or near the
boundary
> between the duchies of lorraine & swabia
> both within the holy roman empire until some time after 1200
> http://homer.span.ch/~spaw1241/nouest12.htm
> when lorraine seems to have emerged as an independent country
> & when the alsatian area was divided into many fiefs & independent
cities
>
> maps for the period of the disintegration of the holy roman empire
> beginning with 1270 & continuing thru 1328 & 1382 until some time
before 1430
> all at http://dalmatia.net/belmonte/middle_ages/index.html
> make an international divide between lorraine & alsace seem quite
possible
> as early as the 13th & 14th centuries
> but it is still far from certain whether & when any cleavage
actually
> occurred in the precise location where the stone is standing
>
> the situation appears very complex & shifty
> & subject to various interpretations besides
> & i am certainly already in far beyond my depth
>
> nevertheless i am hoping this modest reconnaissance helps to inform
&
> narrow the search for the hard data needed to know exactly when this
rock
> performed international duty
>
> m