The Metzgau was a medieval ''Gaugrafschaft'', a frankish management district, with the city of

Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand E ...

as its center. The

County of Metz The County of Metz originated from the frankish Metzgau. In the second half of the 9th century it went to the Gerhardiner (de), which held at the same time the County of Paris. Over the Gerhardiner went the County—perhaps even in male linea ...

originated from the Metzgau. North of the Metzgau down the

Moselle The Moselle ( , ; german: Mosel ; lb, Musel ) is a river that rises in the Vosges mountains and flows through north-eastern France and Luxembourg to western Germany. It is a bank (geography), left bank tributary of the Rhine, which it jo ...

lay the Moselgau, whose administrative seat was temporarily Metz, wherewith a territorial overlap with the Metzgau existed at least for some time.

Counts in Metzgau

* Gerhard, b. 870, d. 22 June 910, Count in Metzgau (

Matfriede Matfrid (died 836) was the Franks, Frankish count of Orléans in the reign of Emperor Louis the Pious. He is usually thought to have been the first of the lineage known to historians as the Matfridings (German ''Matfridinger'' or ''Matfriede''). Ma ...

); m. 900 Oda of Saxony, daughter of Duke Otto der Erlauchte (

Liudolfinger The Ottonian dynasty (german: Ottonen) was a Saxon dynasty of German monarchs (919–1024), named after three of its kings and Holy Roman Emperors named Otto, especially its first Emperor Otto I. It is also known as the Saxon dynasty after the ...

) * Matfried I, b. 875, d. after 926, brother of Gerhard, 926 Count in Metzgau; m. Lantsind, daughter of Count Radald, sister of bishop Dado of

Verdun Verdun (, , , ; official name before 1970 ''Verdun-sur-Meuse'') is a large city in the Meuse department in Grand Est, northeastern France. It is an arrondissement of the department. Verdun is the biggest city in Meuse, although the capital ...

The descendants of Matfried named themselves then Counts of Metz. {{Authority control History of Metz History of Lorraine