The Nethegau (also called the Netgau in many sources) is a region in central

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

named after the river

Nethe Nethe is a river of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It flows into the Weser near Höxter. See also *List of rivers of North Rhine-Westphalia A list of rivers of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany: A B C * Calenberger Bach * Casumer Bach ...

and covers, in the main, the Brakel Upland between the River

Weser The Weser () is a river of Lower Saxony in north-west Germany. It begins at Hannoversch Münden through the confluence of the Werra and Fulda. It passes through the Hanseatic city of Bremen. Its mouth is further north against the ports o ...

and the Egge ridge around the towns of

Brakel Brakel may refer to: ;Places * Brakel, Belgium, East Flanders, Belgium * Brakel, Germany, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany * Brakel (Gelderland), Gelderland, Netherlands * Brakel (North Brabant), North Brabant, Netherlands ;Other uses * Wilhelmus � ...

and

Bad Driburg Bad Driburg () is a town and spa in Höxter district in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, situated on the river Aa and the Altenbeken–Kreiensen railway. Geography Bad Driburg lies on the eastern slopes of the Eggegebirge which is roughly 20&n ...

in the district of

Höxter Höxter () is a town in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany on the left bank of the river Weser, 52 km north of Kassel. It lies the heart of the Weser Uplands, and is the seat of the Höxter district. The district of Höxter has a popul ...

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

. The region was formerly a Saxon '' Gau'' and was administered by Gau counts following the

Carolingian The Carolingian dynasty ( ; known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charles Martel and his grandson Charlemagne, descendants of the Arnulfing and Pippinid c ...

conquest of

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

. Parts of the area also transferred into the ownership of

Corvey Abbey The Princely Abbey of Corvey ( or ) is a former Benedictine abbey and ecclesiastical principality now in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was one of the half-dozen self-ruling '' princely abbeys'' of the Holy Roman Empire from the Late Middl ...

over the course of time.

Sources

* Ludwig Massjost: ''Das Brakeler Bergland – Der Nethegau''. 2. verbesserte Auflage, bearbeitet von Lothar Hamelmann. Landschaftsführer des Westfälischen Heimatbunds, Heft 6, Aschendorf Verlag, Münster 1981, Regions of North Rhine-Westphalia {{NorthRhineWestphalia-geo-stub