In the early
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
, the Rizzigau (Latin ''Recensis pagus, pagus Rizogohensis, pagus Rizzigowi'') was a territory (Latin ''
pagus
In ancient Rome, the Latin word (plural ) was an administrative term designating a rural subdivision of a tribal territory, which included individual farms, villages (), and strongholds () serving as refuges, as well as an early medieval geogra ...
'', German ''
gau
Gau or GAU may refer to:
People
* Gaugericus (–626), Bishop of Cambrai
* Gau Ming-Ho (born 1949), Chinese mountaineer
* Franz Christian Gau (1790–1854), German architect and archaeologist
* James Gau (born 1957), Papua New Guinean politi ...
'') in the
Ardennes Forest in what is today the
Moselle department
Moselle () is the most populous department in Lorraine, in the east of France, and is named after the river Moselle, a tributary of the Rhine, which flows through the western part of the department. It had a population of 1,046,543 in 2019.< ...
of France and
Luxembourg
Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small land ...
. It corresponds to the ancient Roman ''
vicus
In Ancient Rome, the Latin term (plural ) designated a village within a rural area () or the neighbourhood of a larger settlement. During the Republican era, the four of the city of Rome were subdivided into . In the 1st century BC, Augustus ...
'' of Ricciacum, which has been variously identified with sites near
Dalheim
Dalheim ( lb, Duelem) is a commune and town in south-eastern Luxembourg. It is part of the canton of Remich
Remich is a canton in the east of Luxembourg. Its capital is Remich.
Administrative divisions
Remich Canton consists of the following e ...
,
Ritzing
Ritzing ( hr, Ricinja, hu, Récény) is a town in the district of Oberpullendorf in the Austrian state of Burgenland.
Population
Sport
It is most famous for its football club, the SC Ritzing
SC Ritzing is an Austrian football club who c ...
or
Roussy. In the tenth century, the Rizzigau was the lower part of the county of
Waldefinga along the river
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 ...
, including such towns as
Thionville
Thionville (; ; german: Diedenhofen ) is a city in the northeastern French department of Moselle. The city is located on the left bank of the river Moselle, opposite its suburb Yutz.
History
Thionville was settled as early as the time of the ...
,
Remich
Remich ( lb, Réimech ) is a commune with town status in south-eastern Luxembourg with a population of 3,645 inhabitants . It is the capital of the canton of Remich. Remich lies on the left bank of the river Moselle, which forms part of the border ...
and
Évrange. It is described as the "country of Ricciacum in the county
r countryof Waldefinga" (''Recensis pagus in comitatus Waldelefinganno'' or ''Rezcensis pagus in pago Waldefinga'').
Sources
*Bouteiller, Ernest de
''Dictionnaire topographique de l'ancien département de la Moselle comprenant les noms de lieu anciens et modernes''.Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1874. (cf. p. 210)
Francia
Moselle (department)
Medieval archaeological sites