General Notes

Note: Metz ,

city, capital of the Moselle département, Lorraine région,northeastern France, at the
confluence of the Moselle and Seille rivers, northwest ofStrasbourg and south of the
Luxembourg frontier. It was partly rebuilt and its suburbsconsiderably extended after World
War II.

Metz derives its name from the Mediomatrici, a Gallic tribe whomade it their capital. It was
fortified by the Romans. In the 3rd century it was evangelized,and it became a bishopric in
the 4th century. After being plundered by the Huns in the 5thcentury, the city passed under
Frankish domination. In 843, at the partition of the CarolingianEmpire, Metz became the
capital of Lorraine. During the Middle Ages, the city was a freetown within the Holy Roman
Empire and grew prosperous. After the Reformation in the 16thcentury, when Metz became
Protestant and was in danger of being subjected to persecution,Henry II of France (reigned
1547-59), though a Roman Catholic, offered to defend it,successfully withstanding a siege
by Charles V, the Holy Roman emperor, in 1552. The Frenchcontinued to occupy the town;
and in 1648, at the Peace of Westphalia, it was ceded to Francewith Toul and Verdun.

During the 1870-71 Franco-Prussian War the French troopsretreated into Metz after an
indecisive battle. The Germans besieged the town, and 54 dayslater the French were forced
to capitulate. Metz was returned to France after World War I.During World War II it was
occupied by the Germans and in 1944 was liberated only after along battle.

Metz has pleasant promenades along the banks of the MoselleRiver, which divides into
several arms as it flows through the city. The Gothic cathedralof Saint-Étienne was originally
formed when two 12th-century churches were joined into a singleedifice. The transept and
the nave, one of the highest of French Gothic churches, havehuge pointed windows. The
two towers were begun in the 13th century. The cathedral hasremarkable 13th- and
14th-century stained-glass windows, as well as contemporary onesby the painters Marc
Chagall and Jacques Villon. The old city gate, the Porte desAllemands (Gate of the
Germans), built in the 13th and 15th centuries, which was partlydestroyed during World
War II, has imposing crenellated towers. The museum has acollection of Gallo-Roman
antiquities, which are exhibited in the vestiges of Roman bathsdiscovered in 1935.

Metz, a railway junction on the Nancy-Luxembourg line, is alsothe centre of a complex road
and motorway network and is located in a commanding position onthe canalized Moselle. It
is also near the Lorraine iron-mining basin and near the Mosellecoal mines. The manufacture
of automobile, electrical, and mechanical equipment and of foodproducts (brewing, canned
foods) and the processing of tobacco are among the mainindustries. The University of Metz
was founded in 1971. Pop. (1990) 123,920.