METZ, a town of France, capital of the department of Moselle, on the Moselle, 99 m. N.W. of Strasbourg by rail, and on the through route from Paris to Mainz and Frankfort. Pop. (1931), History.—Metz, the Roman Divodurum, was the chief town of the Mediomatrici, and was also called by the Romans Medio matrica; Metz is a contracted form. Caesar describes it as one of the oldest and most important towns in Gaul. The Romans, recognizing its strategical importance, fortified it, and supplied it with water by an imposing aqueduct, the remains of which still exist. Under the Roman emperors Metz was connected by military roads with Toul, Langres, Lyons, Strasbourg, Verdun, Reims and Trier. Christianity was introduced in the 3rd century. In the middle of the 5th century the town was plundered by the Huns under Attila; later it came into possession of the Franks, and was made the capital of Austrasia. On the partition of the Carolingian realms in 843 Metz fell to the share of the emperor Lothair I. as the capital of Lorraine. Its bishops, whose creation reaches back to the 4th century, now began to be very powerful. Metz became a free imperial town in the 13th century, and soon became prosperous. Having adopted the reformed doctrines in 1552 and 1553, it fell into the hands of the French and was defended against Charles V. by Francis duke of Guise. It now sank to the level of a French provincial town, and its population dwindled from 6o,000 to about 22,000. At the peace of West phalia in 1648 Metz, with Toul and Verdun, was formally ceded to France. It was taken by the Germans in 1870 and ceded to them in 1871. It was retroceded to France after the World War.
flows through it in several arms, and is crossed by 14 bridges. Of the ten city gates the most interesting are the Porte des Allemands on the east, a castellated structure built in 1445, and the Porte Serpenoise, flanked by turrets belonging to the old ramparts, on the south. The cathedral, 13th to 16th centuries, with huge pointed windows, slender columns and numerous flying buttresses, belongs to the period of the decadence of the Gothic style. St. Vincent, 13th and 14th century Gothic, has a Renaissance facade, and St. Eucaire, 12th-15th century restored, has a pilgrimage chapel. The public library contains an extensive collection of works relating to the history of Lorraine. Metz is the seat of a bishopric, of a prefect, of the VI. military region and the XXXV. army corps, of tribunals of first instance and of commerce, of a board of trade-arbitrators and of a chamber of commerce. The chief industries are the manufacture of shoes and metal-goods and the preserving of fruits and vegetables. There is a national tobacco factory. Trade is in wine, grain, cattle and garden produce.
As a fortress, Metz has always been of the highest importance, and throughout history down to 187o it had never succumbed to an enemy, thus earning for itself the name of La pucelle. The original town walls were replaced by ramparts in 155o, and the citadel was built a few years later. By 1674 the works had been reconstructed by Vauban. Under Napoleon III. the fortress was strengthened by a circle of detached forts, which, after 187o, were modified and completed by the Germans, who treated the fortress as the pivot of operations against France.