{{Short description|Medieval Frankish gau (territory)}} The '''Ahrgau''' (also Argau) was a medieval Frankish ''gau'' that lay either side of the River Ahr in the north of the present-day German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, but also reached the gates of Bonn (the Kottenforst forest still belonged to the Ahrgau), especially after the dissolution of the Odangau.
The Ahrgau is mentioned in the records under various names including ''Arisco'' (880), ''pagus Aroensis'' (882), ''Argowe'' (1064) and ''Archgouwe'' (1065).<ref name="beyer1865" />
== Territory == The Ahrgau belonged to Ripuaria in Lower Lorraine and to the diocese of the Archbishopric of Cologne, which had an Ahr deanery (''Ahrdekanat'' or ''Decanatus Areuensis'') named after it.
In the south the Ahrgau bordered on the Mayenfeldgau on the line from Rheineck up the Vinxtbach stream to the Hohe Acht; in the west it bordered on the Eifelgau and Zülpichgau along the Adenaubach stream as far as the Ahr, along the Vischbach, the Sürsch and the Swist; in the north it bordered on the Bonngau; in the east the Rhine separated the Ahrgau from the Auelgau.<ref name="beyer1865" />
== Gaugraves == The gaugraves (''Gaugrafen'') of Ahrgau mentioned in the records were: * Sigbod, or Sybodo, (fl. 930), founder of Steinfeld Abbey<ref name="scharnat1824" /> * Sicco, (fl. 1064) * Pertold, also Bertoldus, (fl. 1065) * Sicco, (fl. 1074)
The gaugraves of Ahrgau were the ancestors of the counts of Are.<ref name="beyer1865" /><ref name="scharnat1824" />
Gaugrave Sicco, mentioned in 1074, is supposed to have been the father of Dietrich I of Are.<ref name="bornheim1954" />
== Literature == * Geschichtlicher Atlas der Rheinlande, 7th issue, IV.9: Die mittelalterlichen Gaue, 2000, 1 map sheet, 1 enclosure, revised by Thomas Bauer, {{ISBN|3-7927-1818-9}}
== References == <references> <ref name="beyer1865"> Heinrich Beyer: ''Urkundenbuch zur Geschichte der, jetzt die preussischen Regierungsbezirke Coblenz und Trier bildenden mittelrheinischen Territorien'', Vol. 2, Coblenz: Hölscher, 1865, page XVIII ([http://www.dilibri.de/rlb/content/pageview/33571 dilibri Rheinland-Pfalz])</ref> <ref name="scharnat1824"> Johann Friedrich Schannat: ''Eiflia illustrata oder geographische und historische Beschreibung der Eifel'', Vol. 1, 1824, pp. 131 ff ([https://books.google.com/books?id=TD4VAAAAQAAJ&dq=Aargau&pg=PA131 Google Books])</ref> <ref name="bornheim1954"> Werner Bornheim: ''Zur älteren Geschichte der Grafen von Ahre'' in "Archiv für mittelrheinische Kirchengeschichte", Gesellschaft für Mittelrheinische Kirchengeschichte, 1954, p. 130 ([http://www.dilibri.de/rlb/periodical/pageview/221471 dilibri Rheinland-Pfalz])</ref> </references>
Category:Carolingian counties Category:History of the Palatinate (region) Category:Eifel in the Middle Ages Category:History of the Rhineland Category:Ahr Category:States of the Holy Roman Empire