Frauenfeld

Frauenfeld (Swiss Standard German pronunciation: [ˈfraʊənˌfɛld] ^ⓘ; Alemannic German: Frauefäld) is the capital (German: Hauptort) of the canton of Thurgau in Switzerland. The official language of Frauenfeld is (the Swiss variety of Standard) German, but the main spoken language is the local variant of the Alemannic Swiss German dialect.

The earliest traces of human settlement are several La Tène era graves to the east of Langdorf. The Roman road from Oberwinterthur (Vitudurum) to Pfyn ran through what is now the Allmend in Frauenfeld. Two Roman villas were discovered in Thalbach and Oberkirch. The villa seems to have become the focal point of the later settlement of Oberkirch. On the ruins of the villa, an Early Middle Ages cemetery was built, and by the 9th century, the Oberkirch church was built. Perhaps as a result of royal donation in the 9th century, or more likely a donation in the 13th century, the area around Frauenfeld belonged to the Dinghof (a church- or monastery-owned manor farm) of Erching. Erching had a manor house, twelve houses, at least one mill, and probably also a church in Oberkirch. In the 13th century, Erching formed a self-contained manor farm complex and was occupied by a Habsburg Vogt after 1270. Starting in the late 12th century, a village grew up in the area around Erching and another grew up around the church at Oberkirch.

By the end of the 1220s, a fortified tower with a mill and chapel was built and a third village began to grow up around the castle. This village, which would become Frauenfeld, grew gradually on land owned by Reichenau Abbey. The original fortified tower grew into Frauenfeld Castle.

Frauenfeld is first mentioned in 1246 as Vrowinvelt though it had been growing slowly during the second third of the 13th century. The village was inhabited by the knightly family of Hörigen (who were allied with Reichnau) and several other knightly families who were allied with the Habsburg and Kyburg families. In 1246 a knight with the last name/title zum Kyburger Umfeld is first mentioned in Frauenfeld. In the next three decades, several knights who came from the Kyburg lands, adopted the von Frauenfeld name. It is unclear whether the inhabitants of Frauenfeld Castle were simply the aristocratic owners of houses in Frauenfeld or the administrator of the bailiwick of Frauenfeld.

In 1286 Frauenfeld is first mentioned as a city. At least by that date, it had been integrated into the Habsburg territories. The tower was for a long time in the hands of the Knights of Frauenfeld-Wiesendangen. The political, social and economic background of becoming a city before 1286 are not clear: the relations of the early governors of Frauenfeld to the Kyburgs and Habsburgs are not clear. The Kyburgs did not hold sovereign rights in Frauenfled. It is therefore uncertain whether the city was founded by the Kyburgs really with the tacit approval of Reichenau, as was earlier believed. It is also conceivable that the castle and maybe a smaller surrounding village was built by a third party, perhaps a Toggenburg, of Murkart or Hagenbuch noble. If that was the case, as they lost influence in the 1220s in the lower Murgtal, the Kyburgs and later the Habsburgs expanded into the region and gained control of Reichenau's rights and castle.

The city was integrated into the Habsburg Amt of Kyburg. In 1374, the Habsburgs bestowed the right of judgment for all of Thurgau (which then included St. Gallen) on the Duke of Frauenfeld. In the 14th century the castle became the administrative center of the Habsburg Amt of Frauenfeld. As the Habsburgs sought to consolidate their position in the Thurgau, they granted the castle to one of the most important families of the Habsburg gentry, the Landsbergers. They held the position until 1534. Between 1415 and 1442 the city was under the auspices of an imperial provincial governor. After 1442 it temporarily fell back under Austrian control, then in 1460, the Thurgau (including Frauenfeld) was captured by the Swiss Confederation.

Frauenfeld had been a political center under the Austrian Habsburgs. Under the Confederation, it grew into the center from which the Confederates managed the entire Thurgau. Between 1500/15 and again in 1712, Frauenfeld was the site of the Tagsatzung assembly. After 1499 it was also the home of a Confederation court. After 1504 the city was the residence of Thurgau governor, and after 1532 he lived in the castle. Other locations were directly subordinate.

As the city grew in importance, the houses around the castle grew into a weakly fortified city. The city was separated by a wall and moat from the castle. The wooden houses were clustered around the two longitudinal and three cross streets, but a town square or other large, open space was missing. The castle and Niedertor (city gate) and the Strasshof dominated the southwest corner while the church and Oberturm (upper tower) were in the northwestern corner. The so-called Gachnanger Stock was in the northeast and the Spiegelhof with Holdertor (city gate) were in the southeast corner. In the 15th century the city was slowly fortified, but even in 1460 the outer rows of houses were not protected by city walls. In the 16th century most of the houses in the city were built from stone. The two city fires of 1771 and 1788 destroyed nearly all the houses, so that the current face of the old city dates from the end of the 18th century.