page_title: Frauenfeld
section_title: Part of the Swiss Confederation
hierarchical_section_title: Frauenfeld / History / Part of the Swiss Confederation
caption_attribution_description: Ortsansicht von Frauenfeld vor dem Brand von 1771; aus der Vogelschau von Nordwesten. Öl auf Leinwand; 1771. 50,8 cm x 72,4 cm. Schweizerisches Landesmuseum, Zürich
context_page_description: Frauenfeld is the capital of the canton of Thurgau in Switzerland.
  The official language of Frauenfeld is German, but the main spoken language is the local variant of the Alemannic Swiss German dialect.
context_section_description: 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.
  The Protestant Reformation affected the city.  Although in 1531 only about 70 Catholics lived in the city, the Catholic Cantons helped administer Frauenfeld and the rest of the Thurgau.  Catholic membership in the town council never fell below 33% and the two denominations alternated appointing mayors.  For church affairs ever existed a Protestant and a Catholic Grand and Lesser Councils, which supervised the two schools in the city.  The City Church and the Church in Oberkirch were initially shared churches.  The Protestant pastor was appointed by the city's own Protestants after 1537.  However, it wasn't until 1645 that the Protestants had their own church.
  The castle of Frauenfeld is an example of late baroque and classical architecture. The Rathaus dates from Frauenfeld's second period of prominence in the 18th century. Starting in 1712, the gathering of Swiss Eidgenossen took place alternately in Frauenfeld and Baden. In 1742, this gathering took Frauenfeld as its regular meetingplace.
  The fall of the old Old Swiss Confederacy in 1798 as a result of the French invasion brought an end to the gatherings in Frauenfeld.
caption: Frauenfeld before the fire of 1771
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