Frauenfeld - History - Foundation of Frauenfeld

Foundation of Frauenfeld

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 Hapsburgs 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.