FRAUENFELD, the capital of the Swiss canton of Thurgau, 27 m. by rail N.E. of Zurich, on the Murg stream a little above its junction with the Thur. It is a prosperous town, at the con vergence of several routes, and has iron manufactures. In 193o its population (including the neighbouring villages) was 9,209, mainly German-speaking. In 192o there were 6,304 Protestants to 2,342 Roman Catholics. The old upper town centres round the castle, of which the tower dates from the loth century, though the rest is later. Both stood on land belonging to the abbot of Reichenau, who, with the count of Kyburg, founded the town, first mentioned in 1255. The abbot retained all manorial rights till 1803, while the political powers of the Kyburgers (who were the "protectors" of Reichenau) passed to the Habsburgs in 1273, and were seized by the Swiss in 1460 with the rest of the Thurgau. In 1712 the town succeeded Baden in Aargau as the meeting place of the Federal Diet, and continued to be the capital of the Confederation till its transformation in 1798. In 1799 it was successively occupied by the Austrians and the French. The old Capuchin convent is now a vicarage.