FREISING, a town of Germany, in the Land of Bavaria, on the Isar, 16 m. by rail N.N.E. of Munich. Pop. (1933) 16,199. The cathedral, which dates from about 116o is famous for its crypt. Noteworthy also are the old palace of the bishops, now a clerical seminary, and the town-hall. Near the town is the site of the Benedictine abbey of Weihenstephan, which existed from 725 to 1803. Freising is said to have been founded by the Romans.
Destroyed by the Hungarians in 955, it was fortified by the emperor Otto II. in 976 and by Duke Welf of Bavaria in 1082. A bishopric was established here in 724 by St. Corbinianus, whose Erimbert was consecrated second bishop by St. Boniface in 739. In the 17th century the bishops became princes of the Empire. In 1802 the see was secularized, the bulk of its territories being assigned to Bavaria and the rest to Salzburg, of which Freising had been a suffragan bishopric. There are iron-foundries and trade is in corn and cattle.