it; there are also lines from Fribourg to Morat and to Estavayer, while from Romont (on the main line) a line runs to Bulle, and in 1904 was extended to Gessenay or Saanen near the head of the Sarine or Saane valley. The population of the canton amounted in 1900 to 127,951 souls, of whom 108,440 were Romanists, 19,305 Protestants, and 167 Jews. The canton is on the linguistic frontier in Switzerland, the line of division running nearly due north and south through it, and even right through its capital. In 1900 there were 78,353 French-speaking inhabitants, and 38,738 German-speaking, the latter being found chiefly in the north-western (Morat region) and north-eastern (Singine valley) portions, as well as in the upper valley of the Jogne or Jaun in the south-east. Besides the capital, Fribourg (q.v.), the only towns of any importance are Bulle (3330 inhabitants), Châtel St Denis (2509 inhabitants), Morat (q.v.) or Murten (2263 inhabitants), Romont (2110 inhabitants), and Estavayer le Lac or Stäffis am See (1636 inhabitants).
The canton is pre-eminently a pastoral and agricultural region, tobacco, cheese and timber being its chief products. Its industries are comparatively few: straw-plaiting, watch-making (Semsales), paper-making (Marly), lime-kilns, and, above all, the huge Cailler chocolate factory at Broc. It forms part of the diocese of Lausanne and Geneva, the bishop living since 1663 at Fribourg. It is a stronghold of the Romanists, and still contains many monasteries and nunneries, such as the Carthusian monks at Valsainte, and the Cistercian nuns at La Fille Dieu and at Maigrauge. The canton is divided into 7 administrative districts, and contains 283 communes. It sends 2 members (named by the cantonal legislature) to the Federal Ständerath, and 6 members to the Federal Nationalrath. The cantonal constitution has scarcely been altered since 1857, and is remarkable as containing none of the modern devices (referendum, initiative, proportional representation) save the right of “initiative” enjoyed by 6000 citizens to claim the revision of the cantonal constitution. The executive council of 7 members is named for 5 years by the cantonal legislature, which consists of members (holding office for 5 years) elected in the proportion of one to every 1200 (or fraction over 800) of the population. (W. A. B. C.)
FRIBOURG [Ger. Freiburg], the capital of the Swiss canton
of that name. It is built almost entirely on the left bank of the
Sarine, the oldest bit (the Bourg) of the town being just above
the river bank, flanked by the Neuveville and Auge quarters,
these last (with the Planche quarter on the right bank of the
river) forming the Ville Basse. On the steeply rising ground
to the west of the Bourg is the Quartier des Places, beyond
which, to the west and south-west, is the still newer Pérolles
quarter, where are the railway station and the new University;
all these (with the Bourg) constituting the Ville Haute. In
1900 the population of the town was 15,794, of whom 13,270
were Romanists and 109 Jews, while 9701 were French-speaking,
and 5595 German-speaking, these last being mainly in the Ville
Basse. Its linguistic history is curious. Founded as a German
town, the French tongue became the official language during the
greater part of the 14th and 15th centuries, but when it joined
the Swiss Confederation in 1481 the German influence came to
the fore, and German was the official language from 1483 to 1798,
becoming thus associated with the rule of the patricians. From
1798 to 1814, and again from 1830 onwards, French prevailed,
as at present, though the new University is a centre of German
influence.
Fribourg is on the main line of railway from Bern (20 m.) to Lausanne (41 m.). The principal building in the town is the collegiate church of St Nicholas, of which the nave dates from the 13th-14th centuries, while the choir was rebuilt in the 17th century. It is a fine building, remarkable in itself, as well as for its lofty, late 15th century, bell-tower (249 ft. high), with a fine peal of bells; its famous organ was built between 1824 and 1834 by Aloys Mooser (a native of the town), has 7800 pipes, and is played daily in summer for the edification of tourists. The numerous monasteries in and around the town, its old-fashioned aspect, its steep and narrow streets, give it a most striking appearance. One of the most conspicuous buildings in the town is the college of St Michael, while in front of the 16th century town hall is an ancient lime tree stated (but this is very doubtful) to have been planted on the day of the victory of Morat (June 22, 1476). In the Lycée is the Cantonal Museum of Fine Arts, wherein, besides many interesting objects, is the collection of paintings and statuary bequeathed to the town in 1879 by Duchess Adela Colonna (a member of the d’Affry family of Fribourg), by whom many were executed under the name of “Marcello.” The deep ravine of the Sarine is crossed by a very fine suspension bridge, constructed 1832–1834 by M. Chaley, of Lyons, which is 167 ft. above the Sarine, has a span of 808 ft., and consists of 6 huge cables composed of 3294 strands. A loftier suspension bridge is thrown over the Gotteron stream just before it joins the Sarine: it is 590 ft. long and 246 ft. in height, and was built in 1840. About 3 m. north of the town is the great railway viaduct or girder bridge of Grandfey, constructed in 1862 (1092 ft. in length, 249 ft. high) at a cost of 234 million francs. Immediately above the town a vast dam (591 ft. long) was constructed across the Sarine by the engineer Ritter in 1870–1872, the fall thus obtained yielding a water-power of 2600 to 4000 horse-power, and forming a sheet of water known as the Lac de Pérolles. A motive force of 600 horse-power, secured by turbines in the stream, is conveyed to the plateau of Pérolles by “telodynamic” cables of 2510 ft. in length, for whose passage a tunnel has been pierced in the rock. On the Pérolles plateau is the International Catholic University founded in 1889.
History.—In 1178 the foundation of the town (meant to hold in check the turbulent nobles of the neighbourhood) was completed by Berchthold IV., duke of Zähringen, whose father Conrad had founded Freiburg in Breisgau in 1120, and whose son, Berchthold V., was to found Bern in 1191. The spot was chosen for purposes of military defence, and was situated in the Uechtland or waste land between Alamannian and Burgundian territory. He granted it many privileges, modelled on the charters of Cologne and of Freiburg in Breisgau, though the oldest existing charter of the town dates from 1249. On the extinction of the male line of the Zähringen dynasty, in 1218, their lands passed to Anna, the sister of the last duke and wife of Count Ulrich of Kyburg. That house kept Fribourg till it too became extinct, in 1264, in the male line. Anna, the heiress, married about 1273 Eberhard, count of Habsburg-Laufenburg, who sold Fribourg in 1277 for 3000 marks to his cousin Rudolf, the head of the house of Habsburg as well as emperor. The town had to fight many a hard battle for its existence against Bern and the count of Savoy, especially between 1448 and 1452. Abandoned by the Habsburgs, and desirous of escaping from the increasing power of Bern, Fribourg in 1452 finally submitted to the count of Savoy, to whom it had become indebted for vast sums of money. Yet, despite all its difficulties, it was in the first half of the 15th century that Fribourg exported much leather and cloth to France, Italy and Venice, as many as 10,000 to 20,000 bales of cloth being stamped with the seal of the town. When Yolande, dowager duchess of Savoy, entered into an alliance with Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy, Fribourg joined Bern, and helped to gain the victories of Grandson and of Morat (1476).
In 1477 the town was finally freed from the rule of Savoy, while in 1481 (with Soleure) it became a member of the Swiss Confederation, largely, it is said, through the influence of the holy man, Bruder Klaus (Niklaus von der Flüe). In 1475 the town had taken Illens and Arconciel from Savoy, and in 1536 won from Vaud much territory, including Romont, Rue, Châtel St Denis, Estavayer, St Aubin (by these two conquests its dominion reached the Lake of Neuchâtel), as well as Vuissens and Surpierre, which still form outlying portions (physically within the canton of Vaud) of its territory, while in 1537 it took Bulle from the bishop of Lausanne. In 1502–1504 the lordship of Bellegarde or Jaun was bought, while in 1555 it acquired (jointly with Bern) the lands of the last count of the Gruyère, and thus obtained the rich district of that name. From 1475 it ruled (with Bern) the bailiwicks of Morat, Grandson, Orbe and
