History.— The history of Freiburg practically begins with the counts of Zahringen, who, under the emperors, held considerable possessions in this part of Switzerland. In 1179 Berthold IV. founded the town of Freiburg, as his uncle Berthold III. had already been the founder of Freiburg in the Breisgau, and as his son and successor was not long afterwards to be the founder of Bern. He not only bestowed on it all the territory which he held for three leagues round—a district afterwards known as the t ‘ old lands,” or the “twenty-four parishes,” but he also, by a charter or Handfeste, granted a number of privileges similar to those of Cologne, which in that unsettled period soon attracted what was then a considerable population of artisans, peasants, and traders from the neighbouring countries. On the death of Berthold V., the last duke of Záhringen, in 1218, his possessions passed to his sister Anne, wife of Ulrich of Kyburg; aud the Kyburgs were accordingly lords of Freiburg till 1264, when they also became extinct in the male line. Anne of Kyburg, who had married Eberhard of Hapsburg, sold Freiburg to Rudolph of Hapsburg for 3000 marks; and thus the town was subject to the house of Austria for 188 years. During that long period it had to fight many a battle for its existence, more especially against the neighbouring town of Bern and the counts of Savoy. At length abandoned by Austria, it was obliged in 1452 to swear fidelity to Louis of Savoy, to whom it had become indebted for vast sums of money. In spite of all the difficulties of its position, it was in this first part of tne 15th century that it maintained a considerable trade with France, Italy, and Venice in its leather and cloth. As many as 18,000 or 20,000 pieces of cloth were stamped with the town’s seal in the course of a year. The reign of the Savoy dynasty was of short duration, for when Yolande, widow of Amadeus, entered into alliance with Charles the Bold of Burgundy, Freiburg joined Bern against the Burgundians, and took part in the battles of Morat and Grandson. At length, in the diet of Stanz in 1481—thanks mainly to the advocacy of Brother Claus (Nicholas von der Fliιh)—it was admitted a member of the Swiss Confederation. Considerable additions of territory were effected in the 15th and 16th centuries. In 1475 Illens, Planfayon, and the castle of Chenaux were acquired, aud, along with the Bernese, the people of Freiburg wrested Morat from the house of Savoy. In 1478 the lordship of Montagny was purchased for 6700 florins, and in 1482 Farvagny and Pont. Bellegarde was added in 1502, Wallenbuch in 1504, Font in 1508, and in the course of 1536 Vuippens, Estevayer, Corserey, Bulle, Vuissens, Châtel St Denis, Bossonnens, Surpierre, Romont, Rue, La Molière, and St Aubin. Corbières was bought for 8000 florins in 1553; and in 1555 Bern and Freiburg forced Michel, the last count of Gruyère, to abdicate, and paid 80,500 crowns for his countship. The people of Freiburg had to endure very heavy taxation to raise their proportion of the sum. Meanwhile, in the 16th century, the original democratic government gave place to an exclusive oligarchy, which succeeded in maintaining its supremacy in spite of the pretensions of the papal power and the bishop of Lausanne on the one hand, and the dissatisfaction of the people on the other. The French occupation of 1798 brought its government to a close; but in 1814 it was partially restored, 108 of the 144 seats of the great council being assigned to members of the patrician families. On December 2, 1830, the people rose and demanded equality of rights for all the citizens of the canton; and in January 1831 a democratic constitution was drawn up, and a representative government established. In 1846 Freiburg joined the Sonderbund, and in the following year it was consequently invaded by the federal forces. In 1848 the.constitution was revised and rendered more liberal in regard to religious matters. Several attempts were made by the Catholic party to recover their supremacy; but their efforts were defeated, and Bishop Marilley and other of their leaders were exiled. In 1857, however, the great council decided for another revision of the constitution in a reactionary sense, and their proposal was adopted by the people. Since then there has been no alteration of the general tendency, and the Catholic clergy are in possession of unbounded influence.

See Berchthold, Geschichte Freiburgs; Lalived’Épinay, Élrennes fribourgeoises pour les années 1806-1809, Freiburg, 1810; Sammlung der Gesetze, Decrete, dcc., aer Regierung des Cantons Freiburg, 1803-17; A. Bout qui, Notions sur la Constitution politique du pays; Alex, Daguet, Illustrations fribourgeoises; Nouveaux Souvenirs de Frieburg. by F. P., Freiburκ. 1868; Geographie du Canton de 'ioourg al usage des ecoles primaires, 1877; Recueil diplomatique du Canton de Fribourg, published by the Cantonal Historical Society.

Freiburg, the chief town of the above canton, with a station on the line between Bern and Geneva, occupies a highly picturesque situation in the valley of the Sarine, part of it lying in the bottom of the ravine and part of it climbing the irregular eminences on the left. It is divided into four districts—the Bourg or central town, the Quartier des Places or the upper town, and the districts of the Ange and the Neuveville, which, together with the Planche, constitute the lower town. The principal ecclesiastical building of Freiburg, the collegiate church of St Nicholas, commenced about 1283 and finished in the second half of the 15th century, is worthy of notice, not only for the noble belfry 245 feet in height, but also for the organ, which was constructed between 1824 and 1834 by Aloys Mooser, a native of the town, and is one of the most famous instruments of its kind. The various buildings belonging to the municipal and cantonal Governments, the conventual establishments of the Cordeliers, the Ursuline nuns, and other fraternities and sisterhoods, the college of St Michel and the lyceum, with the cantonal museum, and the civic hospital and other beneficent institutions are the most important of the public edifices. In front of the town-hall grows a linden tree which is said to have been planted by a soldier from the battle of Morat, 22d June 1476. The ravine of the Sarine is crossed by several bridges, of which the most notable is the suspension bridge constructed by Μ. Challey about 1834, which has a span of 871 feet, and consists mainly of four cables each composed of 1056 distinct wires, individually not more than a tenth of an inch in diameter. About 3 miles to the north of the town, the river valley is crossed by the great railway viaduct of Grandfey, which dates from 1862, is a girder structure 1095 feet in length and 260 feet high, contains about 3100 tons of metal, and cost 2,500,000 francs. Immediately above the town a vast dam was thrown across the river-bed by Ritter the engineer in 1871-3; and the fall thus obtained yields a water power of from 2600 to 4000 horse-power. A motive force of 600 horse-power secured by turbines in the stream is conveyed to the plateau of Pérolles by “telodynamic” cables more than 2295 feet in length, for whose passage a tunnel has been constructed in the rock of the ravine. The industrial establishments are still comparatively few and unimportant. Population in 1870, 10,904.

FREIBURG, or Freyburg, usually distinguished as Freiburg in the Breisgau, is a city formerly of the Austrian dominions but now in the grand-duchy of Baden, about 12 miles E. of the Rhine, at the foot of the Schlossberg, one of the heights of the Black Forest range. It is one, of the stations on the railway between Basel and Mannheim, and lies about 40 miles northwards from the former city. The town is for the most part well built, having several wide and handsome streets and a number of spacious squares. It is kept clean and cool by the waters of the Dreisam, which flow through the streets in open channels; and its old fortifications have been replaced by public walks, and, what is more unusual, by vineyards. Since 1827 Freiburg has been the seat of an archbishop who has authority over the bishops of Mainz, Fulda, Rottenberg, and Limberg; and it possesses a famous Catholic university, the Ludovico Albertina, which owes its origin to Albert VI., archduke of Austria, and dates from 1454, 1456, or 1457. This was at one time a very wealthy institution, having been endowed by its founder with extensive lands in the Breisgau, Upper Alsatia, and Wurtemberg; but since the French Revolution it has lost nearly all its estates, and the revenue derived from those still held in Baden is not sufficient for its expenses. In 1876 it had 41 professors, ordinary and extraordinary, and 9 privat-docenten, and the students numbered 290, of whom 141 were foreigners. The library contains upwards of 250,000 volumes; and among the other auxiliary establishments are an anatomical hall and museum and bo anical gardens. The Freiburg minster is considered one of the finest of all the Gothic churches of Germany, being remarkable alike for the symmetry of its proportions, for the taste of its decorations, and for the fact that it may mor j correctly be said to be finished than almost any other building of the kind. The period of its erection probably lies for the most part between 1122 and 1252; bat the choir was not built till 1513. The tower, which rises above the western entrance, is 386 feet in height, and it presents a skilful transition from a square base into an octagonal superstructure, which in its turn is surmounted by a pyramidal spire of the most exquisite open work in stone. In the interior of the church are some beautiful stained glass windows, both ancient and modern, the tombstones of several of the dukes of Zähringen, statues of archbishops of Freiburg, and paintings by Holbein and by Hans Balding, surnamed Grün. Among the other noteworthy buildings of Freiburg are the palaces of the grand duke and the arch bishop, the town hall, the theatre, the Kaufhaus or merchants’ hall, a 16th-century building with the front painted red, the Protestant church, formerly the church of the abbey of Thennenbach, removed thither in 1839, the hall of art and harmony, and the barracks, erected by the Austrian Government in 1776, and capable of containing 5000 men. The charitable institutions include a foundling hospital, an orphan asylum, a blind asylum, and a military hospital. In the centre of the fishmarket square is a fountain surmounted by a statue of Duke Berthold III. of Zähringen, the founder of the city; in the Franciskaner Platz there is a monument to Schwarz, the traditional discoverer of gunpowder; the Rotteck Platz takes its name from the monument of Rotteck, the historian, which formerly stood on the site of the Schwarz statue; and in Kaiser Wilhelm Strasse a bronze statue was erected in 1876 to the memory of Herder, who in the early part of the 19th century founded in Freiburg an institute for draughtsmen, engravers, and lithographers, and carried on a famous bookselling business. On the Schlossberg above the town there are massive ruins of two castles which were destroyed by the French in 1744; and about two miles to the N.E. stands the castle of Zähringen. the original seat of the famous family of counts. Situated on the ancient road which runs by the Höllenpass between the valleys of the Danube and the Rhine, Freiburg early acquired commercial importance, and it is still the principal centre of the trade of the Black Forest. It manufactures chicory, chemicals, starch, leather, tobacco, silk thread, paper, and hempen goods, as well as beer and wine. The population is rapidly increasing. In 1864 it numbered 19,085, inclusive of the suburbs of Herdern and Wiehre, and in 1875 no less than 30,531. About a sixth of the whole are Protestants.

Freiburg was founded, as has been already stated, by Count Berthold 111. of Zähringen. In 1120 it became a free town, with privileges similar to those of Cologne; but in 1219 it fell into the hands of a branch of the family of Urach. After it had vainly attempted to throw off the yoke by force of arms, it obtained its freedom in 1366 for a sum of 20,000 silver marks; but as it was unable to reimburse the creditors who had advanced the money, it was, in 1368, obliged to recognize the supremacy of the house of Haρsburg. In the 17th and 18th centuries it played a considerable part as a fortified town. It was captured by the Swedes in 1632, 1634, and 1638; and in 1644 it was seized by the Bavarians, who shortly after, under General Marcey, defeated in the neighbourhood the French forces under Enghien and Turcnne. The French were in possession from 1677 to 1697, and again in 1713-14 and 1744 , and when they left the place in 1748, at the peace of Aix-la∙ Chapelle, they dismantled the fortifications. The Baden insurgents gained a victory at Freiburg in 1848, and the revolutionary Government took refuge in the town in June 1849, but in the following July the Prussian forces took possession, and did not leave till 1851.

Sec Schreiber, Geschichte und Beschreibung des Münster zu Freiburg, 1820 and 1825; Geschichte der Stadt und Universität Freiburgs, 1857-59; Der Schlossberg bei Freiburg, 1860.

FREIBURG, distinguished as Freiburg unter dem Fürstenstein, a garrison town in the government district of Breslau, Silesia, is situated on the Polsnitz, 35 miles S. W. of Breslau. Its industries include the making of regulator watches, linen weaving, starch manufacture, and distilling. A higher burgher school was erected in 1874. In the neighbourhood are the old and modern castles of the Fürstenstein family. At Freiburg on July 22, 1762. the Prussians defended themselves successfully against the superior forces of the Austrians. The population of the town in 1875 was 7853.