The Thurgau (''Turgowe, Turgovia'') was a

pagus In ancient Rome, the Latin word (plural ) was an administrative term designating a rural subdivision of a tribal territory, which included individual farms, villages (), and strongholds () serving as refuges, as well as an early medieval geograp ...

of the Duchy of Alamannia in the early medieval period. A County of Thurgau ('' Landgrafschaft Thurgau'') existed from the 13th century until 1798. Parts of Thurgau were acquired by the

Old Swiss Confederacy The Old Swiss Confederacy, also known as Switzerland or the Swiss Confederacy, was a loose confederation of independent small states (, German or ), initially within the Holy Roman Empire. It is the precursor of the modern state of Switzerlan ...

during the early 15th century, and the entire county passed to the Confederacy as a

condominium A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership regime in which a building (or group of buildings) is divided into multiple units that are either each separately owned, or owned in common with exclusive rights of occupation by individual own ...

in 1460. The county became the

Canton of Thurgau Thurgau (; ; ; ), anglicized as Thurgovia, and formally as the Canton of Thurgau, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of five districts. Its capital is Frauenfeld. Thurgau is part of Eastern Switzerland. I ...

within the

Helvetic Republic The Helvetic Republic (; ; ) was a sister republic of France that existed between 1798 and 1803, during the French Revolutionary Wars. It was created following the French invasion and the consequent dissolution of the Old Swiss Confederacy, ma ...

in 1798, and with the

Act of Mediation The Act of Mediation () was issued by Napoleon Bonaparte, French Consulate, First Consul of the French Republic on 19 February 1803 to abolish the Helvetic Republic, which had existed since the invasion of Old Swiss Confederacy, Switzerland by F ...

of 1803 a canton of the restored Confederacy.

Alamannic pagus

The ''Turgowe''

within

Alamannia Alamannia, or Alemania, was the kingdom established and inhabited by the Alemanni, a Germanic tribal confederation that had broken through the Roman '' limes'' in 213. The Alemanni expanded from the Main River basin during the 3rd century and ...

was named for the Thur, and it included the entire Alamannic territory between

Upper Rhine Upper Rhine ( ; ; kilometres 167 to 529 of the Rhine) is the section of the Rhine between the Middle Bridge, Basel, Middle Bridge in Basel, Switzerland, and the Rhine knee in Bingen am Rhein, Bingen, Germany. It is surrounded by the Upper Rhine P ...

and

Reuss Reuss may refer to: *Reuss (surname) * Reuss (river) in Switzerland * Imperial County of Reuss or Reuß, several former states or countries in present-day Germany, and the People's State of Reuss * Principality of Reuss-Greiz and Principality of R ...

. With the

Alamanni The Alemanni or Alamanni were a confederation of Germanic tribes * * * on the Upper Rhine River during the first millennium. First mentioned by Cassius Dio in the context of the campaign of Roman emperor Caracalla of 213 CE, the Alemanni c ...

c settlement of

Central Switzerland Central Switzerland is the region of the Alpine Foothills geographically the heart and historically the origin of Switzerland, with the cantons of Uri, Schwyz, Obwalden, Nidwalden, Lucerne and Zug. Central Switzerland is one of the NUTS 2 s ...

in the 6th to 8th centuries, Turgowe included most of what is now Northeastern and Central Switzerland. Odilo, son of duke

Gotfrid :''See Gottfried for the given name.'' Cotefredus (also ''Gotfrid'' or ''Gotefrid'', modernized ''Gottfried'') (c. 650–709) was the Duke of Alamannia in the late 7th century and until his death. He was of the house of the Agilolfing, which was ...

, was count of Turgowe between 709 and 736 (when he acceded as

duke of Bavaria The following is a list of monarchs during the history of Bavaria. Bavaria was ruled by several dukes and kings, partitioned and reunited, under several dynasties. Since 1918, Bavaria has been under a republican form of government, and from 19 ...

). After the

Council of Cannstatt The Council of Cannstatt, also referred to as the blood court at Cannstatt (''Blutgericht zu Cannstatt''), was a council meeting at Cannstatt, now a part of Stuttgart, in 746 that took place as a result of an invitation by the Mayor of the Palace of ...

, a Frankish nobleman named Warin is recorded as count in Thurgau for the year 754. In the 9th century,

Zürichgau The canton of Zurich is an administrative unit ( canton) of Switzerland, situated in the northeastern part of the country. With a population of (as of ), it is the most populous canton of Switzerland. Zurich is the ''de facto'' capital of the c ...

was detached from Thurgau, so that Thurgau was now bounded to the west by the

Töss Töss is a district in the Swiss city of Winterthur. It is district number 4. The district comprises the quarters Schlosstal, Dättnau, Eichliacker and Rossberg. It is named after the river Töss which flows through the district. In the Middle A ...

basin. (the Allmen range west of the Töss), corresponding in area to what is now

Thurgau Thurgau (; ; ; ), anglicized as Thurgovia, and formally as the Canton of Thurgau, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of five districts. Its capital is Frauenfeld. Thurgau is part of Eastern Switzerland. I ...

Appenzell Appenzell () was a cantons of Switzerland, canton in the northeast of Switzerland, and entirely surrounded by the canton of St. Gallen, in existence from 1403 to 1597. Appenzell became independent of the Abbey of Saint Gall in 1403 and entered ...

, parts of St. Gallen (

Fürstenland Fürstenland or Alte Landschaft is the name of a historic territory of the Swiss canton of St. Gallen, corresponding to the modern districts of St. Gallen (without the city proper), Wil and Rorschach. It was a subject territory of the Abbey of ...

and

Toggenburg Toggenburg is a region of Switzerland. It corresponds to the upper valley of the River Thur (Switzerland), Thur and that of the Necker (river), Necker, one of its afluents. Since 1 January 2003, Toggenburg has been a constituency (''Wahlkreis ...

), and the parts of

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

east of the Töss. Hunfriding counts of Thurgau in the 9th to 10th centuries include Adalbert II (854, 894), Udalrich (912, 917) and Burchard III (920).J. Bergmann in: ''Denkschriften der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften'' 4 (1853)
facing p. 71
With the

Battle of Winterthur The Battle of Winterthur (27 May 1799) was an important action between elements of the Army of the Danube and elements of the Habsburg army, commanded by Friedrich Freiherr von Hotze, during the War of the Second Coalition, part of the French R ...

(919),

Burchard II, Duke of Swabia Burchard II (883/88429 April 926) was the Hunfriding Duke of Swabia (from 917) and Count of Raetia. He was the son of Burchard I of Swabia . Burchard took part in the early wars over Swabia. His family being from Franconia, he founded the c ...

asserted his control over the Thurgau against the claims of

Rudolph II of Burgundy Rudolph II (/885 – 12 or 13 July 937) was King of Upper Burgundy from 912 until 933, and then King of the united Kingdom of Burgundy (the polity later known as the Kingdom of Arles) from 933 until his death in 937. He was also King of Italy f ...

. The most important cities of Thurgovia in the early medieval period were

Constance Constance may refer to: Places * Constance, Kentucky, United States, an unincorporated community * Constance, Minnesota, United States, an unincorporated community * Mount Constance, Washington State, United States * Lake Constance (disambiguat ...

as the seat of the bishop, and St. Gallen for its

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christians, Christian monks and nun ...

County of Thurgau

The dukes of Zähringen and the counts of Kyburg took over much of the land in the

High Middle Ages The High Middle Ages, or High Medieval Period, was the periodization, period of European history between and ; it was preceded by the Early Middle Ages and followed by the Late Middle Ages, which ended according to historiographical convention ...

. With the extinction of the counts of Kyburg in 1264, control of the Thurgau reverted to the

Habsburgs The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout Europe d ...

. The

allied with ten freed bailiwicks of the former

seized the lands of the Thurgau from the Habsburgs in 1460, and it became a subject territory of seven Swiss cantons (Zurich, Lucerne, Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden, Zug and Glarus). During the Protestant

Reformation in Switzerland The Protestant Reformation in Switzerland was promoted initially by Huldrych Zwingli, who gained the support of the magistrate, Mark Reust, and the population of Zürich in the 1520s. It led to significant changes in civil life and state matte ...

, both the Catholic and emerging Reformed parties sought to swing the subject territories, such as the Thurgau, to their side. In 1524, in an incident that resonated across Switzerland, local peasants occupied the Charterhouse of Ittingen in the Thurgau, driving out the monks, destroying documents, and devastating the wine-cellar. Between 1526 and 1531, most of the Thurgau's population adopted the new Reformed faith spreading from Zurich, but Zurich's defeat in the War of Kappel (1531) ended Protestant predominance. Instead, the First Peace of Kappel protected both Catholic and

Reformed worship Reformed worship is religious devotion to God as conducted by Reformed or Calvinistic Christians, including Presbyterians. Despite considerable local and national variation, public worship in most Reformed and Presbyterian churches is governed by ...

, though the provisions of the treaty generally favored the Catholics, who also made up a majority among the seven ruling cantons. Religious tensions over the Thurgau were an important background to the

First War of Villmergen The First War of Villmergen Encarta-encyclopedie Winkler Prins (1993–2002) s.v. "Zwitserland. §5.2 Reformatie". Microsoft Corporation/Het Spectrum. was a Swiss religious war which lasted from 5 January until 7 March 1656, at the time of the Ol ...

(1656), during which Zurich briefly occupied the Thurgau.

Modern history

Thurgau became an administrative unit of the

in April 1798. It acceded the Swiss Confederacy as a full canton with the

of 1803. A new, liberal cantonal constitution was drawn up in 1831. Thurgau sided with the anti-Catholic party in the ''

Kulturkampf In the history of Germany, the ''Kulturkampf'' (Cultural Struggle) was the seven-year political conflict (1871–1878) between the Catholic Church in Germany led by Pope Pius IX and the Kingdom of Prussia led by chancellor Otto von Bismarck. Th ...

'' in Switzerland, dissolving its monasteries in 1848. The electorate supported the

Swiss Constitution The Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation (SR 10; (BV); (Cst.); (Cost.); ) of 18 April 1999 (SR 101) is the third and current federal constitution of Switzerland. It establishes the Swiss Confederation as a federal republic of ...

of 1848 and its revision in 1874. A new constitution of 1869 strengthened elements of

direct democracy Direct democracy or pure democracy is a form of democracy in which the Election#Electorate, electorate directly decides on policy initiatives, without legislator, elected representatives as proxies, as opposed to the representative democracy m ...

introducing the popular referendum and the direct election of the cantonal executive. The current cantonal constitution dates to 1987.

References

* . * {{HLS, 19506, Habsburg, von, author=Franziska Hälg-Steffen, Peter Hersche. * Gnädinger, Beat (ed.): ''Abbruch – Umbruch – Aufbruch: zur Helvetik im Thurgau.'' Frauenfeld: Verlag des Historischen Vereins des Kantons Thurgau, 1999. (''Thurgauer Beiträge zur Geschichte'' Band 136). * Frömelt, Hubert; Guisolan, Michel: ''Topographische Aufnahme des Kantons Thurgau von Johann Jakob Sulzberger, 1830 bis 1838.'' In: ''Cartographica Helvetica'' Heft 17 (1998), 3–17
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