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 geogra ...

of the

Duchy of Alamannia Alamannia, or Alemannia, 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 ...

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 or Swiss Confederacy (German language, Modern German: ; historically , after the Swiss Reformation, Reformation also , "Confederation of the Swiss") was a loose confederation of independent small states (, German or ...

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 structure whereby a building is divided into several units that are each separately owned, surrounded by common areas that are jointly owned. The term can be applied to the building or complex ...

in 1460. The county became the

Canton of Thurgau Thurgau (; french: Thurgovie; it, Turgovia), anglicized as Thurgovia, more formally the Canton of Thurgau, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of five districts and its capital is Frauenfeld. Thurgau is part ...

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, First Consul of the French Republic on 19 February 1803 establishing the Swiss Confederation. The act also abolished the previous Helvetic Republic, which had existed since the invasion ...

of 1803 a

canton Canton may refer to: Administrative division terminology * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and ent ...

of the restored Confederacy.

Alamannic pagus

The ''Turgowe''

within

Alamannia Alamannia, or Alemannia, was the kingdom established and inhabited by the Alemanni, a Germanic peoples, Germanic tribal confederation that had broken through the Roman ''Upper Germanic Limes, limes'' in 213. The Alemanni expanded from the Main ...

was named for the

Thur Thur may refer to: *Thur (France), a river in Alsace, France *Thur (Rhine), a river in East Switzerland *Thursday, as an abbreviation *''Thur.'', taxonomic author abbreviation for French botanist Gustave Thuret Gustave Adolphe Thuret (23 May 1 ...

, and it included the entire Alamannic territory between

Upper Rhine The Upper Rhine (german: Oberrhein ; french: Rhin Supérieur) is the section of the Rhine between Basel in Switzerland and Bingen in Germany, surrounded by the Upper Rhine Plain. The river is marked by Rhine-kilometres 170 to 529 (the sc ...

and

Reuss Reuss may refer to: *Reuss (surname) *Reuss (river) in Switzerland *Reuss (state) or Reuß, several former states or countries in present-day Germany, and the Republic of Reuss *Reuss Elder Line and Reuss Younger Line (House of Reuss), members incl ...

. With the

Alamanni The Alemanni or Alamanni, were a confederation of Germanic tribes * * * on the Upper Rhine River. First mentioned by Cassius Dio in the context of the campaign of Caracalla of 213, the Alemanni captured the in 260, and later expanded into pres ...

c settlement of Central Switzerland 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.'' Gotfrid (also ''Gotefrid'', modernized ''Gottfried''; la, Gotfridus or ''Cotefredus''; (c. 650–709) was the Duke of Alemannia in the late seventh century and until his death. He was of the house of the Agilo ...

, was count of Turgowe between 709 and 736 (when he acceded as duke of Bavaria). After the Council of Cannstatt, a Frankish nobleman named Warin is recorded as count in Thurgau for the year 754. In the 9th century, Zürichgau 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 Ag ...

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

Appenzell Appenzell is a historic canton in the northeast of Switzerland, and entirely surrounded by the canton of St. Gallen. Appenzell became independent of the Abbey of Saint Gall in 1403 and entered a league with the Old Swiss Confederacy in 1411, ...

, parts of St. Gallen (

Fürstenland Fürstenland or Alte Landschaft is the name of a historical 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 S ...

and Toggenburg), and the parts of

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

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 ...

(919), Burchard II, Duke of Swabia asserted his control over the Thurgau against the claims of

Rudolph II of Burgundy Rudolph II (c. 11 July 880 – 11 July 937), a member of the Elder House of Welf, was King of Burgundy from 912 until his death. He initially succeeded in Upper Burgundy and also ruled as King of Italy from 922 to 926. In 933 Rudolph acquired the ...

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

Constance Constance may refer to: Places *Konstanz, Germany, sometimes written as Constance in English *Constance Bay, Ottawa, Canada * Constance, Kentucky * Constance, Minnesota * Constance (Portugal) * Mount Constance, Washington State People * Consta ...

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 Christian monks and nuns. The conce ...

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 that lasted from AD 1000 to 1300. The High Middle Ages were preceded by the Early Middle Ages and were followed by the Late Middle Ages, which ended ...

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

Habsburgs The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...

. The

allied with ten freed bailiwicks of the former Toggenburg 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, 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 (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 (, 'culture struggle') was the conflict that took place from 1872 to 1878 between the Catholic Church led by Pope Pius IX and the government of Prussia led by Otto von Bismarck. The main issues were clerical control of education and ecclesiastic ...

'' in Switzerland, dissolving its monasteries in 1848. The electorate supported the Swiss Constitution 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 decides on policy initiatives without legislator, elected representatives as proxies. This differs from the majority of currently establishe ...

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
e-periodica.ch
.