FRIEDRICHSHAFEN  , a

town of Germany, in the kingdom of Wurttemberg, on the east shore of the Lake of Constance, at the junction of railways to Bretten and Lindau . Pop . 4600 . It consists of the former imperial town of Buchhorn and the monastery and village of Hofen . The principal building is the palace, formerly the residence of the provosts of Hofen, and now the summer residence of the royal family . To the palace is attached the Evangelical parish church . The town has a hydropathic establishment and is a favourite tourist resort . Here are also the natural history and antiquarian collections of the Lake Constance Association . Buchhorn is mentioned (as Buachihorn or Puchihorn) in documents of 837 and was the seat of a powerful countship . The line of counts died out in 1089, and the place fell first to the Welfs and in 1191 to the Hohenstaufen . In 1275 it was made a free imperial city by King Rudolph I . In 1802 it lost this status and was assigned to Bavaria, and in 1810 to Wurttemberg .

The monastery of Hofen was founded in 1050 as a

convent of Benedictine nuns, but was changed in 1420 into a provostship of monks . It was suppressed in 1802 and in 18o5 came to Wurttemberg . King Frederick I., who caused the harbour to be made, amalgamated Buchhorn and Hofen under the new name of Friedrichshafen .