MORAT (Ger. Murten)  , a small town on the east shore of the Lake of Morat, in the Swiss canton of Fribourg, and by rail 14 M . N. of Fribourg or 184 m . W. of Bern . In 1900 its population was 2263, of whom 1840 were German-speaking and 1969 were Protestants . It is a most picturesque little town, overlooked by the 13th-century castle and the quaint tower of the Rathhaus, while it is still surrounded by its 15th century walls that are studded at intervals with watch towers . In 1264 it exchanged its position as a free imperial city (enjoyed since 1218) for the rule of the count of Savoy . In 1475 it was taken by the Swiss at the commencement of their war with Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy, whose ally was the duchess of Savoy . But in 1476 it was besieged by Charles, though it held out till the Swiss army arrived in haste and utterly defeated (land June) the Burgundians . An obelisk a little way south. west of the town stands on the site of the bone-house (destroyed by the French in 1798, wherein the remains of many victims had been collected . Morat was ruled in common from 1475 to 1798 by Bern and Fribourg, being finally annexed to Fribourg in 1814 . The Lake of Morat has an area of 1o2 sq. m., and is connected with that of Neuchatel by way of the Broye canal . On its shores many lake dwellings have been found .

See F . L . Engelhard, Der Stadt Murten Chronik (Bern, 1828); G . F . Ochsenbein,

Die Urkunden der Belagerung u . Schlacht von Murten (Freiburg, 1876) ; H . Wattelet, Die Schlacht bei Murten (Fribourg, 1894) . (W . A . B .