The town of Fribourg was founded in 1157 by the dukes of Zähringen. The city and its territory grew continuously between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries as the citizens and the municipal authorities bought the surrounding lands from the nobility. The first phase of this expansion resulted in the formation of what was later called Anciennes Terres (Ancient Territories), an area of ca.30 kilometres diameter around the city, distributed among two dozen parishes. In 1404, the parishes and the city's districts within the walls were grouped into four new administrative entities, the so-called banners.
Each banner (Bourg, Auge, Hôpitaux, and Neuveville) was comprised of one city district and several parishes in the countryside. They were managed by the bannerman, who had administrative and military functions. The second phase of expansion took place after
