Gruyères stands in the midst of the Fribourg green pre-Alpine foothills. The castle towers above the medieval town. Gruerius, the legendary founder of Gruyères, captured a crane (in French: “grue”) and chose it as his heraldic animal, inspiring the name Gruyères. Despite the importance of the House of Gruyères, its beginnings remain quite mysterious. Gruyères is first mentioned around 1138-39 as de Grueri.The town developed beneath the castle, which the Count of Gruyere had built on top of the hill, to control the upper Saanen valley. By 1195-96 it became a market town with a central street and city walls. The town developed separately of the castle. In 1397 Count Rudolph IV of Gruyères confirmed an older town charter that was based on the model of Moudon.