Editing Fredrikstad (section)

==General information==

===Name===
The city was named after the [[Denmark|Danish]] king Frederick II in 1569. The last element ''stad'' means "city".

Prior to 1877, the name was spelled ''Frederiksstad'', then from 1877 to 1888 it was written as ''Fredriksstad'', and finally since 1889 it has been spelled in its current form: ''Fredrikstad''.

===Coat-of-arms===
The [[Coat of arms|coat-of-arms]] is from modern times. They were granted on 21 April 1967. The old arms are based on the oldest known seal of the city, which dates from 1610. They showed a [[fortress]] being guarded by a bear. Strangely, Fredrikstad had no fortifications in 1610 (it received some at the end of the 17th century). Fredrikstad was founded by citizens of Sarpsborg and both the fortress and the bear are taken from the old arms of Sarpsborg. The composition of the seal was also used as arms since the beginning of the 19th century. The new arms were granted at the 400th anniversary of the city in 1967 and show a more modern variation on the fortress and bear.<ref>{{cite web|author=Norske Kommunevåpen|year=1990|title=Nye kommunevåbener i Norden|url=http://www.ngw.nl/int/nor/f/fredriks.htm|access-date=2008-12-13}}</ref>