Connection of the Birseck to Basel
The annexation of nine municipalities of the former Principality of Basel to the Canton of Basel took place in 1815. Four processes are summarized under the term “Anschluss”: the allocation of the former Principality of Basel by the Congress of Vienna (March 20, 1815), the occupation of this area by the Swiss Confederation (August 23, 1815), the taking over of the new Birseck communities by the Canton Basel (December 26, 1815) and the unification ceremony on December 28, 1815. The nine Birseck municipalities Arlesheim , Reinach , Aesch , Pfeffingen , Oberwil , Therwil , Ettingen , Allschwil and Schönenbuch do not correspond to the geographical name of Birseck .
prehistory
Until 1792, the Birseck (Arlesheim, Reinach, Oberwil, Therwil, Ettingen, Allschwil and Schönenbuch) and Pfeffingen (Pfeffingen, Aesch, Duggingen , Grellingen ) bishoprics belonged to the Principality of Basel. After the overthrow in the wake of the French Revolution and the proclamation of a pro forma independent, short-lived Raurachian Republic on December 17, 1792, the two German-speaking bailiwicks were merged as the canton of Reinach with the capital Reinach. The canton continued to exist when most of the former prince-bishop's territories formed the new French department of Mont-Terrible on March 23, 1793 . In this the canton Reinach belonged to the district of Delsberg . On February 17, 1800, the entire district came to the Haut-Rhin ; the canton Reinach was annexed to the canton Laufen with the main town Laufen .
In 1814 the advancing troops of Austria , Prussia and Russia, victorious against Napoleon Bonaparte, liberated the former prince-bishopric (excluding the bailiwicks south of the Col de Pierre Pertuis ) and placed the territory temporarily under the administration of Governor General Conrad Karl Friedrich von Andlau-Birseck . This came from the sex of the bailiffs of the former Birseck bailiff.
connection
On March 20, 1815, the Congress of Vienna decided not to resurrect the former prince-bishopric, but to join the Swiss Confederation. This took over the area on 23 August through a general commissioner of the daily statute , Johann Conrad Escher (from the lynx) (not identical with the eponymous Hans Conrad Escher (from the lynx) ).
The greater part, the core of today's canton of Jura , fell to the canton of Bern , the nine Birseck communities to the canton of Basel . This had already been determined by the Congress of Vienna. The former Vogtei Pfeffingen was divided: Duggingen and Grellingen fell with the Laufental to Bern, Pfeffingen to Basel. Geographically motivated, the border now ran across the Angenstein Engnis in the Birstal valley . Three representatives from Basel and three from Birseck negotiated the admission in November 1815 within the framework set by the Congress of Vienna: The reformed city of Basel had to allow the Catholic population of Birseck to freely practice their religion and renounce the introduction of feudal rights; these had been abolished under French rule. The city also prevailed. The Birseck received only four seats in the Grand Council and no representation in the other offices was guaranteed. It remained a separate district with its own tax system and its own administration under a governor appointed by Basel and an administrative commission, in which the Birseck could only have two out of six members. The Basel Grand Council ratified the outcome of the negotiations and formally took possession of the Birseck on December 26th.
In Birseck itself there was no vote, but the people gladly joined Basel after the French rule. After the plundering by the French rule ( contributions : taxes and supplies for warfare, billeting; conscriptions : evacuation of men between 20 and 25 years of age for Napoleon's campaigns) and the burdens of the passage of the Austrian and then the federal troops in 1814/15, furthermore under the influence of bad harvests (keyword: famine year 1816/7 ) the population was exhausted.
consequences
As a result, numerous important questions had to be settled:
- Since the feudal taxes could not be restored, a property tax was introduced. It was increased by a special levy of 10% for the poor. Nevertheless, these were not able to provide enough services to the numerous poor.
- The establishment of state-regulated mortgages was of the utmost urgency; Since the state power had disintegrated with France's withdrawal, the claims of the lenders on real estate had to be taken up again.
- Furthermore, numerous severance payments had to be taken over and regulated: for former soldiers, former priests and monks expelled under French rule, for the notaries who had to give way to the public notary's office (district clerkship). Most important was the pension for the prince-bishop and the cathedral chapter, which had to be settled. The Basel government passed these services on to the Birseck district; here they accounted for almost 40% of the district's spending.
- In the area of the church, numerous small points of conflict between the city and the representatives of the bishop had to be settled, which was successful.
- In the school area, the city paid attention to improving the quality of teachers, which only partially succeeded.
- The defense list , which had almost disappeared , was restored in 1817.
- The dispute over the land interest, that is, the taxes paid by the land users to the landowners, remained fraught with conflict. It was possible to redeem this interest by paying twenty times the annual interest rate, but the population could not and would not afford such a ransom.
- The reorganization of civil rights also gave rise to conflicts, albeit between immigrants and residents: under French rule, there was no difference between full citizens and immigrants who had moved there. Now the previous citizenship was restored and the citizens who moved there during the French period were only granted cautiously.
- The rights granted to women by the Code Civile (independent management of funds, independent representation in court) have been reversed without encountering any significant resistance.
Around 1830 resistance to the city's regulations increased; it culminated in the Birseck petition of 1831. Birseck took part in the uprising of the Basel-based communities, which led to the cantons being separated . But within the communities there were heated and occasionally bloody arguments between supporters and opponents of a separation. Although the Birseck was the best-known revolutionary leader, Stephan Gutzwiller from Therwil , it was the politically motivated movement from Liestal and Gelterkinden that set the course.
literature
- Close, far away. History of the Canton of Basel-Landschaft. Volume five. Poverty and Wealth. 19th and 20th centuries. Liestal 2001. (Brief overview.)
There are no monographs on the subject, with the exception of the works by Gass and Weber, which do not cite any sources.
- André Bandelier: L'Evêché de Bâle et le Pays de Montbéliard à l'époque napoléonienne: Porrentruy, sous-préfecture du Haut-Rhin. Un arrondissement communal sous le Consulat et l'Empire, 1800–1814. Neuchâtel 1980.
- Kaspar Birkhäuser : The Baselbieter politician Stephan Gutzwiller. Sources and Research Volume 21. Liestal 1983.
- Otto Gass: The Birseck. From the 30 Years War to the transition to Basel. In: Karl Gauss (Hsg.): History of the Basel landscape and the canton of Basel-Landschaft. Liestal 1932. pp. 117-317.
- Karl Gutzwiller: History of the Birseck. Commemorative publication commemorating 100 years of membership in Switzerland. Liestal 1915.
- Hans Joneli: From the history of a lost state. In: Der Rauracher, Volume 20 / No. 1. 1. Quarter 1948, Aesch pp. 9-14.
- K. Weber: Origin and development of the canton Basellandschaft 1798-1932. In: Karl Gauss (Hsg.): History of the Basel landscape and the canton of Basel-Landschaft. Liestal 1932, pp. 319-744.
- Collection of the laws and resolutions as well as the police ordinances of the canton of Basel which were issued from the beginning of 1803 until August 26, 1833: (on which day the daily statute resolved the separation of the canton of Basel into two communities). Basel 1806-1837.
credentials
- ↑ Declaration by the Congress of Vienna: State Archives Baselland, Liestal, NA 2003, B1, No. 6a
- ^ Document of unification: Baselland State Archives, Liestal, NA 2003, B1, No. 29
- ↑ Possession patent: Staatsarchiv Baselland, Liestal, NA 2003, B1, No. 42a
- ↑ Bandelier 1980. pp. 85-103
- ↑ Bandelier 1980. pp. 117-140
- ↑ Collection of the laws and resolutions as well as the police ordinances of the Canton of Basel ... , pp. 103-105
- ↑ Collection of laws and resolutions as well as the police ordinances of the Canton of Basel ... , p. 149 f.
- ↑ Baselstadt State Archives, Basel, AHA, Separation, D