Erguel
Erguel ( French Erguël ) was a lordship ( Vogtei ) in the prince-bishopric of Basel , which existed from the 13th century to 1797, and roughly corresponds to today's Bern district Courtelary . The name Erguel also bears the eponymous gender and the castle ruins of Sonvilier , which are considered the best-preserved castle ruins in the Bernese Jura .
11th to 16th centuries
The Erguel included the Suze valley (the so-called Suzingau ), Tramelan and Pieterlen ; the latter is now in the Büren district . The bailiwick is named after the Lords of Erguël (also Arguel ), who were given management responsibility in the 11th century. The lords of Erguel - originally from Franche-Comté - also served as castellans of the Saint-Imier monastery and owned property in the Vallon de Saint-Imier . In 1178 and 1184 Heinrich von Erguël is mentioned as the first of his family. In 1264 Otto von Arguel ceded the office of castvogt to the Bishop of Basel in compensation for rights in Alsace .
A bailiff was then appointed to Erguel Castle, but the Erguel was administered by the bishop's Meier in Biel . From the 13th century the city of Biel exercised the right to banners (the military contingent) in the lower Erguel and from 1393 also the right to banners in the upper Erguel. From 1335 the monastery Saint-Imier was under the tutelage of Biel; this castle law contract was renewed in 1479. From 1493 the Erguel was administered by Biel. The community leaders of the twenty villages and hamlets of Erguels became executive organs of the city. In 1530 the Erguel von Biel was forced to accept the Reformation, Solothurn took up the Saint-Imier chapter . In 1553, the rule of the diocese of Basel pledged to Biel for 7,000 kroner. This caused concern in the Erguel; the Erguelians achieved with the help of Solothurn that the contract was terminated. Thereupon the people of Erguel concluded a castle rights contract with Solothurn in 1555 and in 1556 asked their masters to confirm their customary rights and freedoms.
From the Biel barter (1599) to the Landestroublen
The Basel prince-bishop Jakob Christoph Blarer von Wartensee , who ruled from 1575–1608, had intended to recatholize Erguel since the 1590s and wanted to regain control of the rule for the prince-bishopric. This Counter-Reformation met with resistance; Negotiations with Bern - Biel's ally - since 1596, however, led to the Biel barter of September 27, 1599: Biel's rights in the Erguel were severely restricted, but Bern received rights in the Principality of Basel. In 1607 the contract was canceled; With the Baden Treaty of May 28, 1610, Biel finally only had the right to banners for Erguel. Common law was introduced, and in 1606 a kastlan was installed in Courtelary as the direct representative of the bishop; the court of appeal was moved to Pruntrut . In 1726, Johann Konrad von Reinach-Hirtzbach wanted to reform the Principality of Basel in the spirit of enlightened absolutism ; these reforms aroused resistance - the so-called Landestroublen - first in the Erguel. The same ordinance was repealed for the Erguel. With the sovereign declaration of 1742, however, the freedoms of the Erguel rule remained restricted.
After the French Revolution until 1815
Until 1797, thanks to the neutrality of the Confederation, no French troops advanced into Erguel, which had already occupied the diocese of Basel in 1792 and France thus became Biel's direct neighbor. Prince-Bishop Franz Joseph Sigismund von Roggenbach , who fled to Constance after the occupation of the diocese , set up a provisional regency, which, however, was not accepted by the Erguel.
Even before the Helvetic era , the patriotic society of Erguel tried in vain in 1797 to gain independence and to form a free republic in association with Biel - which had wanted to become an independent, open-ended place of the Confederation since the 15th century. However, the independence efforts were in vain. In December 1797 the Erguel was occupied by the French and added to the Mont-Terrible department . From 1800 to 1814 the Erguel belonged to the department of Haut-Rhin , where it formed the canton of Courtelary of the Arrondissement of Delsberg . In 1814 the Erguel was part of the general government of a cousin of Prince Metternich , Baron Konrad Karl Friedrich von Andlau ( von Birseck ), who tried in vain to turn the former Prince-Bishopric of Basel into a canton under his rule.
In 1815 the Erguel was merged with Bern and henceforth formed the Courtelary office.
cheese
A traditional raw milk cheese is made in the Fromagerie de Courtelary and is marketed under the brand name Erguel . Erguel is one of the oldest semi-hard mountain cheeses from the Jura. It is stored for between five and six and a half months.
literature
- Anne Beuchat-Bessire: Erguel. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
- P. César: Notice historique sur le pays d'Erguël . 1897
- Marco Jorio : The Fall of the Principality of Basel (1792-1815) . 1982
- A. Chèvre: "Le Réveil de l'Erguël au XVIe siècle" . In: Actes SJE . 1985, 9-50
- TR Frêne: Journal de ma vie , ed. by A. Bandelier et al., Vol. 5, 1993, 29-31
- P.-O. Léchot: "La vénérable classe d'Erguël de la Réforme aux Lumières" . In: Actes SJE , 2002, 214-24
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ The ruins of Erguel in Sonvilier ( Memento of the original from November 17, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Niklaus Bartlome: Biel Barter. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
- ^ Damien Bregnard: Landestroublen. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
- ↑ Marco Jorio: Andlau, Konrad Karl Friedrich von (von Birseck). In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
- ↑ About the Erguel cheese ( Memento of the original dated June 23, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
