Eriswil is a
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
in the
Emmental administrative district in the
Swiss canton of
Bern.
History
Eriswil is first mentioned in 1256 as ''Erolzwile''.
[
Very little is known about the early history of the village. By the ]High Middle Ages
The High Middle Ages, or High Medieval Period, was the period of European history that lasted from AD 1000 to 1300. The High Middle Ages were preceded by the Early Middle Ages and were followed by the Late Middle Ages, which ended around AD 150 ...
a local noble family, the von Eriswil family, were a Ministerialis (unfree knights in the service of a feudal overlord) family in service to the Counts of Kyburg
The Kyburg family (; ; also Kiburg) was a noble family of ''grafen'' (counts) in the Duchy of Swabia, a cadet line of the counts of Dillingen, who in the late 12th and early 13th centuries ruled the County of Kyburg, corresponding to much of wha ...
. However, the family died out in the 14th century. In the last quarter of the 14th century the region was acquired by St. Gallen
, neighboring_municipalities = Eggersriet, Gaiserwald, Gossau, Herisau (AR), Mörschwil, Speicher (AR), Stein (AR), Teufen (AR), Untereggen, Wittenbach
, twintowns = Liberec (Czech Republic)
, website = ...
and incorporated into the Rohrbach Rohrbach or Röhrbach may refer to:
Places Municipalities in Switzerland
*Rohrbach, Switzerland, in the canton of Bern
Municipalities in Germany
*Rohrbach, Bavaria, in the district of Pfaffenhofen, Bavaria
*Rohrbach, Birkenfeld, in the district o ...
district. Over the following century, Bernese expansion brought Rohrbach under Bern's control. In 1504 it bought the entire region and added Eriswil to the Trachselwald bailiwick in the Oberaargau District.[
The village church was originally under the authority of the ]Abbey of Saint Gall
The Abbey of Saint Gall (german: Abtei St. Gallen) is a dissolved abbey (747–1805) in a Catholic religious complex in the city of St. Gallen in Switzerland. The Carolingian-era monastery existed from 719, founded by Saint Othmar on the spot ...
. It appears that the oldest part of the church is the bell tower which dates from around the 14th century. The current choir
A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...
was built in the 16th century, while the nave
The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...
was built in 1905. In 1528 Bern adopted the new faith of the Protestant Reformation
The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and ...
and Eriswil converted at that time, severing most ties with the Abbey. Until 1966 the local parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...
also included the nearby village of Wyssachen.[
Traditionally the village economy relied on agriculture. By the 17th century village society had stratified into two major classes, well-off citizen farmers and a large number of poor ''Tauner'' who had limited rights and worked as ]sharecroppers
Sharecropping is a legal arrangement with regard to agricultural land in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on that land.
Sharecropping has a long history and there are a wide range ...
. In 1622 the village closed itself to further ''Tauner'' immigration and prevented them from building houses on any of the common land. In the following century many of the local ''Tauner'' began producing canvas in small home factories. By 1750 there was a thriving canvas cottage industry in the village. Around 1860, the small scale weaving was replaced with large weaving factories. Despite economic depressions and wars, four of the local factories remained in operation until the 1970s to 1990s.[
]
Geography
Eriswil has an area of . As of the 2006 survey, a total of or 67.0% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 26.1% is forested. Of rest of the municipality or 6.4% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.1% is either rivers or lakes and or 0.1% is unproductive land.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics]
2009 data accessed 27 August 2014
From the same survey, housing and buildings made up 3.8% and transportation infrastructure made up 2.0%. A total of 22.7% of the total land area is heavily forested and 3.4% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 17.0% is used for growing crops and 46.7% is pasturage, while 2.6% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.[
The municipality is located in part of the ]Emmental
The Emmental ( en, Emme Valley) is a valley in west-central Switzerland, forming part of the canton of Bern. It is a hilly landscape comprising the basins of the rivers Emme (river), Emme and Ilfis (river), Ilfis. The region is mostly devoted to ...
. It includes the village of Eriswil, the ''Gütergemeinden'' Vorder- and Hinterdorf, and the hamlets
A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. Its size relative to a parish can depend on the administration and region. A hamlet may be considered to be a smaller settlement or subdivision or satellite entity to a lar ...
of Neuligen and Schwendi. Schwendi joined the municipality in 1888-89 following a survey of the border with Wyssachen.
On 31 December 2009 Amtsbezirk Trachselwald, the municipality's former district, was dissolved. On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Verwaltungskreis Oberaargau.[Nomenklaturen – Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz]
accessed 4 April 2011
Coat of arms
The blazon
In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The vi ...
of the municipal coat of arms
A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...
is ''Gules a Mount of 6 Coupeaux Vert floatant.''
Demographics
Eriswil has a population () of . , 3.6% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Between the last 2 years (2010-2012) the population changed at a rate of 0.3%. Migration accounted for 0.7%, while births and deaths accounted for 0.2%.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office]
accessed 2 December 2014
Most of the population () speaks German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
(1,403 or 97.5%) as their first language, Albanian is the second most common (11 or 0.8%) and French is the third (4 or 0.3%). There are 2 people who speak Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
and 1 person who speaks Romansh.[
, the population was 49.9% male and 50.1% female. The population was made up of 653 Swiss men (47.1% of the population) and 38 (2.7%) non-Swiss men. There were 668 Swiss women (48.2%) and 27 (1.9%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 714 or about 49.6% were born in Eriswil and lived there in 2000. There were 427 or 29.7% who were born in the same canton, while 176 or 12.2% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 73 or 5.1% were born outside of Switzerland.][
, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 23.4% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 56.5% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 20.1%.][
, there were 602 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 690 married individuals, 106 widows or widowers and 41 individuals who are divorced.][STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000]
accessed 2 February 2011
, there were 169 households that consist of only one person and 53 households with five or more people. , a total of 517 apartments (85.5% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 45 apartments (7.4%) were seasonally occupied and 43 apartments (7.1%) were empty.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB - Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 - Gebäude und Wohnungen]
accessed 28 January 2011 , the construction rate of new housing units was 0.7 new units per 1000 residents.[ The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 1.0%. In 2012, single family homes made up 38.4% of the total housing in the municipality.
The historical population is given in the following chart:]
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bar:1730 from:start till:1726 text:"1,726"
bar:1764 from:start till:2092 text:"2,092"
bar:1850 from:start till:1973 text:"1,973"
bar:1860 from:start till:1905 text:"1,905"
bar:1870 from:start till:2002 text:"2,002"
bar:1880 from:start till:2017 text:"2,017"
bar:1888 from:start till:2045 text:"2,045"
bar:1900 from:start till:2083 text:"2,083"
bar:1910 from:start till:2010 text:"2,010"
bar:1920 from:start till:1945 text:"1,945"
bar:1930 from:start till:1841 text:"1,841"
bar:1941 from:start till:1812 text:"1,812"
bar:1950 from:start till:1847 text:"1,847"
bar:1960 from:start till:1697 text:"1,697"
bar:1970 from:start till:1521 text:"1,521"
bar:1980 from:start till:1364 text:"1,364"
bar:1990 from:start till:1477 text:"1,477"
bar:2000 from:start till:1439 text:"1,439"
bar:2010 from:start till:1322 text:"1,322"
Economy
, Eriswil had an unemployment rate of 0.83%. , there were a total of 465 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 170 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 62 businesses involved in this sector. The secondary sector
In macroeconomics, the secondary sector of the economy is an economic sector in the three-sector theory that describes the role of manufacturing. It encompasses industries that produce a finished, usable product or are involved in constructi ...
employs 110 people and there were 27 businesses in this sector. The tertiary sector
The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector (raw materials) and the second ...
employs 185 people, with 51 businesses in this sector.[ There were 749 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 39.7% of the workforce.
there were a total of 307 ]full-time equivalent
Full-time equivalent (FTE), or whole time equivalent (WTE), is a unit that indicates the workload of an employed person (or student) in a way that makes workloads or class loads comparable across various contexts. FTE is often used to measure a ...
jobs. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 115, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 98 of which 78 or (79.6%) were in manufacturing and 20 (20.4%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 94. In the tertiary sector; 19 or 20.2% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 5 or 5.3% were in the movement and storage of goods, 5 or 5.3% were in a hotel or restaurant, 1 was the insurance or financial industry, 13 or 13.8% were in education and 27 or 28.7% were in health care.
, there were 74 workers who commuted into the municipality and 454 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 6.1 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. A total of 295 workers (79.9% of the 369 total workers in the municipality) both lived and worked in Eriswil.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb]
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 8.1% used public transportation to get to work, and 55.5% used a private car.[
In 2013 the average church, local and cantonal tax rate on a married resident, with two children, of Eriswil making 150,000 CHF was 11.8%, while an unmarried resident's rate was 18.1%. For comparison, the median rate for all municipalities in the entire canton was 11.7% and 18.1%, while the nationwide median was 10.6% and 17.4% respectively.
In 2011 there were a total of 473 tax payers in the municipality. Of that total, 82 made over 75,000 CHF per year. There were 6 people who made between 15,000 and 20,000 per year. The greatest number of workers, 117, made between 50,000 and 75,000 CHF per year. The average income of the over 75,000 CHF group in Eriswil was 106,312 CHF, while the average across all of Switzerland was 136,785 CHF.
In 2011 a total of 2.0% of the population received direct financial assistance from the government.
]
Politics
In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the Swiss People's Party (SVP) which received 39.7% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the Conservative Democratic Party (BDP) (16.0%), the Social Democratic Party (SP) (12.6%) and the Federal Democratic Union of Switzerland (EDU) (9.1%). In the federal election, a total of 519 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This can be the percentage of registered voters, eligible voters, or all voting-age people. According to Stanford Univ ...
was 47.0%.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office 2011 Election]
accessed 8 May 2012
Religion
From the , 1,110 or 77.1% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church, while 106 or 7.4% were Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
* Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
. Of the rest of the population, there were 5 members of an Orthodox church (or about 0.35% of the population), there were 2 individuals (or about 0.14% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 81 individuals (or about 5.63% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There was 1 individual who was Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
, and 17 (or about 1.18% of the population) who were Muslim. There were 22 individuals who were Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
and 1 individual who belonged to another church. 55 (or about 3.82% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 39 individuals (or about 2.71% of the population) did not answer the question.[
]
Climate
Between 1981 and 2010 Eriswil had an average of 142.2 days of rain or snow per year and on average received of precipitation
In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...
. The wettest month was May during which time Eriswil received an average of of rain or snow. During this month there was precipitation for an average of 14.1 days. The driest month of the year was February with an average of of precipitation over 10.9 days.[, the Eriswil weather station elevation is 740 meters above sea level.]
Education
In Eriswil about 55.8% of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 10.8% have completed additional higher education (either university
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...
or a '' Fachhochschule'').[ Of the 91 who had completed some form of tertiary schooling listed in the census, 75.8% were Swiss men, 20.9% were Swiss women.][
The Canton of Bern school system provides one year of non-obligatory ]Kindergarten
Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th ce ...
, followed by six years of Primary school. This is followed by three years of obligatory lower Secondary school where the students are separated according to ability and aptitude. Following the lower Secondary students may attend additional schooling or they may enter an apprenticeship
Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...
.
During the 2012-13 school year, there were a total of 147 students attending classes in Eriswil. There were a total of 18 students in the German language kindergarten classes in the municipality. Of the kindergarten students, 5.6% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 5.6% have a different mother language than the classroom language. The municipality's primary school had 103 students in German language classes. Of the primary students, 5.8% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 6.8% have a different mother language than the classroom language. During the same year, the lower secondary schools in neighboring municipalities had a total of 26 students from Eriswil. There were 7.7% who were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and have a different mother language than the classroom language.[Datei der Gemeinde- und Schultabellen]
accessed 23 July 2014
, there were a total of 147 students attending any school in the municipality. Of those, 115 both lived and attended school in the municipality, while 32 students came from another municipality. During the same year, 85 residents attended schools outside the municipality.[
]
References
External links
Official website of the municipality
*
{{Authority control
Municipalities of the canton of Bern