Madiswil

Madiswil is a municipality in the Oberaargau administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. Since January 1, 2007, Gutenburg is part of the municipality. On 1 January 2011 Kleindietwil and Leimiswil were merged with the municipality of Madiswil. Madiswil is first mentioned in 795 as Madalestwilare. The ruins of Early Medieval ring fort at Weiherköpfli, an undated ring fort at Fuchsmatt and an undated fort at Grauenstein are the earliest evidence of settlements in Madiswil. In 795 Heribold gave his land and rights in Madiwil to the church in Rohrbach. Several other religious houses had land or rights in the village including; the Abbey of St. Gall (795), St. Johannsen Abbey (1185) and St. Urban's Abbey (1194). In 1333 the Counts of Kyburg pledged their low court right to the Lords of Grünenberg, though they retained the high court. In 1406, the increasingly impoverished Counts of Kyburg gave the high court rights to Bern. During the Old Zürich War, the Lords of Grünenberg remained loyal to Frederick III of Habsburg who was an ally of Zürich against the rest of the Swiss Confederation. In 1443-44 Bern marched the Lords of Grünenberg and occupied Madiswil. As part of the settlement after the war, in 1447 Bern acquired partial rights over the village and surrounding land. In 1480, they bought out the rights of the remaining Grünenberg and incorporated it into the bailiwick of Aarwangen. During the 16th century the village had a series of conflicts with St. Urban's Abbey over ownership and use rights to several boggy meadows near the Langeten river. After the 1798 French invasion and the creation of the Helvetic Republic, Madiswil, without Leimiswil, became part of the Langenthal District. After the Act of Mediation in 1803, it was transferred to the Aarwangen District. The village church of St. Blasius was first mentioned in 1275, though it was built above several older churches. The oldest is from the 8th century and may have been built on wooden piles driven into the ground. The current church was built in 1779.