page_title: Jegenstorf
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Jegenstorf / History
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Christoph Hopfengärtner, Meisterstück, 1790
context_page_description: Jegenstorf is a municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. On 1 January 2010 the former municipality of Ballmoos merged into Jegenstorf and on 1 January 2014 Münchringen and Scheunen merged into Jegenstorf.
context_section_description: Jegenstorf is first mentioned in 1131 as Igistorf. In 1255 it was mentioned as Jegistorf.
  The earliest trace of human settlements in the area are several Hallstatt burial mounds which were found on the border with Münchringen. The mounds contain a rich collection of arrowheads, pottery and gold artifacts. The remains of a Gallo-Roman estate, including a wall, parts of pillars, bricks and ceramics, have been discovered near the village church.
  During the Middle Ages the village was held by the Zähringen Ministerialis (unfree knights in the service of a feudal overlord) family of Jegenstorf. The Jegenstorfs built a moated castle near the village in the 12th century. When the Zähringens died out, the village became part of the Kyburg court of Zollikofen. A low court was held in front of the Gasthof Kreuz in Jegenstorf. In 1406 Bern acquired many of the Kyburg villages including Jegenstorf. Under Bernese rule, the court continued to be held in front of the Gasthof or Inn.
  At some time before 1300, a portion of the Jegenstorf lands were acquired by the Erlach family. In 1300, the Jegenstorf family died out and the remainder of the village passed into other nobles' possession. The Erlachs continued to gain power and in the 15th century acquired the castle, the entire village and the courts. The castle remained under Erlach control until 1584. The Bonstetten family owned it 1584-1675, followed by the Wattenwyl between 1675-1720 and again the Erlach family in 1720-58. Karl Ludwig von Erlach sold the castle and estate in 1758, but kept the right to rule over the village. They held the rulership over the village until the 1798 French invasion when it transferred to the Canton of Bern. In 1810 the Canton compensated the Erlachs for the village.
  During the Swiss peasant war of 1653, the residents of Jegenstorfer attacked and plundered the castle. In retaliation, a Bernese army burned the village.
  In 1720 Albrecht Friedrich von Erlach had the castle rebuilt into a baroque country house. He demolished the fortifications and replaced them with parks and gardens. After they sold the castle in 1758, it was a summer residence for the patrician Stürler family for almost two centuries. The Stürlers sold the castle in 1934 and two years later the Society for the Preservation of Jegenstorf Castle (Verein zur Erhaltung des Schlosses Jegenstorf) converted it into the Museum for Bernese Home Decor. In 1955, management of the castle passed to the Jegenstorf Castle Foundation (Stiftung Schloss Jegenstorf).
  A local priest for the village church was first mentioned in 1180. The Jegenstorf family had patronage rights for the church. After the family died out, several Bernese patrician families had the patronage right. In 1424 the Niedere Spital (Lower Hospital) took the church over. The current building was built in 1514-15 and the stained glass is from the 16th and 17th century. In 1528 Jegenstorf accepted the Protestant Reformation along with most of the Canton of Bern. The parish of Jegenstorf was much larger than the political municipality. It included the municipalities of Ballmoos, Iffwil, Jegenstorf, Münchringen, Oberscheunen, Zauggenried, Zuzwil, Mattstetten and Urtenen-Schönbühl.
  In Jegenstorf during the Early Modern era, as in many other Swiss villages, a minority of large landowners held all the power. In 1802 about 18% of the population were large landowners, but they controlled virtually all leadership positions in the village. The small farmers, about 9%, and the Tauner or disenfranchised common laborers, 73% of the population, had no voice in government. This began to change with the privatization of common lands and forests in 1825 and the Regeneration period which began in 1830. Throughout the 19th and early 20th century the village remained generally rural and agricultural. While Jegenstorf was located on the old Bern-Solothurn road, the new railroads and highways bypassed the municipality. A local narrow gauge railway was built to the village in 1916, but it remained under utilized until the 1960s when the growth of the agglomerati
caption: Furniture from the Jegenstorf Castle Foundation collection
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