Ersigen

Ersigen
Ersigen village seen from Rudswil
Coat of arms
Ersigen Show map of Switzerland Ersigen Show map of Canton of Bern
Location of Ersigen
Coordinates: 47°6′N 7°36′E / 47.100°N 7.600°E / 47.100; 7.600Coordinates: 47°6′N 7°36′E / 47.100°N 7.600°E / 47.100; 7.600
Country	Switzerland
Canton	Bern
District	Emmental
Area
• Total	15.48 km2 (5.98 sq mi)
Elevation	500 m (1,600 ft)
Population (Dec 2015)
• Total	2,026
• Density	130/km2 (340/sq mi)
Postal code	3423
SFOS number	0405
Surrounded by	Kirchberg, Oberösch, Rumendingen, Utzenstorf, Wynigen
Website	www.ersigen.ch SFSO statistics

Ersigen is a municipality in the administrative district of Emmental in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. On 1 January 2016, the former municipalities of Oberösch and Niederösch merged into Ersigen.

Based on a few, individual finds the Ersigen area was settled during the Neolithic era. There is a Hallstatt burial mound in Allmendwald and a Roman storehouse in Murrain.

The town is first mentioned in 1112 as Ergisingen. Between 1112 and 1418 there was a line of Ministerialis (unfree knights) from Ersigen, who served the Zähringen and Kyburg families. This family was, most likely, the second largest land owner (after the monasteries) in Ersigen. However, in 1367 they sold their holdings to Peter von Thorberg. In 1375 the village was likely attacked by the Gugler army. A large graveyard is the only evidence of this attack. In 1397 Thorburg gave his property, woods and the rights to low justice in Ersigen to the Thorberg Carthusian monastery. The rights to high justice were held by the Vogtei of Wangen. After 1528 the rights to low justice were held by the Thorberg vogt.

By 1481 there was a daughter chapel in Ersigen, which was under the Parish church at Kirchberg. The chapel was abandoned in 1528, and very little remains. In 1640 the village was involved in the construction and upkeep of the Emmen bridge as well as the Bern-Zürich road.