Ursenbach is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in the Oberaargau administrative district in the canton of

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

History

Ursenbach is first mentioned in 1201 as ''Ursibach''. During the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

the major landholders in Ursenbach were the Lords of Aarwangen and Rüegsau Priory. The low court, known as the Amt of Ursenbach, was held by the Kyburg counts. In the 14th century, the Amt went to the Grünenberg counts. Between 1407 and 1414,

acquired the entire Amt from the Counts. They incorporated it into the Wangen

bailiwick A bailiwick () is usually the area of jurisdiction of a bailiff, and once also applied to territories in which a privately appointed bailiff exercised the sheriff's functions under a royal or imperial writ. In English, the original French combi ...

. Following the 1798 French invasion, under the

Helvetic Republic The Helvetic Republic (; ; ) was a sister republic of France that existed between 1798 and 1803, during the French Revolutionary Wars. It was created following the French invasion and the consequent dissolution of the Old Swiss Confederacy, ma ...

, it was part of the district of Langenthal. After the collapse of the Republic, in 1803, it went to Wangen district again. In 1884, the village became part of the district of Aarwangen. The first village church was built during the 8th century, though no records of this first building exist. The next church was first mentioned in 1201 and the current church dates from 1515. The ''Heiligkreuz'' chapel in Lünisberg was first mentioned in 1479. During the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...

, the chapel was completely demolished. During the 18th and 19th centuries,

cottage industry The putting-out system is a means of subcontracting work, like a tailor. Historically, it was also known as the workshop system and the domestic system. In putting-out, work is contracted by a central agent to subcontractors who complete the p ...

linen weaving and

straw plaiting Straw plaiting is a method of manufacturing textiles by braiding straw and the industry that surrounds the craft of producing these straw manufactures. Straw is plaited to produce products including straw hats and ornaments, and the process is u ...

began to supplement agriculture in the local economy. A savings bank opened in the village in 1854. During the early 20th century agriculture became increasingly mechanized, requiring fewer farm workers. This was partly offset by more jobs in construction and tourism, but many residents had to emigrate for jobs. The municipality has its own primary school, and is part of the secondary school district of

Kleindietwil Kleindietwil is a former municipality in the Oberaargau administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. On 1 January 2011 Kleindietwil and Leimiswil were merged with the municipality of Madiswil.Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics
2009 data accessed 25 March 2010 Of the built-up area, housing and buildings made up 3.1% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.9%. Out of the forested land, 28.9% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.2% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 24.2% is used for growing crops and 36.1% is pastures, while 2.5% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. The municipality is located in the

Oberaargau The Oberaargau is the region that encompasses the upper watershed of the Aar River in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. On the north, lie the Jura Mountains, and on the south the hills leading to the Emmental. Administratively, the Oberaargau f ...

region. It consists of the village of Ursenbach with the old church, the upper and lower village sections and the

hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. This is often simply an informal description of a smaller settlement or possibly a subdivision or satellite entity to a larger settlement. Sometimes a hamlet is defined f ...

of Hirseren, Richisberg, Lünisberg and Hofen as well as scattered farm houses throughout the hilly landscape. In 1888-89 Ursenbach gave up the settlement of Hubbergviertel (population 220) to

Dürrenroth Dürrenroth is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Trachselwald (district), Trachselwald in the Switzerland, Swiss Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Bern (canton), Bern. History Dürrenroth is first mentioned in 1275 ...

and Walterswil and in return got Richisberg (population 43) from Oeschenbach and Lünisberg (population 118) from

Wynigen Wynigen is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the administrative district of Emmental (administrative district), Emmental in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Bern (canton), Bern in Switzerland. History Wynigen is first mention ...

. On 31 December 2009 Amtsbezirk Aarwangen, 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 an accurate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visual d ...

of the municipal

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

is ''Gules a Bend wavy Argent over a Mount of 3 Coupeaux Vert.'' The wavy line represents a stream or brook ().

Demographics

Ursenbach has a population () of . , 3.5% of the population are resident foreign nationals.Statistical office of the Canton of Bern
accessed 4 January 2012 Over the last 10 years (2000-2010) the population has changed at a rate of 1.3%. Migration accounted for 0.7%, while births and deaths accounted for -1.3%.
accessed 14-June-2012 Most of the population () speaks

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

(887 or 98.6%) as their first language,

Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian ( / ), also known as Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS), is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. It is a pluricentric language with four mutually i ...

is the second most common (6 or 0.7%) while French and

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

are the third, each with 2 people. , the population was 48.1% male and 51.9% female. The population was made up of 428 Swiss men (46.0% of the population) and 19 (2.0%) non-Swiss men. There were 469 Swiss women (50.4%) and 14 (1.5%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 415 or about 46.1% were born in Ursenbach and lived there in 2000. There were 363 or 40.3% who were born in the same canton, while 73 or 8.1% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 26 or 2.9% were born outside of Switzerland. , children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 24.8% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 57% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 18.2%. , there were 373 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 464 married individuals, 52 widows or widowers and 11 individuals who are divorced.STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000
accessed 2 February 2011 , there were 87 households that consist of only one person and 37 households with five or more people. , a total of 318 apartments (84.8% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 37 apartments (9.9%) were seasonally occupied and 20 apartments (5.3%) were empty.Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB - Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 - Gebäude und Wohnungen
accessed 28 January 2011 The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.69%. The historical population is given in the following chart: Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8) ImageSize = width:1020 height:210 PlotArea = top:10 left:100 bottom:50 right:100 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:1600 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:300 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:60 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width:40 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1764 from:start till:654 text:"654" bar:1850 from:start till:1509 text:"1,509" bar:1860 from:start till:1381 text:"1,381" bar:1870 from:start till:1518 text:"1,518" bar:1880 from:start till:1437 text:"1,437" bar:1888 from:start till:1454 text:"1,454" bar:1900 from:start till:1281 text:"1,281" bar:1910 from:start till:1236 text:"1,236" bar:1920 from:start till:1155 text:"1,155" bar:1930 from:start till:1138 text:"1,138" bar:1941 from:start till:1057 text:"1,057" bar:1950 from:start till:1085 text:"1,085" bar:1960 from:start till:1058 text:"1,058" bar:1970 from:start till:993 text:"993" bar:1980 from:start till:909 text:"909" bar:1990 from:start till:883 text:"883" bar:2000 from:start till:900 text:"900"

Politics

In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 48.6% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the BDP Party (20.4%), the SPS (7.5%) and the EDU Party (4.7%). In the federal election, a total of 326 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 is typically either the percentage of Voter registration, registered voters, Suffrage, eligible voters, or all Voti ...

was 46.5%.Swiss Federal Statistical Office 2011 Election
accessed 8 May 2012

Economy

, Ursenbach had an unemployment rate of 0.71%. , there were a total of 355 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 123 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 48 businesses involved in this sector. 164 people were employed in 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 ...

and there were 12 businesses in this sector. 68 people were employed in 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 ...

, with 19 businesses in this sector. there were a total of 283

full-time equivalent Full-time equivalent (FTE), or whole time equivalent (WTE), is a unit of measurement 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 use ...

jobs. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 78, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 153 of which 119 or (77.8%) were in manufacturing and 34 (22.2%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 52. In the tertiary sector, 20 or 38.5% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 6 or 11.5% were in the movement and storage of goods, 18 or 34.6% were in a hotel or restaurant. , there were 221 workers who commuted into the municipality and 260 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 1.2 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering.Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 6.9% used public transportation to get to work, and 49.6% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 43 or 4.8% were

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

, while 780 or 86.7% belonged to the

Swiss Reformed Church The Protestant Church in Switzerland (PCS), formerly named Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches until 31 December 2019, is a federation of 25 member churches – 24 cantonal churches and the Evangelical-Methodist Church of Switzerland. The P ...

. Of the rest of the population, there were 2 individuals (or about 0.22% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 44 individuals (or about 4.89% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There was 1 individual who was

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

, and there was 1 individual who was

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

ic. There was 1 person who was

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

. 32 (or about 3.56% of the population) belonged to no church, are

agnostic Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, the divine, or the supernatural is either unknowable in principle or unknown in fact. (page 56 in 1967 edition) It can also mean an apathy towards such religious belief and refer to ...

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

, and 17 individuals (or about 1.89% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

In Ursenbach about 363 or (40.3%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 88 or (9.8%) have completed additional higher education (either

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

or a ''

Fachhochschule A (; plural ), abbreviated FH, is a university of applied sciences (UAS), in other words a Hochschule, German tertiary education institution that provides professional education in many applied sciences and applied arts, such as engineering, te ...

''). Of the 88 who completed tertiary schooling, 77.3% were Swiss men, 19.3% 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 cen ...

, 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 potential new practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study. Apprenticeships may also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in a regulat ...

. During the 2009-10 school year, there were a total of 105 students attending classes in Ursenbach. There was one kindergarten class with a total of 18 students in the municipality. The municipality had 4 primary classes and 74 students. During the same year, there was one lower secondary class with a total of 13 students. There were 15.4% who were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens).Schuljahr 2010/11 pdf document
accessed 4 January 2012 , there were 107 students from Ursenbach who attended schools outside the municipality.

References

{{Authority control Municipalities of the canton of Bern