Aargau (German ; rarely anglicized Argovia) is one of the more northerly cantons of Switzerland. It comprises the lower course of the river Aare, which is why the canton is called Aar-gau (meaning Aare district).
In early medieval times, Argovia or Argowe was a disputed border region between the duchies of Alamannia and Burgundy. A line of the von Wetterau (Conradines) intermittently held the countship of Aargau from 750 until about 1030, when they lost it (having in the meantime taken the name von Tegerfelden). From the extinction in 1254 of the Hohenstaufen dynasty until 1415, the area was ruled by the Habsburgs, and many castles from that time still stand (examples include Habsburg, Lenzburg, Tegerfelden, Bobikon, Stin and Wildegg). The Habsburgs founded a number of monasteries (with some structures enduring, e.g., in Wettingen and Muri), the closing of which by the government in 1841 was a contributing factor to the outbreak of the Swiss civil war – the "Sonderbund War" – in 1847.
Under the Swiss Confederation
When Frederick IV of Habsburg sided with Antipope John XXIII at the Council of Constance, Emperor Sigismund placed him under the Imperial ban. Shortly thereafter in 1415, Bern and the rest of the Swiss Confederation used the ban as a pretext to invade Aargau. The Confederation was able to quickly conquer the towns of Aarau, Lenzburg, Brugg and Zofingen along with most of the Habsburg castles. Bern kept the southwest portion (Zofingen, Aarburg, Aarau, Lenzburg, and Brugg). Some districts, named the Freie Ämter (free bailiwicks) – Mellingen, Muri, Villmergen, and Bremgarten), with the countship of Baden – were governed as "subject lands" by all or some of the Confederates.
Unteraargau or Bernese Aargau
Bern's portion of the Aargau came to be known as the Unteraargau. In 1514 Bern expanded north into the Jura and so came into possession of several strategically important mountain passes into the Austrian Fricktal. This land was added to the Unteraargau and was directly ruled from Bern. It was divided into seven rural bailiwicks and four administrative cities, Aarau, Zofingen, Lenzburg and Brugg. While the Habsburgs were driven out, many of their minor nobles were allowed to keep their lands and offices, though over time they lost power to the Bernese government. The bailiwick administration was based on a very small staff of officials, mostly made up of Bernese citizens, but with a few locals.
When Bern converted during the Protestant Reformation in 1528, the Unteraargau also converted. At the beginning of the 16th century a number of anabaptists migrated into the upper Wynen and Rueder valleys from Zurich. Despite pressure from the Bernese authorities in the 16th and 17th centuries anabaptism never entirely disappeared from the Unteraargau.
Bern used the Aargau bailiwicks mostly as a source of grain for the rest of the city-state. The administrative cities remained economically only of regional importance. However, in the 17th and 18th centuries Bern encouraged industrial development in Unteraargau and by the late 18th century it was the most industrialized region in the city-state. The high industrialization led to high population growth in the 18tf century, for example between 1764–98, the population grew by 35%, far more than in other parts of the canton. In 1870 the proportion of farmers in Aarau, Lenzburg, Kulm, and Zofingen districts was 34-40%, while in the other districts it was 46-57%.
The rest of the Freie Ämter were collectively administered as subject territories by the rest of the Confederation. Muri Amt was assigned to Zurich, Lucerne, Schwyz, Unterwalden, Zug and Glarus, while the Ämter of Meienberg, Richensee and Villmergen were first given to Lucerne alone. The final boundary was set in 1425 by an arbitration tribunal and Lucerne had to give the three Ämter to be collectively ruled. The four Ämter were then consolidated under a single Confederation bailiff into what was known in the 15th century as the Waggental Bailiwick. In the 16th century, it came to be known as the Vogtei der Freien Ämter. While the Freien Ämter often had independent lower courts, they were forced to accept the Confederation's sovereignty. Finally, in 1532 the canton of Uri became part of the collective administration of the Freien Ämter.
At the time of Reformation the majority of the Ämter converted to the new faith. In 1529 a wave of iconoclasm swept through the area and wiped away much of the old religion. After the defeat of Zurich in the second Battle of Kappel in 1531, the victorious five Catholic cantons marched their troops into the Freie Ämter and reconverted them to Catholicism.
In the two Battles of Villmergen in 1656 and 1712 the Freie Ämter became the staging ground for the warring Reformed and Catholic armies. While the peace after the 1656 war did not change the status quo, the fourth Peace of Aarau in 1712 brought about a reorganization of power relations. The victory gave Zurich the opportunity to force the Catholic cantons out of the government in the county of Baden and the adjacent area of the Freie Ämter. The Freie Ämter were then divided in two by a line drawn from the gallows in Fahrwangen to the Oberlunkhofen church steeple. The northern part, the so-called Unteren Freie Ämter (lower Freie Ämter), which included the districts of Boswil (in part) and Hermetschwil and the Niederamt, were ruled by Zurich, Bern and Glarus. The southern part, the Oberen Freie Ämter (upper Freie Ämter), were ruled by the previous seven cantons but Bern was added to make an eighth.
County of Baden
The County of Baden was a shared condominium of the entire Old Swiss Confederacy. After the Confederacy conquest in 1415 they retained much of the Habsburg legal structure, which caused a number of problems. The local nobility had the right to hold the low court in only about one fifth of the territory. There were over 30 different nobles who had the right to hold courts scattered around the surrounding lands. All these overlapping jurisdictions caused numerous conflicts, but gradually the Confederation was able to acquire these rights in the County. The cities of Baden, Bremgarten and Mellingen became the administrative centers and held the high courts. Together with the courts, the three administrative centers had considerable local autonomy, but were ruled by a governor who was appointed by the Acht Orte every two years. After the Protestant victory at the Second Battle of Villmergen, the administration of the County changed slightly. Instead of the Acht Orte appointing a bailiff together, Zurich and Bern each appointed the governor for 7 out of 16 years while Glarus appointed him for the remaining 2 years.
The chaotic legal structure and fragmented land ownership combined with a tradition of dividing the land among all the heirs in an inheritance prevented any large scale reforms. The governor tried in the 18th century to reform and standardize laws and ownership across the County, but with limited success. With an ever changing administration, the County lacked a coherent long-term economic policy or support for reforms. By the end of the 18th century there were no factories or mills and only a few small cottage industries along the border with Zurich. Road construction first became a priority after 1750, when Zurich and Bern began appointing a governor for seven years.
During the Protestant Reformation, some of the municipalities converted to the new faith. However, starting in 1531, some of the old parishes were converted back to the old faith. The governors were appointed from both Catholic and Protestant cantons and since they changed every two years, neither faith gained a majority in the County.
The County was the only federal condominium in the 17th century where Jews were tolerated. In 1774, they were restricted to just two towns, Endingen and Lengnau. While the rural upper class tried several times to finally expel the Jews, the financial interests of the authorities prevented this. The Jews were directly subordinate to the governor starting in 1696 when they were forced to buy a protecting and shielding letter every 16 years from the governor.
After the French invasion, on 19 March 1798, the governments of Zurich and Bern agreed to the creation of the short lived Canton of Baden in the Helvetic Republic. With the Act of Mediation in 1803, the Canton of Baden was dissolved. Portions of the lands of the former County of Baden now became the District of Baden in the newly created Canton of Aargau. After World War II, this formerly agrarian region saw striking growth and became the district with the largest and densest population in the Canton (110,000 in 1990, 715 persons per km2).
The canton of Aargau
French forces occupied Aargau from 10 March to 18 April 1798; thereafter the Bernese portion became the canton of Aargau in the Helvetic Republic and the remainder formed the Canton of Baden. In 1803, the two halves were united under the name of canton of Aargau, which was then admitted as a full member of the reconstituted Confederation. Fricktal, ceded in 1802 by Austria via Napoleonic France to the Helvetic Republic, was briefly a separate Swiss canton under a Statthalter ('Lieutenant'), but on 9 March 1803 was incorporated in the canton of Aargau.
The chief magistracy of Aargau changed its style repeatedly:
In the year 2003, the canton of Aargau celebrated its 200th anniversary.
The Jewish history in Aargau
In the 17th century, Jews were banished from Switzerland. However, a few families were permitted to live in two villages, Endingen and Lengnau, in Aargau which became the Jewish ghetto in Switzerland. This remained the case until the 19th century. In 1799 all special tolls were abolished, and in 1802 the poll tax was removed. On 5 May 1809, the right of citizenship was granted to Jews, and they were permitted to engage in trade and agriculture. The right of settlement remained restricted to Endingen and Lengnau until 7 May 1846, when they were allowed to settle in any portion of the canton of Aargau. Ten years later (24 September 1856) the Swiss Federal Council voted them equal political rights with other Swiss citizens in that canton, as well as entire freedom of commerce; but the opposition of the Christian population prevented the decision from being generally carried out. The federal authorities in July 1863, granted the Swiss Jews the fullest rights of citizens. However, full civil equality was obtained only when they received the formal rights of citizenship, which had long been withheld from them in their own communities of Endingen and Lengnau. A resolution of the Grand Council, on 15 May 1877, granted citizens' rights to the members of the Jewish communities of those places, giving them charters under the names of New Endingen and New Lengnau.