Urserental

The Urserental (also called Urseren ) is the highest portion of the Reuss Valley in the Swiss canton of Uri.

Geography

The valley lies south of Schöllenenschlucht and is thus separated from the rest of the canton. There are transitions to the neighboring cantons over the Furka Pass ( Upper Goms direction, Canton of Valais), the Oberalp Pass ( direction Surselva, Canton Graubünden) and the Gotthard Pass (towards Leventina, Canton Ticino). Therefore, the valley leads has always been a private life. The three municipalities of the Urserental form one of the two corporations in the canton of Uri; all the rest of the canton belongs to the corporation "Uri". The Urseren consists of the municipalities Andermatt, Hospental and Realp.

History

The oldest documented assignable name of the valley is Ursaria ( 1234). The name probably goes back to Roman origins and means as much as Barental. This corresponds to the old coat of arms of the valley, a rising green black bear with a white cross in the back. The cross stands for the former belonging to the monastery of Disentis.

The colonization of the Urseren valley by the Walser took place before the 12th century. The original Roman population was assimilated. Around the year 800 the valley came into the possession of the monastery of Disentis, the inhabitants had as colonists but special rights and privileges. So they could for example choose its own Ammann, who was enfeoffed the abbot of Disentis with the lower courts. Since 1232, the high court was the Count of Rapperswil, the Kastvögten of Disentis. However, the relationship between the abbey and Urseren was often tight. In 1332 it came to a fight on the Oberalp, which ended with the defeat of the abbot.

After the extinction of the Bailiwick of Rapperswil came over Urseren 1283 to the House of Habsburg, in 1317 to a gentry from Uri. Uri tried several times to bring the valley Urseren in his power to bring the Gotthard pass completely under his control can. 1382 gave the German king Wenceslas Urseren with a charter of freedom, the realm of freedom. This freedom has been confirmed several times, most recently by Emperor Maximilian II 1566.

1410 closed the valley Urseren with the canton of Uri an eternal land rights, and thus came to the Old Confederacy. Uri took over as screen location representation towards the outside, but inside Urseren remained considerable freedom. The land law was renewed again and again, most recently 1779. 1649 the last obligations to the Disentis Monastery were ransomed.

The last valley community was held on May 22, 1798 then was Urseren first part of the Helvetic canton Waldstätte 1803 the canton of Uri. During the Napoleonic Wars, the valley was devastated, some had to be entertained up to 10,000 soldiers. Russian, French and Austrian troops occupied the valley alternately.

1946, there was armed conflict between the people and the Swiss Army due to a dam project, which provided to flood the whole valley (see active service).

Economy

A major acquisition in Urserental was the production of cheese. The " Urseler " or " Urserer » Cheese was well known in the 18th century and was delivered to various residences. The relatively rich cheese was molded in high blocks and wrapped for transport in tree bark. For consumption we drilled a hole in the wheel of cheese and hollowed it out gradually. He was considered a specialty for lovers, because you ate it only when he was very mature, so he developed a strong odor.

Science

The Universities of Bern and Basel entertained at Urserental since April 2009, the research project VALUrsern. This experiment investigates the influence of land use changes on the hydrology of the region.