Huttwil

History

Huttwil is first mentioned in the 9th Century as Huttiwilare. On 14 May 1653, the peasants met again at a Landsgemeinde at Huttwil and formalized their alliance as the "League of Huttwil" by signing a written contract in the style of the old Bundesbriefe of the Old Swiss Confederacy. The treaty clearly established the league as a separate political entity that considered itself equal to and independent from the cities. The tax revolt had become an independence movement, based ideologically on the traditional Swiss founding legends, especially on the legend of William Tell. Legally, the peasants justified their assemblies and their union by the rights of old and in particular the Stanser Verkommnis of 1481, one of the important coalition treaties of the Old Swiss Confederacy. Though the Huttwil League was initially successful and forced Bern and Lucerne to sign peace treaties and grant concessions, on 3 June 1653 they were decisively defeated in the Battle of Wohlenschwil. Bernese troops then burned villages and crushed further resistance over the following month. Niklaus Leuenberger was beheaded and quartered at Bern on September 6, 1653; his head was nailed at the gallows together with one of the four copies of the Bundesbrief of the Huttwil League. While the Swiss peasant war was unsuccessful, it forced Bernese authorities to reform the tax structure and respect the rights of the peasants. While Huttwil was the center of the revolt, it was not punished further by the authorities. Huttwil's location on the Bern-Lucerne road allowed it to continue to grow. While agriculture remained important, it became a regional market town and other industries began to develop. During the ancien regime period tensions rose between the well-off town citizens who owned much…

Geography

Huttwil has an area of . As of the 2006 survey, a total of or 64.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 22.0% is forested. Of rest of the municipality or 13.6% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.1% is either rivers or lakes. From the same survey, industrial buildings made up 1.7% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 6.4% and transportation infrastructure made up 4.6%. A total of 19.9% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.1% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 29.9% is used for growing crops and 32.0% is pasturage, while 2.6% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.

Most-observed species

• Meadow Brown

  Maniola jurtina (Linnaeus, 1758) · Insecta
  5,103
• European roe deer

  Capreolus capreolus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Mammalia
  5,050
• Common Blue

  Polyommatus icarus (von Rottemburg, 1775) · Insecta
  2,405
• red fox

  Vulpes vulpes (Linnaeus, 1758) · Mammalia
  2,325
• Small Tortoiseshell

  Aglais urticae (Linnaeus, 1758) · Insecta
  2,159
• Marbled White

  Melanargia galathea Linnaeus, 1758 · Insecta
  2,130
• Ringlet

  Aphantopus hyperantus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Insecta
  2,068
• Small Heath

  Coenonympha pamphilus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Insecta
  1,892

Most recent

• M 4.1 — 2025-07-21
  4 km E of Frutigen, Switzerland
• M 3.5 — 2024-06-27
  1 km SSW of Todtmoos, Germany
• M 4.2 — 2024-06-04
  2 km NNW of Unteriberg, Switzerland
• M 4.4 — 2023-03-22
  1 km NW of Pont-de-Roide, France
• M 3.9 — 2022-09-10
  1 km WSW of Zimmersheim, France
• M 2.7 — 2022-08-23
  4 km S of Turtmann, Switzerland