Windisch - History

History

Windisch is situated at the site of the Roman legion camp Vindonissa. In 1064 the current municipality was mentioned as Vinse, and in 1175 as Vindisse. Until the 19th Century the official name was Windisch und Oberburg. The village grew into a regional power following the foundation of Königsfelden Abbey in 1309 in memory of the regicide of King Albert I of Germany in the previous year. Albert was on the way to suppress a revolt in Swabia when he was murdered on May 1, 1308, near Windisch on the Reuss River, by his nephew John of Swabi, afterwards called "the Parricide" or "John Parricida", whom he had deprived of his inheritance. After the foundation of the Abbey, the village was placed under the authority of the Abbey. Starting in 1348 the rights to high and low justice were held by Agnes of Hungary. In 1411 those rights transferred back to the monastery. The abbey church, possibly in antiquity under the patronage of St. Martin but in the Middle Ages under the patronage of Mary, is built on the site of the 6th Century Bishop's church. The present building, with a late-Romanesque nave and Gothic choir, was built between 1310-30. The church's charnel house was rebuilt in 1793 into a schoolhouse.

After the conquest of the Aargau by Bern and the introduction of the Reformation (1528) the monastery was suppressed. Until 1798 it served as the residence of the Bernese bailiffs (German: Hofmeister). People from Windisch worked in the bailiff's residence as servants, maids and workmen, while the poor came to the former abbey for alms.

The main sources of income in Windisch included handicrafting, ferries, fisheries, shipping, tavern and iron ore mining in Lindhof, but agriculture was the major contributor. There was a ferry over the Reuss river on the Bern-Zurich road. This was replace in 1799 by a bridge. Plague epidemics (in 1667 60% of the population died of the plague) and the restrictive immigration policies of the municipality prevented growth. However, during the 18th Century, the emergence of new occupations, led to a significant population increase. These new industries included cap and stocking weaving, and water powered light industry (including plaster and flour mills). At the same time improved agriculture techniques allowed more food to be produced from the fields. The nearest neighbor to Windisch was the town of Brugg. The close proximity led to centuries of conflicts over grazing rights, city monopolies, taxation and especially the location of the municipal boundary. In 1863, due to a border adjustment, Windisch lost 45 hectares (110 acres) to Brugg.

In the 19th Century the economy of the village changed. In 1825 Henry Kunz founded the cotton mill Kunz which had 567 employees in 1846. They built factory workers' homes and a village school. In 1804 part of Königsfelden Abbey converted into a District Hospital. In 1872 a new building was built and since 1887 it has been a psychiatric clinic. The construction of the railway network transformed Brugg and Windisch into a railroad hub with a large depot and repair shop (primarily for steam locomotives). These innovations resulted in the influx of factory workers, nurses and trained staff. This led to a restructuring of the population: for example, the locally born and working population fell from 88% (1815), 55% (1837) and 21% (1900) to 4% (1970), while the proportion of Catholics rose from 9% (1850) to 45% (1970). Agriculture employs only 0.6% of the population (1990). In 1965, a Higher Technical School of Windisch (now a university) opened. The changing population structure led to political shifts in favor of the Social Democratic Party (SP) (1921-49 was known as the period of the "red Windisch"). With a pronounced emphasis on political independence, Windisch grew together structurally and economically with Brugg.