Regensberg
Encyclopedia
Regensberg is a municipality
Municipalities of Switzerland
Communes , also known as municipalities, are the smallest government division in Switzerland, numbering 2,596 . While many have a population of a few hundred citizens, the largest cities such as Zürich or Geneva also have the legal status of municipalities...

 in the district of Dielsdorf
Dielsdorf (district)
Dielsdorf District is a district in the northwestern part of the Swiss canton of Zürich.Since 1871 the administrative center of the district is located in Dielsdorf. Previously the district was named Bezirk Regensberg, and its capital was Regensdorf, the only city in the district....

 in the canton
Cantons of Switzerland
The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the member states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton was a fully sovereign state with its own borders, army and currency from the Treaty of Westphalia until the establishment of the Swiss federal state in 1848...

 of Zurich in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

. It is located just to the west of Dielsdorf, on a ridge of the Lägern
Lägern
thumb|300 px|View on Lägern ridgeThe Lägern is the easternmost part of the Swiss Jura, forming the boundary between the cantons of Zurich and Aargau. Its highest elevation is the Burghorn at 859 m....

 (617 m (2,024.3 ft)).

History

Regensberg was founded as a hilltop fortified settlement about 1245 by Baron Lüthold of Regensberg. The fortifications include a 21 m (68.9 ft) high round tower dating from the 16th or 17th century and a 57 m (187 ft) deep water well. The church, originally dating from the 13th century, was rebuilt in 1506.

During the mid 13th Century relations between the Barons of Regensberg and the city of Zürich became strained. At about this same time, the barons began to argue with the Habsburgs over who would inherit the lands of the now extinct Kyburg
Kyburg (castle)
Kyburg Castle is a castle in the municipality of Kyburg of the Canton of Zurich in Switzerland. It is a Swiss heritage site of national significance.-History:...

 family. In 1267 the disputes led to war between the barons and the combined Zürich and Habsburg forces. The barons lost this war, and rapidly declined in power over the following half century. In 1302 they sold Regensberg to the Habsburgs.

The Habsburgs established an Amt Regensberg with a Habsburg appointed Schultheiß
Schultheiß
In medieval Germany, the Schultheiß was the head of a municipality , a Vogt or an executive official of the ruler.As official it was...

leading the town council. Under the Habsburgs the town expanded into a market town
Market town
Market town or market right is a legal term, originating in the medieval period, for a European settlement that has the right to host markets, distinguishing it from a village and city...

 and Regensberg castle was the political center of the area now corresponding to the Dielsdorf district.

In 1409 the Habsburg duke Frederick IV
Frederick IV, Duke of Austria
Frederick IV, Duke of Further Austria , also known as Frederick of the Empty Pockets, was the Habsburg duke of Further Austria from 1402, and Count of Tyrol from 1406, until his death...

 (known as Frederick of the Empty Pockets) had to pawn Regensberg to the city of Zürich. However it wasn't until 1417 that Regensberg was fully owned by Zürich. They established an Obervogtei
Vogt
A Vogt ; plural Vögte; Dutch voogd; Danish foged; ; ultimately from Latin [ad]vocatus) in the Holy Roman Empire was the German title of a reeve or advocate, an overlord exerting guardianship or military protection as well as secular justice...

at Regensberg which ruled over 13 surrounding villages.

In 1540 the upper castle burned down, but the lower gates and the donjon survived because they were separated from the upper castle by a deep ditch. The upper castle was rebuilt in the following year. During the Protestant Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...

 the St. Martin's Abbey on Zürichberg
Zürichberg
The Zürichberg is a wooded hill rising to 679 metres , overlooking Lake Zurich and located immediately to the east of the City of Zurich in Switzerland, between the valleys of the Limmat and the Glatt rivers...

 at Fluntern
Fluntern
Fluntern is a quarter in the district 7 in Zurich.It was formerly a municipality of its own, having been incorporated into Zurich in 1893.The quarter has a population of 7,325 distributed on an area of 2.84 km².-Weather:-References:...

 was demolished. Stone blocks and two bells from the abbey were brought by ox-cart to the church at Regensberg to rebuild it.

Following the collapse of the Swiss Ancien Regime
Early Modern Switzerland
The early modern history of the Old Swiss Confederacy , lasting from formal independence in 1648 to the French invasion of 1798 came to be referred as Ancien Régime retrospectively, in post-Napoleonic Switzerland.The early modern period was characterized by an increasingly...

 in 1798, Regensburg became part of the district of Bülach. In 1803, with the Act of Mediation
Act of Mediation
The Act of Mediation was issued by Napoleon Bonaparte on 19 February 1803 establishing the Swiss Confederation. The act also abolished the previous Helvetic Republic, which had existed since the invasion of Switzerland by French troops in 1798. After the withdrawal of French troops in July 1802,...

, Regensberg became the capital of its own sub-district. In 1831 this expanded to become the district of Regensberg. In 1871 the capital of the district moved to Dielsdorf and Regensberg became an independent municipality in that district.

Historic attractions include the half-timbered "Rote Rose" house dating from 1540.

Citizens

Eberhard II was born in Regensberg around 1170 and died in Friesach
Friesach
Friesach is a historic town in the Sankt Veit an der Glan district of Carinthia, Austria. First mentioned in a 860 deed, it is known as the oldest town in Carinthia.-Location:...

, Austria on 30 Nov 1246. In 1196, he received the Bishopric of Brixen
Bishopric of Brixen
The Bishopric of Brixen is a former Roman Catholic diocese and also a former ecclesiastical state of the Holy Roman Empire in the present province of South Tyrol. The bishopric in the Eisack/Isarco valley was established in the 6th century and gradually received more secular powers...

 and, in 1200, the Archbishopric of Salzburg
Archbishopric of Salzburg
The Archbishopric of Salzburg was an ecclesiastical State of the Holy Roman Empire, its territory roughly congruent with the present-day Austrian state of Salzburg....

. Eberhard founded the independent bishoprics of Chiemsee
Chiemsee (municipality)
Chiemsee is a municipality in the district of Rosenheim in Bavaria in Germany, named after the lake Chiemsee. It is Bavaria's smallest municipality by area and the second smallest by population....

 (1215), Seckau
Roman Catholic Diocese of Graz-Seckau
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Graz-Seckau is a diocese comprising the Austrian state of Styria and is part of the Ecclesiastical province of Salzburg.-History:...

 (1218) and Lavant (1228) under Salzburg, as well as the collegiate churches of Völkermarkt
Völkermarkt
Völkermarkt is a city of about 11,000 inhabitants in Carinthia, Austria.According to the 2001 census 2.6% of the population are Carinthian Slovenes....

 and Friesach, where he also founded a Premonstratensian
Premonstratensian
The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré, also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines, or in Britain and Ireland as the White Canons , are a Catholic religious order of canons regular founded at Prémontré near Laon in 1120 by Saint Norbert, who later became Archbishop of Magdeburg...

 monastery in 1217. Eberhard added the counties of Pongau
Pongau
The Bezirk Sankt Johann im Pongau is an administrative district in the federal state of Salzburg, Austria, and congruent with the Pongau region....

 and Lungau
Lungau
The Bezirk Tamsweg is an administrative district in the federal state of Salzburg, Austria, and congruent with the Lungau region.-Geography:...

 to the Archbishopric. Eberhard was excommunicated in 1245 after refusing to publish a decree deposing the emperor and died suddenly the next year.

Geography

Regensberg has an area of 2.4 km² (0.926645180622084 sq mi). Of this area, 34.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while 56.7% is forested. The rest of the land, (8.8%) is settled.

Demographics

Regensberg has a population (as of ) of . , 16.3% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has decreased at a rate of -1.3%. Most of the population speaks German (93.0%), with French being second most common ( 1.6%) and English being third ( 1.2%).

In the 2007 election the most popular party was the SVP
Swiss People's Party
The Swiss People's Party , also known as the Democratic Union of the Centre , is a conservative political party in Switzerland. Chaired by Toni Brunner, but spearheaded by Christoph Blocher, the party is the largest party in the Federal Assembly, with 58 members of the National Council and 6 of...

 which received 31.1% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the FDP
Free Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Free Democratic Party was a classical liberal political party in Switzerland. It was one of the major parties in Switzerland until its merger with the smaller classical liberal Liberal Party, to form FDP.The Liberals on 1 January 2009....

 (17.9%), the Green Party
Green Party of Switzerland
The Green Party of Switzerland is the fifth-largest party in the National Council of Switzerland, and the largest party that is not represented on the Federal Council.-History:...

 (14.5%) and the SPS
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....

 (13.7%).

The age distribution of the population is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 23.8% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 65.9% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 10.3%. In Regensberg about 86.8% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule
Fachhochschule
A Fachhochschule or University of Applied Sciences is a German type of tertiary education institution, sometimes specialized in certain topical areas . Fachhochschulen were founded in Germany and later adopted by Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Greece...

).

Regensberg has an unemployment rate of 1.48%. , there were 18 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 6 businesses involved in this sector. 14 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 3 businesses in this sector. 121 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 16 businesses in this sector.

External links

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