Etzelkofen is a former municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. On 1 January 2014 the former municipalities of Etzelkofen, Büren zum Hof, Grafenried, Limpach, Mülchi, Schalunen and Zauggenried merged into the municipality of Fraubrunnen.
History
Etzelkofen is first mentioned in 1302 as villa Ezenchoven.
During the Middle Ages, Etzelkofen village belonged to the Herrschaft of Messen. In the 14th century Fraubrunnen Abbey acquired the land rights over the village from Messen. In 1373, the Abbey attempted to expand their rights to include the Zwing und Bann right (the right to judge all court cases except capital crimes). Messen blocked the Abbey and was able to retain their jurisdiction over Etzelkofen. The high court for the village was in Zollikofen. In 1406 the entire area came under Bernese control. However, in 1410 the collegiate church of St. Ursen in Solothurn, citing a donation from 1278, claimed authority over the Herrschaft of Messen. Two years later Solothurn was able to claim jurisdiction over the village of Etzelkofen and incorporate it into the bailiwick of Bucheggberg. For over two centuries Etzelkofen remained part of Solothurn until the treaty of 1665 (the Wynigervertrag) between Solothurn and Bern transferred the village to Bern where it became part of the bailiwick of Fraubrunnen. The village remained part of the Solothurn parish of Messen. In 1833 the municipality (Einwohnergemeinde) of Bernisch-Messen was created with the mostly independent villages of Etzelkofen, Mülchi, Messen-Scheunen, Bangerten and Ruppoldsried. In 1921 it was renamed the Gemeindeverband Bernisch-Messen and in 1979 it became the Fürsorgeverband Etzelkofen und Umgebung (Welfare society of Etzelkofen and surroundings).
Beginning in the 19th century many farmers began to raise dairy cattle in addition or instead of growing grain. In 1851 a dairy was built in the village to support the dairy farmers. Today agriculture still dominates the local economy, though a brick factory opened in 1967. Since 1982, it has been part of a school and community association with Limpach and Mülchi.
Geography
Before the merger, Etzelkofen had a total area of . Of this area, or 59.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 35.6% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 5.3% is settled (buildings or roads) and or 0.4% is unproductive land.
Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 3.9% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.1%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 42.3% is used for growing crops and 15.3% is pastures, while 1.4% is used for orchards or vine crops.
It is located on the Rapperswil plateau.
On 31 December 2009 Amtsbezirk Fraubrunnen, the municipality's former district, was dissolved. On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Verwaltungskreis Bern-Mittelland.
Coat of arms
The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Azure an Arm armoured Argent issuant from sinister holding a Sceptre of the same.
Demographics
Etzelkofen had a population (as of 2011) of 291. , 3.1% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2000-2010) the population has changed at a rate of -13.8%. Migration accounted for -6.5%, while births and deaths accounted for -3.2%.
Most of the population () speaks German (355 or 99.2%) as their first language, English is the second most common (2 or 0.6%) and French is the third (1 or 0.3%).
, the population was 51.5% male and 48.5% female. The population was made up of 147 Swiss men (50.2% of the population) and 4 (1.4%) non-Swiss men. There were 137 Swiss women (46.8%) and 5 (1.7%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality who answered the 2000 census, 3 were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 9 or 2.5% were born outside of Switzerland.
, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 13% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 70.6% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 16.4%.
, there were 152 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 184 married individuals, 11 widows or widowers and 11 individuals who are divorced.
, there were 26 households that consist of only one person and 18 households with five or more people. , a total of 103 apartments (83.7% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 19 apartments (15.4%) were seasonally occupied and one apartment was empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 3.4 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.66%.