Koppigen is a municipality in the administrative district of Emmental in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.
History
Koppigen is first mentioned in 1139 and again around 1181-82 as Chopingen. In 1887 the village of Brechershäusern separated from Koppigen to become part of Wynigen.
The municipal area was settled quite early in history. Neolithic items have been found at Öschberg and along the Ösch. Bronze Age items and a Hallstatt grave mound were found along the Utzenstorfstrasse. The village church and parsonage were built on the foundations of a Roman era farmhouse and other Roman sites have been found around the municipality. During the Middle Ages the village formed a ring divided by three roads around Koppigen Castle. The ministerialis (unfree knights in the service of a feudal overlord) family of Koppigen were pledged to the House of Zähringen. The Koppigen family were first mentioned in 1181, but died out in 1276. After their extinction, the castle and lands were held by several other Zähringen and Kyburg ministerialis families eventually landing, in the 14th century, in the hands of the Lords of Thornberg.
In 1386 Peter of Thornberg supported the Habsburgs against the city of Bern in the Sempach War. During the war, Bernese troops attacked Koppigen Castle and burned it to the ground. In 1397, Peter of Thornberg, the last of the line, died. He left all his possessions in Koppigen to the newly established Carthusian Charterhouse of Thornberg, which he had founded shortly before. The Carthusians made Koppigen the center of a parish that included Hellsau, Alchenstorf, Höchstetten and Willadingen. After the Protestant Reformation, in 1528, Bern secularized the Charterhouse and all of its possessions. Bern placed a vogt and a high court in Koppigen and it became part of the district of Burgdorf.
The nearby villages of Öschberg/Öschfurt and St. Niklaus were used as resting places along the east–west road. St. Niklaus was named after the chapel of St. Niklaus that was built there before 1448. In 1448 the Chapterhouse established a hostel in the village and required the hostel keeper to maintain the chapel as well. The Chapterhouse also established a hostel in Öschberg around the same time. In 1523 Koppigen took over the two villages and their hostels. After the Reformation, the hostels became taverns and inns. The hostel in St. Niklaus eventually became the Gasthof Bären became a boys' boarding school in 1924 and is now the children's home of Friedau. The hostel in Öschberg became the Gasthof Sonne which became a work house and model farm in 1906.
During the early 19th century, the local farmers switched from growing grain to raising dairy cattle and hay. The first dairy in the municipality opened in 1844, with a second in St. Niklaus in 1867. In the 1870s industrialization started in the municipality with the opening of a cigar factory. However, only small businesses and factories remained in the village. At the end of the 21st century there were small businesses in manufacturing, construction, automotive parts and producing décolletage.
Koppigen is the center of a regional school district. Until 1821 it had the only school for the entire parish. The secondary school opened in Koppigen in 1891. In 1920, the Affolter Foundation became the regional horticulture school and the Federal center for horticulture and special crops.
Geography
Koppigen has an area of . Of this area, or 58.9% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 23.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 17.2% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.6% is either rivers or lakes and or 0.1% is unproductive land.
Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 1.4% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 6.8% and transportation infrastructure made up 6.3%. while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 1.6%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 47.5% is used for growing crops and 9.2% is pastures, while 2.2% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.
Koppigen lies on the banks of the Ösch River and includes Koppigen as well as the settlements of St. Niklaus and Öschberg. It is the parish for Alchenstorf, Hellsau, Höchstetten and Willadingen.
On 31 December 2009 Amtsbezirk Burgdorf, the municipality's former district, was dissolved. On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Verwaltungskreis Emmental.
Coat of arms
The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Gules a Rooster Argent.