Rheinfelden
Encyclopedia
Rheinfelden is a municipality
in the canton
of Aargau
in Switzerland
, seat of the district of Rheinfelden
. It is located 15 kilometres east of Basel
. The name means the fields of the Rhine, as the town is located on the Hochrhein. It is home to Feldschlösschen
, the most popular beer in Switzerland. The city is across the river from Rheinfelden
in Baden-Württemberg
; the two cities were joined until Napoleon Bonaparte fixed the German
–Swiss border on the Rhine in 1802 and are still socially and economically tied.
The old town of Rheinfelden lies on the left bank of the Rhine, where the river is divided into two arms by the "Inseli", a roughly 150-metre-long island. This is on the verge of a tectonic plate, the Rhine rift. A huge vortex, "St-Anna-Loch" tears at this point, with water up to fifty metres in depth. Nearly 400 metres east is the Magdenerbach. The Rhine is navigable by ship from Rheinfelden all the way to the North Sea
.
Around the city center stretches a large gravel
plain. While this stretches just one kilometre wide to the West, it extends to the east to the moraine
of Möhlin
with a width of around three kilometres; in the south, the plain is limited through the wooded, gently-rising foothills of the Tafeljura. These are the Steppberg (373 m above sea level
) and the "Berg" (419 m), both in the south-east. Between these two hills lie the deeply incised valleys of the Magdenerbach.
Rheinfelden has an area, , of 16.03 square kilometres (6.2 sq mi). Of this area, 3.32 km² (1.3 sq mi) or 20.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while 8.01 km² (3.1 sq mi) or 50.0% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 3.62 km² (1.4 sq mi) or 22.6% is settled (buildings or roads), 1.07 km² (0.413129309694012 sq mi) or 6.7% is either rivers or lakes and 0.01 km² (2.5 acre) or 0.1% is unproductive land.
Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 3.9% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 8.4% and transportation infrastructure made up 6.4%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 2.0% of the area while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 1.9%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 17.0% is used for growing crops and 3.3% is pastures. All the water in the municipality is in rivers and streams.
The highest point (419 m (1,374.7 ft)) is located on "Berg", the lowest point (270 m (885.8 ft)) is on the Rhine. Neighbouring cities are Kaiseraugst
to the west, Olsberg
to the south-west, Magden
to the south and Möhlin to the east (all in the Aargau); over the river in Germany lies Rheinfelden, Baden-Württemberg
.
, around 10,000 years before the present day
. At that time, people lived in the "Hermitage", a small natural cave next to the current highway. In the year 45 BC, a few kilometres further west, the settlement Augusta Raurica
was founded, the first Roman
town in Switzerland, near modern Kaiseraugst. In the plains at Rheinfelden was then a large estate. Towards the end of the 4th century a border fort was constructed at the western settlement.
Rheinfelden is first mentioned about 851 as Rifelt and in the first half of the 12th Century it was called Rinfelden.
In the second half of the 10th century, when the entire Fricktal
area was within Kingdom of Burgundy
, Rheinfelden was granted to a noble family, later calling themselves Counts of Rheinfelden, von Wetterau's. They built a fortress, "Stein", on the strategically located island; a riverbank settlement stood at the "Altenburg". The last of this comital
line was Rudolf of Rheinfeld
en, Duke of Swabia
(1057–79) and German antiking
(1077–80) during the Investiture Controversy
.
When Rudolf died on October 15, 1080 in Merseburg
, his territories were inherited by Berthold II of Zähringen
.but the town went to his son Otto and his family the von Wetter's. Berhold's second son, Conrad, awarded market rights
to the city, making it the oldest Zähringerstadt
in Switzerland and the oldest city in the Aargau; in 1150 he also had the first bridge built across the Rhine, between Konstanz
and Strasbourg
. In 1218, Berthold V
died without issue; in 1225, Rheinfelden gained Reichsfreiheit
to become an Imperial City
.
A little over a century later, in 1330, the city pledged itself to the Habsburg
s, becoming a part of Further Austria
. In 1445, when the Habsburgs were fighting the Old Zürich War
, insurgents destroyed the castle on the "Inseli", due to the city's allegiance with Basel. After a siege lasting several months, Rheinfelden was returned to Austrian subjugation in 1449. After the Waldshut War from 1468, all of Fricktal Burgundy pledged to the Habsburgs. After the Burgundians were beaten by the Old Swiss Confederacy
in the Burgundian Wars
, Rheinfelden land, not Title, was restored to Austria in 1477.
During the 17th century, there was very little time during which the city enjoyed peace. During the Rappenkrieg
, a peasant uprising that lasted from 1612 until 1614, the city was unsuccessfully besieged but devastated. Between 1633 and 1638 the Thirty Years' War
reached Fricktal, where Rheinfelden played an important role. On 15 July 1633, Swedish
and French
troops devastated the city. On 5 February 1638, the city was besieged by Protestant
troops under the command of Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar
. On 28 February the Battle of Rheinfelden
began, as the city was attacked by numerically-superior Imperial
and Bavarian
troops under the command of Johann von Werth
and Federico Savelli
. The Protestants lost this encounter and moved on. Bernhard brought them weapons, but in the second passage on 3 March they were heavily defeated, as he and his men unexpectedly re-appeared on the battlefield, with Savelli and Werth falling into captivity.
By the end of the Thirty Years' War, the Austrians had built a fortress on the island to secure the southwestern border of the Breisgau
. In 1678, French troops under the command of François de Créquy
fired at the city. In 1745, during the War of the Austrian Succession
, the French made a fortress on the same ground and also blasted a portion of the city wall. On 17 July 1796 Rheinfelden was again occupied and looted by the French
.
As a result of the Treaty of Campo Formio
in 1797, the Fricktal became a French protectorate
, forming the front line
between the French Revolution
ary and the Austria
n troops in the War of the Second Coalition
. On 20 February 1802 Rheinfelden was made a district capital of the newly created Canton of Fricktal
, (Principality of Frickgau), joining the Helvetic Republic
in August, the point at which the city became decisively Swiss. After the removal of the governor Sebastian Fahrländer at the end of September 1802, the seat of the cantonal government was relocated here from Laufenburg
. With the beginning of the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss (the German Mediatisation
), Napoleon Bonaparte dissolved the canton of Fricktal. Since 19 March 1803, Rheinfelden has been the capital of a district of the same name, in the canton of Aargau. With the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss, the remaining (German) parts of the city lost their independence to the Grand Duchy of Baden
, becoming Rheinfelden, Germany
.
of the municipal coat of arms
is Barry of Six Or and Gules with three Mullets of the first.
(82.9%), with Italian
being second most common ( 3.8%) and Serbo-Croatian
being third ( 2.0%).
The age distribution, , in Rheinfelden is; 1,031 children or 9.1% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 1,173 teenagers or 10.4% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 1,418 people or 12.6% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 1,652 people or 14.6% are between 30 and 39, 1,904 people or 16.9% are between 40 and 49, and 1,544 people or 13.7% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 1,260 people or 11.2% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 790 people or 7.0% are between 70 and 79, there are 441 people or 3.9% who are between 80 and 89,and there are 77 people or 0.7% who are 90 and older.
the average number of residents per living room was 0.55 which is about equal to the cantonal average of 0.57 per room. In this case, a room is defined as space of a housing unit of at least 4 m² (43.1 sq ft) as normal bedrooms, dining rooms, living rooms, kitchens and habitable cellars and attics. About 30.1% of the total households were owner occupied, or in other words did not pay rent (though they may have a mortgage
or a rent-to-own agreement).
, there were 682 homes with 1 or 2 persons in the household, 2,876 homes with 3 or 4 persons in the household, and 1,250 homes with 5 or more persons in the household. , there were 4,953 private households (homes and apartments) in the municipality, and an average of 2.1 persons per household. there were 958 single family homes (or 15.7% of the total) out of a total of 6,087 homes and apartments. There were a total of 86 empty apartments for a 1.4% vacancy rate. , the construction rate of new housing units was 2.8 new units per 1000 residents.
In the 2007 federal election
the most popular party was the SP
which received 27.64% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP
(26.15%), the FDP
(16.05%) and the CVP
(11.13%). In the federal election, a total of 2,934 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
was 42.9%.
The historical population is given in the following table:
. Two religious buildings are on the list, the Christian Catholic
collegiate church
of St. Martin and the Johanniter Chapel at Johannitergasse 70. Three fortifications are on the list; the Heimenholz and the Pferrichgraben which were both part of the old Roman era
Rhine fortications and the entire medieval city wall. The last two buildings on the list are the Feldschlösschen brewery at Feldschlösschenstrasse 34 and the former Gasthof (combination hotel and restaurant) zum goldenen Adler at Obertorplatz 4. The entire village of Rheinfelden is designated as part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites
.
there were 5,437 workers who lived in the municipality. Of these, 3,453 or about 63.5% of the residents worked outside Rheinfelden while 2,807 people commuted into the municipality for work. There were a total of 4,791 jobs (of at least 6 hours per week) in the municipality. Of the working population, 26.3% used public transportation to get to work, and 39.2% used a private car.
. Of the rest of the population, there were 285 individuals (or about 2.67% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic faith.
). Of the school age population , there are 667 students attending primary school, there are 251 students attending secondary school, there are 386 students attending tertiary or university level schooling, and there are 18 students who are seeking a job after school in the municipality.
Rheinfelden is home to the Stadtbibliothek Rheinfelden library. The library has 16,442 books or other media, and loaned out 58,291 items in the same year. It was open a total of 250 days with average of 30 hours per week during that year.
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 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 Aargau
Aargau
Aargau is one of the more northerly cantons of Switzerland. It comprises the lower course of the river Aare, which is why the canton is called Aar-gau .-History:...
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....
, seat of the district of Rheinfelden
Rheinfelden (district)
Rheinfelden District lies in the northwest of the canton of Aargau in Switzerland, in the Fricktal region. Its capital is Rheinfelden. Around 88% of the population live in the conurbation of Basel. There are 14 municipalities, with a population of living in an area of 112.09 km²...
. It is located 15 kilometres east of Basel
Basel
Basel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...
. The name means the fields of the Rhine, as the town is located on the Hochrhein. It is home to Feldschlösschen
Feldschlösschen
Feldschlösschen is a brand of beer. The brewery, located in Rheinfelden, Switzerland is the biggest brewery in Switzerland. It was bought by Carlsberg in 2000....
, the most popular beer in Switzerland. The city is across the river from Rheinfelden
Rheinfelden, Germany
Rheinfelden is a town in the district of Lörrach in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the Rhine, across from Rheinfelden, Switzerland, and 15 km east of Basel...
in Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...
; the two cities were joined until Napoleon Bonaparte fixed the German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
–Swiss border on the Rhine in 1802 and are still socially and economically tied.
Geography
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
.
Around the city center stretches a large gravel
Gravel
Gravel is composed of unconsolidated rock fragments that have a general particle size range and include size classes from granule- to boulder-sized fragments. Gravel can be sub-categorized into granule and cobble...
plain. While this stretches just one kilometre wide to the West, it extends to the east to the moraine
Moraine
A moraine is any glacially formed accumulation of unconsolidated glacial debris which can occur in currently glaciated and formerly glaciated regions, such as those areas acted upon by a past glacial maximum. This debris may have been plucked off a valley floor as a glacier advanced or it may have...
of Möhlin
Möhlin
Möhlin |Rheinfelden]] in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland.-History:The area around Möhlin was prehistorically settled. A neolithic settlement has been discovered at Chleizelgli, while scattered Bronze Age items were discovered around the municipality. There was a Roman era estate as well as...
with a width of around three kilometres; in the south, the plain is limited through the wooded, gently-rising foothills of the Tafeljura. These are the Steppberg (373 m above sea level
Sea level
Mean sea level is a measure of the average height of the ocean's surface ; used as a standard in reckoning land elevation...
) and the "Berg" (419 m), both in the south-east. Between these two hills lie the deeply incised valleys of the Magdenerbach.
Rheinfelden has an area, , of 16.03 square kilometres (6.2 sq mi). Of this area, 3.32 km² (1.3 sq mi) or 20.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while 8.01 km² (3.1 sq mi) or 50.0% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 3.62 km² (1.4 sq mi) or 22.6% is settled (buildings or roads), 1.07 km² (0.413129309694012 sq mi) or 6.7% is either rivers or lakes and 0.01 km² (2.5 acre) or 0.1% is unproductive land.
Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 3.9% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 8.4% and transportation infrastructure made up 6.4%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 2.0% of the area while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 1.9%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 17.0% is used for growing crops and 3.3% is pastures. All the water in the municipality is in rivers and streams.
The highest point (419 m (1,374.7 ft)) is located on "Berg", the lowest point (270 m (885.8 ft)) is on the Rhine. Neighbouring cities are Kaiseraugst
Kaiseraugst
Kaiseraugst is a municipality in the district of Rheinfelden in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland. It is named for the Ancient Roman city of Augusta Raurica whose ruins are situated nearby...
to the west, Olsberg
Olsberg, Switzerland
Olsberg is a municipality in the district of Rheinfelden in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland.-History:During the neolithic era there was a small settlement near Olsberg. There was also a Roman farm in the area during the 1st Century AD. The modern village of Olsberg is first mentioned in 1236...
to the south-west, Magden
Magden
Magden is a municipality in the district of Rheinfelden in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland.It is located 3 km to the south of the Rheinfelden...
to the south and Möhlin to the east (all in the Aargau); over the river in Germany lies Rheinfelden, Baden-Württemberg
Rheinfelden, Germany
Rheinfelden is a town in the district of Lörrach in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the Rhine, across from Rheinfelden, Switzerland, and 15 km east of Basel...
.
History
The area around Rheinfelden was already settled in the Middle Stone AgeMiddle Stone Age
The Middle Stone Age was a period of African Prehistory between Early Stone Age and Late Stone Age. It is generally considered to have begun around 280,000 years ago and ended around 50-25,000 years ago. The beginnings of particular MSA stone tools have their origins as far back as 550-500,000...
, around 10,000 years before the present day
Before Present
Before Present years is a time scale used in archaeology, geology, and other scientific disciplines to specify when events in the past occurred. Because the "present" time changes, standard practice is to use AD 1950 as the origin of the age scale, reflecting the fact that radiocarbon...
. At that time, people lived in the "Hermitage", a small natural cave next to the current highway. In the year 45 BC, a few kilometres further west, the settlement Augusta Raurica
Augusta Raurica
Augusta Raurica is a Roman archaeological site and an open-air museum in Switzerland. Located on the south bank of the Rhine river about 20 km east of Basel near the villages of Augst and Kaiseraugst, it is the oldest known Roman colony on the Rhine....
was founded, the first Roman
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
town in Switzerland, near modern Kaiseraugst. In the plains at Rheinfelden was then a large estate. Towards the end of the 4th century a border fort was constructed at the western settlement.
In the second half of the 10th century, when the entire Fricktal
Fricktal
The Fricktal region is the northwest finger extending from the Swiss canton of Aargau. It is situated in Northwestern Switzerland east of Basel, between the High Rhine forming the border with Germany in the north and the Jura Mountains in the south. The Fricktal contains the districts of...
area was within Kingdom of Burgundy
County of Burgundy
The Free County of Burgundy , was a medieval county , within the traditional province and modern French region Franche-Comté, whose very French name is still reminiscent of the unusual title of its count: Freigraf...
, Rheinfelden was granted to a noble family, later calling themselves Counts of Rheinfelden, von Wetterau's. They built a fortress, "Stein", on the strategically located island; a riverbank settlement stood at the "Altenburg". The last of this comital
Graf
Graf is a historical German noble title equal in rank to a count or a British earl...
line was Rudolf of Rheinfeld
Rudolf of Rheinfeld
Rudolf of Rheinfelden was Duke of Swabia and German antiking . He was the son of Count Kuno of Rheinfelden and eventually became the alternative king or antiking for the politically oriented anti-Henry German aristocrats, whose rebellion became known as the Great Saxon Revolt...
en, Duke of Swabia
Duke of Swabia
The following is a list of Dukes of Swabia in southwest Germany.Swabia was one of the five stem duchies of the medieval German kingdom, and its dukes were thus among the most powerful magnates of Germany. The most notable family to hold Swabia were the Hohenstaufen, who held it, with a brief...
(1057–79) and German antiking
Antiking
An Antiking is a would-be king who, due to succession disputes or simple political opposition, declares himself king in opposition to a reigning monarch. Antikings are more often found in elected monarchies than in hereditary monarchies like those of England and France; such figures in hereditary...
(1077–80) during the Investiture Controversy
Investiture Controversy
The Investiture Controversy or Investiture Contest was the most significant conflict between Church and state in medieval Europe. In the 11th and 12th centuries, a series of Popes challenged the authority of European monarchies over control of appointments, or investitures, of church officials such...
.
When Rudolf died on October 15, 1080 in Merseburg
Merseburg
Merseburg is a town in the south of the German state of Saxony-Anhalt on the river Saale, approx. 14 km south of Halle . It is the capital of the Saalekreis district. It had a diocese founded by Archbishop Adalbert of Magdeburg....
, his territories were inherited by Berthold II of Zähringen
Berthold II, Duke of Swabia
Berthold II was the Duke of Swabia from 1092 to 1098.Berthold was a son of Berthold II, Duke of Carinthia and initially supported Rudolf of Rheinfelden against King Henry IV. Both the Zähringer and Rheinfeldener were relieved of their titles and possessions by the king in 1077...
.but the town went to his son Otto and his family the von Wetter's. Berhold's second son, Conrad, awarded market rights
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...
to the city, making it the oldest Zähringerstadt
Zähringerstadt
The Zähringerstadt is a historic section in the Old City of Bern in Bern, Switzerland.The first expansion of Bern occurred as the city was founded in 1191. This central and oldest neighbourhood was known as the Zähringerstadt after the founder, Duke Berthold V of Zähringen...
in Switzerland and the oldest city in the Aargau; in 1150 he also had the first bridge built across the Rhine, between Konstanz
Konstanz
Konstanz is a university city with approximately 80,000 inhabitants located at the western end of Lake Constance in the south-west corner of Germany, bordering Switzerland. The city houses the University of Konstanz.-Location:...
and Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
. In 1218, Berthold V
Berthold V, Duke of Zähringen
Berchtold V of Zähringen was Duke of Zähringen until his death, succeeding his father Berchtold IV in 1186.- History and legacy :...
died without issue; in 1225, Rheinfelden gained Reichsfreiheit
Reichsfreiheit
Imperial immediacy was a privileged feudal and political status, which the estates of the realm such as an imperial city, a religious entity, a feudal principality, or a minor lordship could attain within the Holy Roman Empire...
to become an Imperial City
Free Imperial City
In the Holy Roman Empire, a free imperial city was a city formally ruled by the emperor only — as opposed to the majority of cities in the Empire, which were governed by one of the many princes of the Empire, such as dukes or prince-bishops...
.
A little over a century later, in 1330, the city pledged itself to the Habsburg
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg , also found as Hapsburg, and also known as House of Austria is one of the most important royal houses of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1438 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian Empire and...
s, becoming a part of Further Austria
Further Austria
Further Austria or Anterior Austria was the collective name for the old possessions of the House of Habsburg in the former Swabian stem duchy of south-western Germany, including territories in the Alsace region west of the Rhine and in Vorarlberg, after the focus of the Habsburgs had moved to the...
. In 1445, when the Habsburgs were fighting the Old Zürich War
Old Zürich War
The Old Zürich War , 1440–46, was a conflict between the canton of Zürich and the other seven cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy over the succession to the Count of Toggenburg....
, insurgents destroyed the castle on the "Inseli", due to the city's allegiance with Basel. After a siege lasting several months, Rheinfelden was returned to Austrian subjugation in 1449. After the Waldshut War from 1468, all of Fricktal Burgundy pledged to the Habsburgs. After the Burgundians were beaten by the Old Swiss Confederacy
Old Swiss Confederacy
The Old Swiss Confederacy was the precursor of modern-day Switzerland....
in the Burgundian Wars
Burgundian Wars
The Burgundian Wars were a conflict between the Dukes of Burgundy and the Kings of France, later involving the Old Swiss Confederacy, which would play a decisive role. Open war broke out in 1474, and in the following years the Duke of Burgundy, Charles the Bold, was defeated three times on the...
, Rheinfelden land, not Title, was restored to Austria in 1477.
During the 17th century, there was very little time during which the city enjoyed peace. During the Rappenkrieg
Rappenkrieg (1612-1614)
The Rappenkrieg was a conflict that lasted from July 1612 until September 1614 in the Further Austrian district of Breisgau. It involved the Austrian rulers putting down a peasant uprising. The uprising occurred in what is now the Swiss Canton of Aargau and in the southern portion of what is now...
, a peasant uprising that lasted from 1612 until 1614, the city was unsuccessfully besieged but devastated. Between 1633 and 1638 the Thirty Years' War
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....
reached Fricktal, where Rheinfelden played an important role. On 15 July 1633, Swedish
Swedish Empire
The Swedish Empire refers to the Kingdom of Sweden between 1561 and 1721 . During this time, Sweden was one of the great European powers. In Swedish, the period is called Stormaktstiden, literally meaning "the Great Power Era"...
and French
Early Modern France
Kingdom of France is the early modern period of French history from the end of the 15th century to the end of the 18th century...
troops devastated the city. On 5 February 1638, the city was besieged by Protestant
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
troops under the command of Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar
Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar
Bernard of Saxe-Weimar was a German prince and general in the Thirty Years' War.-Biography:Born in Weimar within the Duchy of Saxe-Weimar, Bernard was the eleventh son of Johann, Duke of Saxe-Weimar, and Dorothea Maria of Anhalt.Bernard received an unusually good education and studied at the...
. On 28 February the Battle of Rheinfelden
Battle of Rheinfelden
The Battle of Rheinfelden was a military event in the course of the Thirty Years' War, consisting in fact of two battles fought in 1638 to the north and south of the present-day town of Rheinfelden, between a mercenary army led by Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar and an Holy Roman Empire army led by Johann...
began, as the city was attacked by numerically-superior Imperial
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
and Bavarian
Duchy of Bavaria
The Duchy of Bavaria was the only one of the stem duchies from the earliest days of East Francia and the Kingdom of Germany to preserve both its name and most of its territorial extent....
troops under the command of Johann von Werth
Johann von Werth
Count Johann von Werth , also Jan von Werth or in French Jean de Werth, was a German general of cavalry in the Thirty Years' War.-Biography:...
and Federico Savelli
Federico Savelli
Federico Savelli was an Italian military commander who fought in the Thirty Years' War.-Biography:Born into a noble family of Rome, he was the son of Bernardino Savelli, lord of Palombara, and Lucrezia degli Anguillara....
. The Protestants lost this encounter and moved on. Bernhard brought them weapons, but in the second passage on 3 March they were heavily defeated, as he and his men unexpectedly re-appeared on the battlefield, with Savelli and Werth falling into captivity.
By the end of the Thirty Years' War, the Austrians had built a fortress on the island to secure the southwestern border of the Breisgau
Breisgau
Breisgau is the name of an area in southwest Germany, placed between the river Rhine and the foothills of the Black Forest around Freiburg im Breisgau in the state of Baden-Württemberg. The district Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald, which partly consists of the Breisgau, is named after that area...
. In 1678, French troops under the command of François de Créquy
François de Créquy
François, chevalier de Créquy and marquis de Marines was marshal of France.-Life:He was born in the military Créquy family dating back to the 10th century....
fired at the city. In 1745, during the War of the Austrian Succession
War of the Austrian Succession
The War of the Austrian Succession – including King George's War in North America, the Anglo-Spanish War of Jenkins' Ear, and two of the three Silesian wars – involved most of the powers of Europe over the question of Maria Theresa's succession to the realms of the House of Habsburg.The...
, the French made a fortress on the same ground and also blasted a portion of the city wall. On 17 July 1796 Rheinfelden was again occupied and looted by the French
French Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states...
.
As a result of the Treaty of Campo Formio
Treaty of Campo Formio
The Treaty of Campo Formio was signed on 18 October 1797 by Napoleon Bonaparte and Count Philipp von Cobenzl as representatives of revolutionary France and the Austrian monarchy...
in 1797, the Fricktal became a French protectorate
French client republic
During its occupation of neighboring parts of Europe during the French Revolutionary Wars, France established republican regimes in these territories...
, forming the front line
Front line
A front line is the farthest-most forward position of an armed force's personnel and equipment - generally in respect of maritime or land forces. Forward Line of Own Troops , or Forward Edge of Battle Area are technical terms used by all branches of the armed services...
between the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
ary and the Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n troops in the War of the Second Coalition
War of the Second Coalition
The "Second Coalition" was the second attempt by European monarchs, led by the Habsburg Monarchy of Austria and the Russian Empire, to contain or eliminate Revolutionary France. They formed a new alliance and attempted to roll back France's previous military conquests...
. On 20 February 1802 Rheinfelden was made a district capital of the newly created Canton of Fricktal
Canton of Fricktal
Fricktal was a canton of the Helvetic Republic from February 1802 to February 1803, consisting of that part of the Breisgau south of the Rhine...
, (Principality of Frickgau), joining the Helvetic Republic
Helvetic Republic
In Swiss history, the Helvetic Republic represented an early attempt to impose a central authority over Switzerland, which until then consisted mainly of self-governing cantons united by a loose military alliance, and conquered territories such as Vaud...
in August, the point at which the city became decisively Swiss. After the removal of the governor Sebastian Fahrländer at the end of September 1802, the seat of the cantonal government was relocated here from Laufenburg
Laufenburg, Switzerland
Laufenburg is a municipality in the Swiss canton of Aargau. It is the seat of the district of the same name. On 1 January 2010 the municipality Sulz merged into Laufenburg....
. With the beginning of the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss (the German Mediatisation
German Mediatisation
The German Mediatisation was the series of mediatisations and secularisations that occurred in Germany between 1795 and 1814, during the latter part of the era of the French Revolution and then the Napoleonic Era....
), Napoleon Bonaparte dissolved the canton of Fricktal. Since 19 March 1803, Rheinfelden has been the capital of a district of the same name, in the canton of Aargau. With the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss, the remaining (German) parts of the city lost their independence to the Grand Duchy of Baden
Grand Duchy of Baden
The Grand Duchy of Baden was a historical state in the southwest of Germany, on the east bank of the Rhine. It existed between 1806 and 1918.-History:...
, becoming Rheinfelden, Germany
Rheinfelden, Germany
Rheinfelden is a town in the district of Lörrach in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the Rhine, across from Rheinfelden, Switzerland, and 15 km east of Basel...
.
Coat of arms
The blazonBlazon
In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image...
of the municipal coat of arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
is Barry of Six Or and Gules with three Mullets of the first.
Demographics
Rheinfelden has a population of , 27.6% of the population are foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1997–2007) the population has changed at a rate of 6.1%. Most of the population speaks GermanGerman language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
(82.9%), with Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
being second most common ( 3.8%) and Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian language
Serbo-Croatian or Serbo-Croat, less commonly Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian , is a South Slavic language with multiple standards and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro...
being third ( 2.0%).
The age distribution, , in Rheinfelden is; 1,031 children or 9.1% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 1,173 teenagers or 10.4% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 1,418 people or 12.6% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 1,652 people or 14.6% are between 30 and 39, 1,904 people or 16.9% are between 40 and 49, and 1,544 people or 13.7% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 1,260 people or 11.2% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 790 people or 7.0% are between 70 and 79, there are 441 people or 3.9% who are between 80 and 89,and there are 77 people or 0.7% who are 90 and older.
the average number of residents per living room was 0.55 which is about equal to the cantonal average of 0.57 per room. In this case, a room is defined as space of a housing unit of at least 4 m² (43.1 sq ft) as normal bedrooms, dining rooms, living rooms, kitchens and habitable cellars and attics. About 30.1% of the total households were owner occupied, or in other words did not pay rent (though they may have a mortgage
Mortgage loan
A mortgage loan is a loan secured by real property through the use of a mortgage note which evidences the existence of the loan and the encumbrance of that realty through the granting of a mortgage which secures the loan...
or a rent-to-own agreement).
, there were 682 homes with 1 or 2 persons in the household, 2,876 homes with 3 or 4 persons in the household, and 1,250 homes with 5 or more persons in the household. , there were 4,953 private households (homes and apartments) in the municipality, and an average of 2.1 persons per household. there were 958 single family homes (or 15.7% of the total) out of a total of 6,087 homes and apartments. There were a total of 86 empty apartments for a 1.4% vacancy rate. , the construction rate of new housing units was 2.8 new units per 1000 residents.
In the 2007 federal election
Swiss federal election, 2007
Elections to the Swiss Federal Assembly, the federal parliament of Switzerland, were held on Sunday, 21 October 2007. In a few cantons, a second round of the elections to the Council of States was held on 11 November, 18 November, and 25 November 2007...
the most popular party was the SP
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....
which received 27.64% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were 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...
(26.15%), 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....
(16.05%) and the CVP
Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland
The Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland is a Christian democratic political party in Switzerland. It is the fourth-largest party in the National Council, with 31 seats, and the largest in the Council of States, with 15 seats. It has one seat, that of Doris Leuthard, on the Swiss...
(11.13%). In the federal election, a total of 2,934 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
Voter turnout
Voter turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election . After increasing for many decades, there has been a trend of decreasing voter turnout in most established democracies since the 1960s...
was 42.9%.
The historical population is given in the following table:
| year | population |
|---|---|
| 1788 | 1,226 |
| 1850 | 1,910 |
| 1900 | 3,349 |
| 1950 | 4,550 |
| 1970 | 6,866 |
| 2000 | 10,637 |
Heritage sites of national significance
There are seven sites in Rheinfelden that are listed as Swiss heritage sites of national significanceSwiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National and Regional Significance
The Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National and Regional Significance is a register of some 8,300 items of cultural property in Switzerland...
. Two religious buildings are on the list, the Christian Catholic
Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland
The Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland is the Swiss member church of the Union of Utrecht, also known as Old Catholic Church, originally founded by the jansenists, with a later influx of discontented Catholics following their disappointment with the First Vatican Council. It has 14,000...
collegiate church
Collegiate church
In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons; a non-monastic, or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, which may be presided over by a dean or provost...
of St. Martin and the Johanniter Chapel at Johannitergasse 70. Three fortifications are on the list; the Heimenholz and the Pferrichgraben which were both part of the old Roman era
Switzerland in the Roman era
The history of Switzerland in the Roman era encompasses the roughly six centuries during which the territory of modern Switzerland was a part of the Roman Republic and Empire...
Rhine fortications and the entire medieval city wall. The last two buildings on the list are the Feldschlösschen brewery at Feldschlösschenstrasse 34 and the former Gasthof (combination hotel and restaurant) zum goldenen Adler at Obertorplatz 4. The entire village of Rheinfelden is designated as part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites
Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites
The Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites is part of a 1981 Ordinance of the Swiss Federal Council implementing the Federal Law on the Protection of Nature and Cultural Heritage.-Sites of national importance:-Types:...
.
Economy
, Rheinfelden had an unemployment rate of 3.83%. , there were 40 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 9 businesses involved in this sector. 1,313 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 86 businesses in this sector. 4,420 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 432 businesses in this sector.there were 5,437 workers who lived in the municipality. Of these, 3,453 or about 63.5% of the residents worked outside Rheinfelden while 2,807 people commuted into the municipality for work. There were a total of 4,791 jobs (of at least 6 hours per week) in the municipality. Of the working population, 26.3% used public transportation to get to work, and 39.2% used a private car.
Religion
From the , 3,858 or 36.1% were Roman Catholic, while 3,520 or 33.0% belonged to the Swiss Reformed ChurchSwiss Reformed Church
The Reformed branch of Protestantism in Switzerland was started in Zürich by Huldrych Zwingli and spread within a few years to Basel , Bern , St...
. Of the rest of the population, there were 285 individuals (or about 2.67% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic faith.
Education
In Rheinfelden about 73.6% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a FachhochschuleFachhochschule
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...
). Of the school age population , there are 667 students attending primary school, there are 251 students attending secondary school, there are 386 students attending tertiary or university level schooling, and there are 18 students who are seeking a job after school in the municipality.
Rheinfelden is home to the Stadtbibliothek Rheinfelden library. The library has 16,442 books or other media, and loaned out 58,291 items in the same year. It was open a total of 250 days with average of 30 hours per week during that year.