Muttenz

Muttenz (Swiss German: Muttez) is a municipality with a population of approximately 17,000 in the canton of Basel-Country in Switzerland. It is located in the district of Arlesheim and next to the city of Basle.

History

Under the Roman Empire a hamlet called Montetum existed, which the Alamanni invaders referred to as Mittenza since the 3rd century CE. At the beginning of the 9th century CE the settlement came into the possession of the bishopric of Strasbourg. In the following centuries various noble families were invested with the fief.

Muttenz is first mentioned around 1225-26 as Muttence. In 1277 it was mentioned as Muttenza.

In 1306 the village became the property of the Münch of Münchenstein, who fortified the village church of St. Arbogast with a rampart at the beginning of the 15th century, after their fortresses on the nearby Wartenberg were partially destroyed in the devastating Basle earthquake of 1356. Having fallen on hard times the Münch sold the village and the Wartenberg to the city of Basel in 1517. Following the Protestant Reformation in Basel by Johannes Oecolampadius the church of Muttenz was reformed in 1529. In 1628 one-seventh of the village population, 112 persons, died of the plague. Many of the villagers, still subjects of the city of Basel, were poor and when in the middle of the 18th century the opportunity arose to leave the village, many emigrated to the Americas. In 1790 only were the remaining peasants freed from serfdom by a decision of the Great Council of the city of Basel. Following the French Revolution tithes were abolished. After a short civil war between forces of the city and the countryside in 1833 the canton of Basel was divided into the two half-cantons of Basel-City and Basel-Country. Muttenz became part of Basel-Country and remained a peasant village until the beginning of the 20th century, when it began to grow into the small industrialized town it is today.