Breil/Brigels

Geschichte

Breil/Brigels is a municipality in the Surselva Region in the Swiss canton of Graubünden.The name of the municipality comes from the word brigilo, meaning little town. The name comes from the village name in the two local languages. In Romansh the name is Breil while in German it is Brigels.HistoryWhile the area was settled in the late Roman era or Early Middle Ages, Breil/Brigels is first mentioned in 765 as in Bregelo when the Bishop of Chur granted a farm in Breil/Brigels to Disentis Abbey. Shortly thereafter, the Abbey established a church and fortification on St. Eusebius' hill near the village. The village church of S. Maria and the chapel of S. Sievi (Chaplutta Son Sievi) both came under control of the Abbey in 1185 at the order of the Pope. New immigrants, known as the Freie von Laax, moved into the village during the middle ages which weakened the power of the Abbey. In the early 14th Century, the pro-Habsburg Abbot Hugo III of Werdenberg marched into the valley to reestablish his authority, but was forced out in 1327. Following a fire which destroyed much of the Abbey in 1387, the Abbot Johannes of Ilanz sold his alpine pastures in Breil/Brigels to pay for the reconstruction. In 1491, the village of church of S. Maria was raised to a parish church. Then, in 1496 the Abbey church and fort on St. Eusebius' hill both burned to the ground and were not rebuilt. During the plague of 1550 the village had 316 deaths. Six years later the plague struck again, killing 180 and in 1631 a third plague killed 130. In 1738, the village became free of the obligation to provide tithes to the church.