Mandach

Mandach is a municipality in the district of Brugg in canton of Aargau in Switzerland.

History

In 1072 the Lords of Wessenberg donated a chapel in near the modern village. However, Mandach is first mentioned in 1218 as Mandacho. The major landowners were Säckingen Abbey which possessed considerable property in Mandach and two Habsburg vassals who owned castles in the village. After the Lords of Wessenberg, the village passed into the hands of the lords of Büttikon and Heudorf. In 1468, after the siege of Waldshut, the Confederates took Mandach and added it to the Schenkenberg district. In 1518 a fire destroyed the village and in 1593 and 1668 it was ravaged by the plague. During the Protestant Reformation the village converted to the new doctrine.

Throughout the Middle Ages the major economic activity in the village was agriculture and viticulture. In 1740 cotton weaving entered the village through the Hediger family. Due to its location and lack of transportation infrastructure, the village remained untouched by industrialization in the 19th Century, which led to a strong population decline. In 2000, the agricultural section still provides three-fifths of the jobs in the village.