Boswil

Boswil
Coat of arms
Boswil Show map of Switzerland Boswil Show map of Canton of Aargau
Location of Boswil
Coordinates: 47°18′N 8°19′E / 47.300°N 8.317°E / 47.300; 8.317Coordinates: 47°18′N 8°19′E / 47.300°N 8.317°E / 47.300; 8.317
Country	Switzerland
Canton	Aargau
District	Muri
Government
• Mayor	Alois Huber
Area
• Total	11.77 km2 (4.54 sq mi)
Elevation	456 m (1,496 ft)
Population (Dec 2015)
• Total	2,780
• Density	240/km2 (610/sq mi)
Postal code	5623
SFOS number	4228
Surrounded by	Aristau, Besenbüren, Bettwil, Bünzen, Buttwil, Kallern, Muri, Waltenschwil
Website	www.boswil.ch SFSO statistics

Boswil is a municipality in the district of Muri in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland.

The village lies in the Bünztal valley at the foot of the Lindenberg mountain. The hamlet Wissenbach and Sentenhof (a former estate of the Benedictine Muri Abbey) belong to the municipality.

During Neolithic times, between 10000 and 8000 BCE, settlements were first established near the fish-rich Bünzersee (a small lake). In 1930, a cemetery, dated to have been from between 350-325 BCE, was discovered north of Boswil, and is seen as evidence that the area was occupied by Celtic peoples during the same time period. Various wall remains of farm estates and mansions from Roman times lie nearby.

Boswil was first mentioned as Bozuuila in a document found in the Grossmünster church in Zürich. Although this document is not dated, recent research places the document's origin between 874 and 887 CE.

Boswil and the surrounding regions were ruled by successions of counts and dukes of the Habsburgs up until 1379, when they began losing territories to the expanding Swiss Confederates. The lords of Hallwyl maintained control over Boswil from 1380, until it was handed over to the ministrations of Muri Abbey in 1483. Meanwhile, the eight Old Cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy had unified and taken control in 1415, and jointly exercised power in all external affairs.

In 1649, a third of the village was destroyed in a fire. After the Second War of Villmerger of 1712, the lands of the Freie Ämter were divided into two parts. One section of the new boundary line, extending west from the church in Oberlunkhofen to the Hochgericht in Fahrwangen, passed directly through Boswil, with the northern section under control of the protestant cantons Zürich, Bern and Glarus, and the southern section under control of the catholic cantons. Because of its unique position under the domain of two separate jurisdictions, Boswil's development was constrained. Even with the formation of the Helvetic Republic in 1798, Boswil remained divided between the canton of Baden and the newly formed canton of Aargau, until the two cantons were merged in 1803 as the canton of Aargau. Since then, Boswil has been a part of the Muri district.