Native Name: | Erguël |
Conventional Long Name: | Erguel |
Common Name: | Erguel |
Empire: | Biel/Bienne |
Event Start: | Established |
Year Start: | 1264-1797[1] |
Event1: | Becomes Protectorate of Biel/Bienne |
Date Event1: | 1335 |
Event2: | Merged into the French department of Mont-Terrible |
Date Event2: | 1797 |
Event3: | Merged into the French department of Haut-Rhin |
Date Event3: | 1800 |
Event4: | Part of Courtelary District, (BE) Switzerland |
Date Event4: | 1815 |
Capital: | Erguël |
Religion: | Catholic |
Leader1: | Otto of Arguel |
Year Leader1: | 1264-? |
Title Leader: | Sire |
Erguël is a medieval seigniory of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Basel, and under protectorate of Biel/Bienne, under military jurisdiction from 1335, in the now called valley of St.-Imier, in the now Bernese Jura, Switzerland.
The Sire of the area used to live in the Château d'Erguel.
In 1264, the Bishop of Basel appointed Otto of Erguel as the vogt over the Saint-Imier valley fief. Otto raised the valley to become a seigniory and parish of the Diocese of Basel, named Erguel.[2]
Asteroid 282669 Erguël, discovered by Swiss amateur astronomer Michel Ory at the Tenagra II Observatory in 2005, was named in memory of the seigniory. The official was published by the Minor Planet Center on 22 July 2013 .