Lotzwil

During the Middle Ages the major landowners in Lotzwil included St. Urban's Abbey and the Thunstetten Commandery. The area was ruled by the Baron of Langenstein until the extinction of that family, followed by the Utzigen and Balm families, then after 1370 the Grünenberg and Aarburg. In 1431 Thüring von Aarburg sold the village to Burgdorf. Burgdorf combined Lotzwil, Gutenburg, Kleindietwil, Rütschelen, Thörigen and Bettenhausen together into the bailiwick of Lotzwil and made the bailiff a member of Burgdorf's town council. Following the 1798 French invasion, the bailiwick was dissolved and the village became part of the District of Langenthal. In 1803 it became part of the Aarwangen district.
The village church was first mentioned in 1194. The current church was built in 1682-83 on the foundations of earlier churches from the Early and Late Middle Ages. In 1259 the Barons of Balm and Grünenberg gave the church to the Thunstetten Commandery. After the Protestant Reformation in 1528 the church was under Bernese authority.

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