Besencens

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Besencens
Former municipality
Coat of arms
Location of Besencens
Besencens Location within Switzerland Show map of Switzerland Besencens Location within Canton of Fribourg Show map of Canton of Fribourg
Coordinates: 46°35′00″N 6°52′00″E / 46.583333°N 6.866661°E / 46.583333; 6.866661
Country	Switzerland
Canton	Fribourg
District	Veveyse
Municipality	Saint-Martin
Population  (2000)
• Total	151
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
SFOS number	2322
ISO 3166 code	CH-FR
Website

Besencens is a former municipality in the Veveyse district of the canton of Fribourg, Switzerland. Since 2004 it has been part of the municipality of Saint-Martin. It is a scattered settlement on a rise north-east of Oron.

History

Besencens is first mentioned in 1170 as Besencens. It was part of the lordship of Oron and, when the Oron family died out in 1388, became a possession of the counts of Gruyère. Besencens remained Catholic at the time of the Reformation and came under the suzerainty of Fribourg in 1554. It belonged to the bailiwick of Rue until 1798 and then to the district of Rue until 1848.

Besencens and Fiaugères, which also became part of Saint-Martin in 2004, formed a single municipality until they separated in 1763; the burghers of that time and their descendants nevertheless kept their citizenship rights in both municipalities. Besencens belongs to the parish of Saint-Martin. The first school was built in 1839. Livestock farming is still the main activity: in 1990, 62% of the working population was employed in the primary sector.

Besencens had 126 inhabitants in 1811, 164 in 1850, 173 in 1870, 154 in 1900, 140 in 1950, 95 in 1980 and 151 in 2000. In 2004 it became part of the municipality of Saint-Martin.

References

 This article incorporates text from a free content work. Licensed under CC-BY SA. Text taken from Besencens​, Marianne Rolle, Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.

Bibliography

• A. Dellion, Dictionnaire historique et statistique des paroisses catholiques du canton de Fribourg, vol. 11, pp. 34–36