The earliest surviving written record of the settlement appears in the records of the monastery at
St Gallen, dated 838. At this time Bollschweil was named Puabilinisvilare. The town's subsequent history is closely entwined with that of the aristocratic Snewlin-Bernlapp family, a branch of the Snewlin family which was extremely influential throughout the
Breisgau region. When, in 1837, the Snewlin-Bernlapps died out, the castle and settlement came into the hands of the von Holzing-Berstett family, whose descendants still inhabit the castle. Between 1087 and his death in 1093,
Ulrich of Zell established here the
Priory convent of St Ulrich in the Black Forest, but this was relocated to
Sölden in 1115. ==References==