During the Middle Ages there were three castles in the modern municipal border; Halten, Tellenburg and Bürg. By 1260 the scattered farmers of the valley floor had formed a political and business association. The association had its own seal in 1263 and in 1340 it negotiated a peace with an association in the Obersimmental. In 1391, the village of Frutigen gained the right to hold the low court in the village. In 1400, the expanding city-state of Bern annexed the entire valley. However, the association was powerful enough to force Bern to make concessions. The residents of the valley were freed from the obligation to pay taxes or provide labor for local lords and their soldiers marched under their own banner. The valley held onto these freedoms until 1854.