While the area was settled in the late Roman era or Early Middle Ages, Breil/Brigels is first mentioned in 765 as in Bregelo when the Bishop of Chur granted a farm in Breil/Brigels to Disentis Abbey.

[3] New immigrants, known as the Freie von Laax, moved into the village during the Middle Ages which weakened the power of the Abbey.

In the early 14th Century, the pro-Habsburg Abbot Hugo III of Werdenberg marched into the valley to reestablish his authority, but was forced out in 1327.

Following a fire which destroyed much of the Abbey in 1387, the Abbot Johannes of Ilanz sold his alpine pastures in Breil/Brigels to pay for the reconstruction.

Then, in 1496 the Abbey church and fort on St. Eusebius' hill both burned to the ground and were not rebuilt.

Of the rest of the land, 2.4% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (38.9%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).

[11] From the 2000 census[update], 1,044 or 88.0% are Roman Catholic, while 57 or 4.8% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church.

[9] The Protestant Reformation did not catch on in the municipality because of the influence of the nearby Disentis Abbey.

The Chaplutta Son Sievi is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance.