Payerne - History

History

The earliest traces of settlements near Payerne include Neolithic objects and traces of a Bronze Age settlement. There are also burial mounds from the Hallstatt and Latène cultures, including gold necklaces which were found at Le Bois de Roverex. There was a Celtic bridge and a Roman era road in the area of Les Aventuri. There were Roman buildings within and outside the city walls, Roman cemeteries, and a dedicatory inscription of Publius Graccius Paternus. During the Early Middle Ages, the village of Payerne first appeared. In 587, Bishop Marius built the villa Paterniacum and a Chapel to St. Mary in the village. The chapel later developed into a parish church. The present Gothic building was built in the 14th Century over roman foundations. It was renovated in the 1990s. In the 10th Century, the Cluniac Payerne Priory was founded. In 1033, Emperor Conrad II was crowned as the King of Burgundy in the priory church.

Payerne is first mentioned in 961 as ecclesie sancte Marie Paterniacensis though this comes from a 12th Century copy of the older document. In 1049 it was mentioned as in loco Paterniaco. The town was formerly known by its German name Peterlingen.

Before 1302 the prior granted the citizens the right to establish a council and create a seal. In 1348 the council created a town charter which was formally recognized. The of the town's Council of Twelve also served as the mayor and the town military leader or Bannerherr. In the 16th Century a second twelve-member council (rière conseil) appeared, to handle trade disputes for which it was not necessary to call together all citizens and nobles. The citizenry and the monastery were often in conflict with each other. The town concluded treaties with Bern (1344), Fribourg (1349), the count of Neuchâtel (1355) and Murten (1364). In 1362 a hospital was built in the town. In 1395, a schoolmaster was mentioned, and in 1449 there was a secondary school.

After the conquest of Vaud in 1536, the town was granted a privileged legal position by Bern. The Schultheiss, who represented the Bernese interests, was a citizen of Payern, not a Bernese Vogt. The Schultheiss was subordinate to the town military leader (Bannerherr), who was elected by the citizens. The Bannerherr chaired the sixty member council, which was divided into the Conseil Premier Douze, the Conseil Second-Douze, and the Communauté which had 36 members. The Communauté included representative from the village of Corcelles and the surrounding hamlets. In 1769, the Council was reduced to 50 members. The City Council building of Payerne was built in 1572, and since 1964 has served as the seat of the District Court.

Guillaume Farel and Pierre Viret began to preach the Protestant Reformation in 1532-33 in Payerne. The town adopted the new faith even before the conquest by Bern. The territory of the Reformed parish coincided with the municipality.

A castle was built in 1640 on the grounds of the monastery as a residence for the Bernese representative. From the early 19th until the late 20th Century, it housed the high school. In 1688 the town created a council for legislative reforms, followed in 1689 by one for weights and measures and in 1699, one for the care of orphans. The town had a court and an appeals court, with further appeals being sent to Bern. In 1617, the town refused to recognize the rights of Vaud. The city law was updated and printed in 1733. The city had a doctor, a surgeon and a pharmacist. Bern paid for three of the Regents at the College, while Payerne paid for a fourth. Starting in 1761 there was a teacher for girls, and in 1784 a German teacher was provided. In 1791 the town citizens rejected an order for forced labor on a nearby road and in 1795 they called for the division of the commons.

In 1798 it was briefly the capital of the short lived canton of Sarine et Broye. From 1798 until 1802 it was the capital of the district of Payerne under the Helvetic Republic's canton of Fribourg. From 1802 until 2006 it was the capital of the district of Payerne in the canton of Vaud.

In the 1830s and 40s the city walls and three gates were demolished, only the four towers still remain. The former monastery town spread out in all directions, and grew gradually to meet the town of Corcelles. The old councils were replaced with a five-member executive council and a 70 member city council. The municipal elections of 1929 marked the end of the forty year dominance of the Liberals. After the founding of the Christian Social Party in 1961, there was three-year period of tensions between Catholics and Protestants. In 1964 the town inaugurated its new City Hall.