Bière

Canton of Vaud · District: Morges · About 1688 inhabitants as of 1 January 2024 (permanent resident population statistics).

Origin of the name Founding Historical timeline Population over time Must-see historical sites Remains Legends Sources and references Nearby villages

Origin of the name Bière

The origin of the name Bière is not fully settled in the sources consulted, which even give two different dates for the first written mention of the place: some place it between 1095 and 1108, in the form Bieria, others place it in 1177, in the form Beria. None of the sources found explicitly settles between these two datings; the point would deserve to be checked directly against an archival document rather than resolved here by assumption. On the etymological side, two serious hypotheses are put forward, without it being possible to say which prevails. The first derives the name from a Latin personal name, Ber(r)ius, which would originally have designated an estate belonging to someone bearing that name, a very common formation pattern for Vaud place names ending in -ière. The second sees in it an Old French word, bière, which designated a plain or flat ground covered with heather and scrub, a meaning found elsewhere in regional toponymy. A local legend offers a third explanation, a purely narrative one: the name would come from the place where the body of a bishop of Lausanne, Saint Protais, was said to have been carried on a bière, that is, a funeral bier. Saint Protais did indeed exist as bishop of Lausanne in the early Middle Ages, but the link with the place name is clearly a piece of folk etymology, built after the fact on the resemblance between the words rather than on any attested origin. It is treated here as a legend, not as an established fact, and is developed further below in the section devoted to legends. The inhabitants of Bière are called Birolans and Birolanes. More rarely, depending on the source, the variants Birolens, Bierolens or Birolands are also found.

Founding of Bière

No individual and no founding act marks the origins of Bière: the village took shape over time around religious estates, a trajectory shared by many localities in this part of the Vaud Jura foothills. From the 12th century, the priory of the Grand-Saint-Bernard, the well-known Alpine hospice that held scattered possessions throughout the Léman region, and a Confrérie du Saint-Esprit, a lay association with a charitable and religious purpose common at the time, held important estates in the territory and gradually structured its organization. The decisive shift came after the conquest of the Pays de Vaud by Berne in 1536: the priory's possessions were secularized and turned into a seigneury with its own local court. This seigneury then changed hands several times over the centuries. It first went to Hans Steiger, avoyer (bailiff) of Berne, then passed to a certain Fabrice Burmann, originally from Holland, before falling in the 18th century to financiers from Genève: Georges-Tobie Thellusson, then a certain Jacques Necker. Regarding this last name, caution is warranted: nothing in the sources consulted allows one to confirm with certainty that this is the same Jacques Necker who remained famous as finance minister to Louis XVI and father of Germaine de Staël. The Genève banking world of the 18th century included several people bearing this surname, and this identification would still need to be verified before being presented as established. Until 1798, Bière administratively belonged to the bailiwick of Morges, subject to Berne, before moving into the communal organization born of the Vaud Revolution.

History of Bière

Antiquity. The municipal territory preserves the remains of a fortified Roman camp as well as burials dated to the early Middle Ages, a sign of early occupation of the site long before the first written mentions of its name. The precise location and extent of these remains would deserve more detailed documentation.

1095-1108 or 1177. First written mention of the place, in the form Bieria or Beria depending on the source consulted; both datings circulate without any of the sources found clearly deciding between them.

12th century. The village develops around the estates of the priory of the Grand-Saint-Bernard and a Confrérie du Saint-Esprit, which at the time structured local religious and economic life.

Late Middle Ages. The choir of the Saint-Benoît church, which would later become the village's Reformed church, takes on the form it has today, while retaining older elements dating back to the 12th century.

1536. The conquest of the Pays de Vaud by Berne leads to the secularization of the priory's possessions, which become a seigneury with its own local court, first granted to Hans Steiger, avoyer of Berne.

18th century. The seigneury changes hands again: it passes to the Dutchman Fabrice Burmann, then to financiers from Genève, Georges-Tobie Thellusson and a certain Jacques Necker, whose identification with the future finance minister of Louis XVI remains to be confirmed.

1784. Construction of the village's former town hall.

1798. The Vaud Revolution puts an end to the Ancien Régime of Berne; Bière, which until then had belonged to the bailiwick of Morges, comes under a new communal organization.

1802. The château's archives are destroyed by the Bourla-Papey, those Vaud revolutionary bands that targeted feudal titles and seigneurial archives at the turn of the 19th century.

1822. The federal army organizes its second federal tactical camp on the municipal territory, marking the beginning of a military use of the site that has never been interrupted since.

1 February 1871. Soldiers of the French army of General Bourbaki, defeated and pushed back to the Swiss border during the Franco-Prussian War, are interned at Bière. The sources consulted do not agree on the exact scale of this episode: one mentions around 1440 soldiers interned in total, another speaks of nearly 2000 men arriving within a few hours while the village, according to that source, then had only about 700 inhabitants. This latter population figure also seems low compared with the official censuses of the time, which give a higher municipal population; the point could not be satisfactorily cross-checked. Several soldiers die during their internment and are buried on site.

1842-1844. Construction of the school building, to plans by the architect Henri Perregaux.

1864. The federal artillery in turn settles on the Bière army training ground, alongside the infantry already present.

1868-1874. Construction of the army training ground's barracks, to plans by the architect David Braillard.

1895. Bière is connected to the Lausanne-Genève line by the Bière-Apples-Morges railway, which durably ends the village's isolation.

1929. Construction of the village's Catholic church.

1942-1943. Restoration of the Reformed church, the former Saint-Benoît church.

1965. Installation of a new organ, made by the Kuhn firm, in the church.

31 August 2006. The district of Aubonne, to which Bière had belonged until then, is dissolved as part of the Vaud territorial reform; the municipality joins the new district of Morges.

2003. One source gives 1145 inhabitants for this year, a figure that does not fit well with the growth trend observed just before (1353 inhabitants in 2000) and just after (1621 inhabitants in 2020) in the other sources consulted. This isolated figure could not be cross-checked and is noted here without being included in the population series retained.

November 2021. A ceremony marks the hundred-and-fiftieth anniversary of the internment of the Bourbaki army, paying tribute to the French soldiers and the inhabitants of Bière who died during this episode.

Today. Bière remains an independent municipality of the canton of Vaud, in the district of Morges; it has not merged with any neighbouring municipality. The federal army training ground there still hosts infantry and artillery recruit schools as well as an artillery training centre, which continues to strongly mark the village's identity and local economy.

Population of Bière

632

1764

663

1798

1'181

1850

1'350

1888

1'269

1900

1'133

1930

1'181

1950

1'353

2000

1'621

2020

1'674

2022

1'688

2024

Historic sites in Bière

Bière Castle. Built around 1700, the château rather quickly lost its residential and seigneurial role: it was converted into a farm in the early 19th century. Its archives had already disappeared in 1802, destroyed by the Bourla-Papey during the unrest that followed the Vaud Revolution.

Reformed church (former Saint-Benoît church). The present church occupies the site of the former parish church of Saint-Benoît, whose choir dates from the late Middle Ages while retaining older elements from the 12th century. Restored in 1942-1943, it houses three bells dated 1740, 1764 and 1772, as well as an organ by the Kuhn firm installed in 1965.

Catholic church. Built in 1929, it reflects the establishment of a Catholic community in a village that had until then been mostly Reformed, partly linked to the growing presence of population coming from elsewhere around the army training ground.

Former town hall. Built around 1784, it long served as the seat of the communal authorities and remains one of the oldest civil buildings preserved in the village.

School building. Built between 1842 and 1844 to plans by the architect Henri Perregaux, it illustrates the school-building effort carried out in many Vaud municipalities in the mid-19th century.

Bière army training ground and barracks. Used by the federal army since 1822, the Bière army training ground developed over the course of the 19th century: the artillery settled there in 1864, then barracks were built between 1868 and 1874 to plans by the architect David Braillard. Even today, the site hosts infantry and artillery recruit schools as well as an artillery training centre, making Bière one of the places most strongly associated with military presence in the canton of Vaud.

Bière railway station. Terminus of the Bière-Apples-Morges line since 1895, the station long ensured the village's connection to the outside world and remains a local landmark, regularly mentioned in the regional press on the occasion of renovation works.

Remains in Bière

Fortified Roman camp and early medieval burials. The municipal territory preserves remains of a fortified camp from the Roman period as well as early medieval burials. The sources consulted mention their existence without detailing their precise location or the circumstances of their discovery; this archaeological aspect would deserve further study with a source specialized in Vaud cantonal archaeology.

Graves of the Bourbaki army soldiers. The village preserves the memory of the internment of the Bourbaki army in 1871 through the graves of the French soldiers who died during their forced stay there, around thirty according to one of the sources consulted. A ceremony marked the hundred-and-fiftieth anniversary of this episode in November 2021, with the laying of a wreath in tribute to both the soldiers and the inhabitants of Bière who died during this period.

Legends of Bière

The bishop carried on a bier. A local legend, purely narrative in nature and not historically verified, offers an explanation for the village's name: it would come from the place where the body of a bishop of Lausanne, Saint Protais, was said to have been carried on a bière, that is, a funeral bier. Saint Protais did indeed exist as bishop of Lausanne in the early Middle Ages, but no source consulted confirms any real historical link between his life and the territory of Bière: this is very likely a piece of folk etymology, built after the fact on the resemblance between the place name and the word bière, rather than an attested event.

Sources

Other villages near Bière

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