Bioley-Orjulaz

Canton of Vaud · District: Gros-de-Vaud · about 525 inhabitants (2020, before the merger)

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 Bioley-Orjulaz

The place name combines two distinct elements. « Bioley » derives from the Old French « biole » or « boulaie », which designates a birch wood, a tree also found on the former commune's coat of arms (three birch leaves on a gold background). « Orjulaz » comes from the Latin « aureolus » (golden) and originally designated the forest that covered part of the territory, mentioned as early as the 12th century under the name « Oriola ». The village's compound name first appears in written sources in 1516, in the form « Biolley orjeux », then in 1527 in the form « Bioley-Orjioulaz ».

Founding of Bioley-Orjulaz

Bioley-Orjulaz has no specific founding attested by a founding act. Its origin goes back to the exploitation, in the Middle Ages, of the forest of Oriola (now the Bois d'Orjulaz), whose usage rights were granted to the abbey of Lac de Joux by Richard de Montfaucon, lord of Orbe and Échallens. The abbey owned a barn there which formed the initial core of the village settlement. The hamlet then developed around this agro-forestry exploitation, on the Gros-de-Vaud plateau, west of the village of Assens, whose parish has at all times covered the territory of Bioley-Orjulaz.

History of Bioley-Orjulaz

12th century. The forest of Oriola, ancestor of the Bois d'Orjulaz, is mentioned for the first time. The abbey of Lac de Joux receives its usage rights, granted by Richard de Montfaucon, lord of Orbe and Échallens. An abbey barn is established there, the origin of the future village.

1476. According to local tradition, the army of Charles the Bold is said to have set up camp in the Bois d'Orjulaz between the battles of Grandson and Morat, during the Burgundian Wars (still to be cross-checked).

1475-1798. The territory falls under the joint bailiwick of Orbe-Échallens, administered jointly by Berne and Fribourg through a communal assembly.

1516. First written mention of the village in the form « Biolley orjeux ».

1527. The village is mentioned in the form « Bioley-Orjioulaz ».

1764. The village has 36 households, 21 of them Catholic. The parish of Assens, on which Bioley-Orjulaz depends, has become mixed following the Protestant Reformation.

1798-1803. With the fall of the Ancien Régime, the village comes under the administration of the Helvetic Republic, then of the canton of Léman, before joining the canton of Vaud in 1803 with the Act of Mediation.

1903. Construction of the village's Protestant chapel, on the initiative of a local Reformed brotherhood founded between the 17th and 18th centuries (still to be cross-checked).

1920s. Launch of a land consolidation (regrouping of agricultural land) within the commune's territory (still to be cross-checked).

2005. The Protestant chapel is handed over by the Reformed brotherhood to the commune, on 1 January.

2006. The district of Échallens is abolished; Bioley-Orjulaz joins the new district of Gros-de-Vaud. Around the same time, clean-up work begins on a former landfill containing tar residues from the former Vevey gasworks, at an estimated cost of around 5.4 million francs (still to be cross-checked).

2010. Restoration by the commune of the rogation crosses scattered around the village (still to be cross-checked).

24 November 2019. The electorates of Assens and Bioley-Orjulaz vote in favour of merging the two communes. The vote is very close in Bioley-Orjulaz, accepted by 117 votes to 116 (still to be cross-checked), while Assens approves it more broadly, by 351 votes to 46 (still to be cross-checked).

26 August 2020. The Vaud Council of State adopts the decree proposing that the Grand Council ratify the merger agreement.

17 November 2020. The Vaud Grand Council ratifies the merger unanimously.

1 July 2021. The merger takes effect. Bioley-Orjulaz becomes a village of the new commune of Assens, which also brings together Malapalud (attached to Assens since 2009) and then has about 1'700 inhabitants. The number of Vaud communes drops to 301.

Population of Bioley-Orjulaz

36 households (21 of them Catholic)

1764

245

1850

239

1888

220

1900

174

1950

160

1960

181

1980

288

2000

452

2010

525

2020

520

2022

Historic sites in Bioley-Orjulaz

Bioley-Orjulaz Protestant chapel. Built in 1903 on the initiative of a local Reformed brotherhood, this chapel was handed over to the commune on 1 January 2005. It remains the village's emblematic religious building.

Bois d'Orjulaz. This forest, mentioned as early as the 12th century under the name Oriola, is the origin of the village's name and of its first settlement core, a barn belonging to the abbey of Lac de Joux. Local tradition places the passage of Charles the Bold's army there in 1476 (still to be cross-checked).

Farms and rural buildings from the 18th and 19th centuries. The village has preserved several traditional farms from this period, witnesses to its agricultural past on the Gros-de-Vaud plateau.

Remains in Bioley-Orjulaz

Rogation crosses. Several rogation crosses, remnants of the Catholic piety of past centuries, still line the outskirts of the village. Originally erected for the processions preceding Ascension and intended to call down blessing on the harvests, they were restored by the commune in 2010 (still to be cross-checked).

Stone granary with Renaissance windows (1720). This agricultural storage building, fitted with Renaissance-style windows, is said to date from 1720 (still to be cross-checked).

17th-century wooden barn. A wooden storage building dating back to the 17th century survives in the village (still to be cross-checked).

Legends of Bioley-Orjulaz

Charles the Bold's camp. Local tradition holds that the Burgundian army of Charles the Bold set up camp in the Bois d'Orjulaz in 1476, between the battles of Grandson and Morat that marked the Burgundian Wars. This claim could only be cross-checked against a single source consulted and deserves further verification (still to be cross-checked).

The inhabitants' nickname: « Pète-Petit-Lait ». The inhabitants of Bioley-Orjulaz are said to have once been nicknamed « Pète-Petit-Lait » (whey-farters), a local name associated with the smells given off by the village dairy. This nickname was only found in a single source consulted (still to be cross-checked).

Sources

Other villages near Bioley-Orjulaz

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