Concise
Origin of the name Concise
First mentioned in 1179 in the form «Concisa». The sources consulted do not explain the origin of this name (etymology not established here).
Founding of Concise
None of the sources consulted names a founder of the village. The area has been inhabited since the Neolithic: pile-dwelling villages followed one another on the lakeshore from about 3850 to 1050 BC. After pile dwellings were abandoned at the end of the Bronze Age, settlement moved to a terrace at the foot of the Jura (village of Concise-Fin de Lance, around 800 BC). The Romans already worked the Les Favarges stone quarry, and an ancient road crossed the area. In the Middle Ages Concise belonged to the lordship of Vaumarcus, then to that of Saint-Martin-du-Chêne and, from 1282, to the barony of Grandson. From 1476 to 1798 the village was part of the common bailiwick of Grandson (Bern and Fribourg), where it formed a métralie with Corcelles-près-Concise; the municipality was then governed by a Council of twenty-four members and had a court of justice. The municipality stretches from the north shore of Lake Neuchâtel to the Mont Aubert and includes the hamlets of La Lance and La Raisse. The inhabitants are nicknamed the «Rebibes» (to be cross-checked).
History of Concise
around 3850 BC. Beginning of the occupations of the lakeshore sites of the bay of Concise, which follow one another until around 1050 BC (Neolithic and Bronze Age).
3868-1570 BC. At Sous-Colachoz, 25 successive villages or occupation phases, dated by dendrochronology, from the classic Cortaillod (3868-3793 BC) to the Early Bronze Age (1801-1570 BC).
around 800 BC. After the pile-dwelling villages were abandoned, a village of the Bronze-Iron transition was established on a terrace at the foot of the Jura, at Concise-Fin de Lance.
around 550 BC. A burial mound with a double ditch, more than 15 m in diameter, is raised (Hallstatt period) and remodelled in the 1st century BC.
Roman period. The Les Favarges stone quarry (La Raisse) is worked; a section of ancient road attests the Roman presence.
1179. First mention of the village, «Concisa».
around 1180. Huon de Grandson gives the La Lance estate to the Premonstratensians of Fontaine-André.
1228. First mention of the parish church, dedicated to Saint John the Baptist; the right of presentation belongs to the prior of Grandson.
1282. After belonging to the lordships of Vaumarcus and then Saint-Martin-du-Chêne, Concise passes to the barony of Grandson.
1317. Otto I of Grandson establishes a charterhouse at La Lance; construction begins in 1318 and the church is consecrated in 1328 by the bishop of Lausanne.
1416. The village has 70 hearths (households).
1475. The charterhouse of La Lance suffers destruction during the Burgundian Wars.
1476. On 2 March the troops of Charles the Bold are defeated by the Confederates on the territory of Concise, near the Seyte wood (battle of Grandson). Concise then belongs to the common bailiwick of Grandson until 1798.
1537. The parish adopts the Reformation through the vote of the «Plus».
1538. The charterhouse of La Lance is suppressed; the monks are expelled and the estate passes to the bailiff Jacques Tribolet.
1676-1677. Remodelling of the church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste; the parsonage, rebuilt in 1683, is completely rebuilt again in 1738.
1798. Concise is attached to the district of Grandson until it joins the district of Jura-Nord vaudois in 2006; it then has 560 inhabitants.
1859. The construction of the Yverdon-Neuchâtel railway leads to the discovery of the first archaeological sites (another source gives 1855 for the first finds, to be cross-checked).
1995-2000. Rescue excavations at Sous-Colachoz over about 4'700 to 5'000 m2 (area to be cross-checked), linked to the Rail 2000 works between Onnens and Vaumarcus: thousands of piles and an Early Bronze Age village (1801-1774 BC) with concentric palisades.
2011. The ensemble «Corcelles-près-Concise, Stations de Concise» is inscribed on the Unesco World Heritage List as part of the prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps.
Population of Concise
| 1416 | 70 hearths (households) |
| 1453 | 60 hearths (households) |
| 1798 | 560 |
| 1850 | 746 |
| 1900 | 726 |
| 1950 | 702 |
| 1990 | 593 |
| 2000 | 684 |
| 2010 | 779 |
| 2025 | 1'035 |
Historic sites in Concise
Charterhouse of La Lance. Carthusian monastery established in 1317 by Otto I of Grandson in the small valley of La Lance, near the Neuchâtel border; church consecrated in 1328. The planned number of thirteen monks was never reached. Suppressed at the Reformation in 1538, it became a private estate (Tribolet, then Rochefort-Neuchâtel in 1770 and Pourtalès from 1794), altered notably in 1816. The Gothic cloister is the best-preserved part and is described as the only intact medieval cloister in the canton of Vaud (to be cross-checked). Cultural property of national significance, private wine estate, visits on request.
Church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste. Parish church mentioned in 1228, with a Romanesque tower (perhaps from the late 11th century, uncertain dating) and a late Gothic nave; remodelled in the 15th century and in 1676-1677. Until 1809 the parish also included the Neuchâtel villages of Vernéaz and Vaumarcus, and Mutrux until 1846.
Site of the battle of Grandson. On the territory of Concise, near the Seyte wood, the Confederates defeated the troops of Charles the Bold on 2 March 1476.
Village and estate of La Lance. The village of Concise and the La Lance area are listed in the Federal Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites (ISOS).
Remains in Concise
Lake-dwelling sites of the bay of Concise (Sous-Colachoz). Lakeshore sites (La Raisse, La Lance, Le Point, Gare, La Baie, Sous-Colachoz) have yielded thousands of objects dating from about 3850 to 1050 BC. During the Rail 2000 works, the excavations of 1995 to 2000 at Sous-Colachoz uncovered 25 successive prehistoric villages, between about 4300 and 1570 BC (initial dating to be cross-checked), as well as more than 7'900 piles, hafted axes, fish traps, ropes, birch-bark boxes and wattle walls. An Early Bronze Age village had concentric palisades. The site, partly in Corcelles-près-Concise, has been on the Unesco World Heritage List since 2011.
Roman quarry of La Raisse (En Favarges). Quarry of yellowish-white limestone worked in Roman times; the stone is said to have been used for the monuments of Avenches (to be cross-checked). Listed as a historic monument in 1944 and excavated in 1997: the grooves marking out the blocks to be extracted are visible. Cultural property of national significance.
Iron Age burial mound. Burial mound with a double ditch, more than 15 m in diameter, raised around 550 BC (Hallstatt period) and remodelled at the end of the Celtic period, in the 1st century BC.
Village of Concise-Fin de Lance. Village of the transition between the Bronze and Iron Ages (around 800 BC), evidence of the shift of settlement from the lakeshore to a terrace at the foot of the Jura.
Sources
- Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Concise »
- Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Lance, La »
- Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Corcelles-près-Concise, Stations de Concise »
- État de Vaud, Archéologie cantonale, « Sites fouillés et disparus, une sélection »
- État de Vaud, communiqué du 7 décembre 1999, « A Concise, Rail 2000 a traversé le Néolithique »
- Archeoplus, « Concise (VD) »
- Domaine de La Lance, « Histoire »
- Wikipédia, « Chartreuse de La Lance »
- Wikipédia, « Concise »
- Wikipedia (en), « Concise, Switzerland »
- Statistique Vaud, « Population résidante permanente au 31 décembre 2025 »
Other villages near Concise
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