Saint-Christophe

Canton of Vaud · District: Jura-Nord vaudois · No population statistics specific to Saint-Christophe before the 1811 merger have been found: the old censuses available concern the municipality of Champvent as a whole and do not distinguish between the two entities before their union. A heritage source indicates that at the beginning of the 20th century, that is after the administrative merger, the hamlet had about 27 inhabitants living from agriculture and viticulture. Since then, the population of Saint-Christophe has no longer been counted separately and is included in that of the municipality of Champvent.

Part of the municipality of Champvent

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

Origin of the name Saint-Christophe

The name Saint-Christophe comes from the patron saint to whom the parish church of the place was dedicated, Saint Christopher, traditionally invoked as protector of travellers. The oldest known written mentions of the place appear in the Latin forms «S. Christoforus» in 1177, then «S. Christophorus» in 1228; at that time, Saint-Christophe was a parish centre on which the chapel of Mathod depended, cited as a subsidiary. The name of the place has survived through the centuries, including after the disappearance of the church itself in the 16th century, to designate first the seigneurial house and then the hamlet that succeeded it.

Founding of Saint-Christophe

Saint-Christophe was not founded by a charter of liberties or a known religious order: it was first and foremost a medieval parish village, organized around a church dedicated to Saint Christopher and attested as early as the late 12th century, on territory dependent on the seigneury of Champvent, itself formed in 1234 by the division of the former seigneury of Grandson. The original village stood a little to the west of the present site, on a fortified location called «châtelard», probably abandoned in the early 15th century. After the Bernese conquest of the Pays de Vaud and the introduction of the Protestant Reformation, the Church's possessions were sold off: in 1542, Jost de Diesbach, Bernese bailiff of Yverdon, acquired the church, the parsonage and the lands of Saint-Christophe. The old church was converted into an oven and then into a grain store, and a seigneurial house was built on the site of the parsonage; it is this building that would become the manor house of Saint-Christophe and that has kept the name of the place. The estate then passed by inheritance and marriage to the von Steiger family and then to the Thormann family. Under Bernese rule, a member of the Thormann family reportedly asked that Saint-Christophe be raised to an independent municipality; the request was accepted under conditions that could not be fulfilled, and the hamlet was first attached to the municipality of Mathod before becoming, in 1789 according to the Historical Dictionary of Switzerland, a fully-fledged municipality, finally reunited with Champvent at the 1811 merger. This precise point about the chronology of the independence request would deserve to be cross-checked with another source.

History of Saint-Christophe

1177. First known written mention of the place, in the Latin form «S. Christoforus», designating the parish church dedicated to Saint Christopher.

1228. New mention in the form «S. Christophorus»; Saint-Christophe was then a parish centre on which the chapel of Mathod depended, cited as a subsidiary.

1234. Formation of the seigneury of Champvent, on which the territory of Saint-Christophe depended, through the division of the former seigneury of Grandson.

1285-1558. The church of Mathod (dedicated to Saint Martin) remained a subsidiary of the parish of Saint-Christophe, before becoming, after 1558, an annex of Champvent.

before the 15th century. Probable abandonment of the original medieval village, located west of the present site, on a defensive earthwork called «châtelard»; archaeological remains are said to have been found there.

1536. Bernese conquest of the Pays de Vaud; the seigneury of Champvent, on which Saint-Christophe depended, pays homage to Berne.

1542. After the Reformation, sale of church property: Jost de Diesbach, Bernese bailiff of Yverdon, buys the church, the parsonage and the lands of Saint-Christophe. The old church is converted into an oven and then into a grain store; a seigneurial house (the future manor house) is built on the site of the parsonage.

1630. Formal establishment of the jurisdiction (judicial rights) of Saint-Christophe, following its sale in 1542.

1689. The fief of Saint-Christophe passes, by inheritance within the Diesbach family, to Jean-Louis von Steiger, a member of the Council of Berne, who has it recognized as a noble fief.

1703. A bell and a bell turret are added to the seigneurial residence.

around 1720-1723. Jean-Charles Thormann becomes owner of the estate, through marriage to a Steiger heiress and then through formal repurchase in 1723; a detailed cadastral plan is drawn up in 1724, showing the estate surrounded by three gardens, a wall and a pond.

under Bernese rule (before 1789). A member of the Thormann family reportedly asks the Bernese government to raise Saint-Christophe to an independent municipality; the request is accepted under conditions that cannot be fulfilled, and the hamlet is provisionally attached to the municipality of Mathod. This point would deserve to be cross-checked with another source.

1744. Georges Thormann, the grandson, sells the estate to Jean Lambert, a burgher of Yverdon; the estate then passes to the Matthey family.

1789. Saint-Christophe is constituted as an independent municipality, according to the Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.

1798. Abolition of the seigneury of Champvent with the end of Bernese rule and the Vaud Revolution.

1802. The so-called «Bourla-Papey» uprising destroys much of the local archives, and probably part of the buildings.

1811. The municipality of Saint-Christophe merges with the municipality of Champvent, losing its administrative autonomy to become a hamlet/place name of Champvent.

1841. The manor house estate passes to L. A. Guye.

1863. A cadastral plan still attests to structures now vanished: a forge, workshops, a beehive and fountain gardens.

1893. The Siegfried map shows the site of Saint-Christophe almost identical to today, with more extensive vineyards on the south-eastern slope.

early 20th century. The hamlet has about 27 inhabitants, living from agriculture and viticulture.

1920s. The manor house of Saint-Christophe ceases to be inhabited.

second half of the 20th century. Addition of two long wooden agricultural buildings on the site.

today. Saint-Christophe is a place name and private agricultural hamlet of the municipality of Champvent, listed in the ISOS (Federal Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites) for its qualities of setting, spatial arrangement and historical-architectural value.

Historic sites in Saint-Christophe

Saint-Christophe Manor House. Seigneurial building constructed in the 16th century on the site of the former parish parsonage, of an almost square plan, with a deep hipped roof, late-Gothic openings on the ground floor and symmetrical rectangular windows from the 18th century on the upper floor. The south-west facade is adorned with carved wooden corbels and a square bell turret housing a bell dated 1703. The building, unoccupied since the 1920s, is today in a state of conservation considered critical and would need restoration.

Former church converted into a grain store. Building whose origins date back to the 13th century, formerly the parish church of the village of Saint-Christophe, converted into an oven and then into a grain store after the sale of church property in 1542. It retains a half-hipped roof, an attached bell tower from the 17th-18th centuries and a facade clad in wooden shingles.

The two rural farmhouses of Saint-Christophe. Two compact farmhouses from the 17th-18th centuries, arranged on either side of a path, developed as long volumes parallel to the contour lines and covered with tiles; the northern farmhouse has a transverse dwelling forming a «T»-shaped ridge.

Remains in Saint-Christophe

The Châtelard. Remains of a defensive earthwork located west of the present-day hamlet, marking the site of the original medieval village of Saint-Christophe, probably abandoned in the early 15th century. Archaeological remains are said to have been reported there, but this information would deserve to be cross-checked with another source, for lack of precise details available.

Sources

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