Saint-Aubin-Sauges. Photo/Foto: TES.

La Grande Béroche and Saint-Aubin

Saint Aubin has been inhabited since ancient times, as evidenced by the remains from the Neolithic period. Romans, Burgundians and Franks then colonised the region. In 1176, the bishop of Lausanne donated the church to the abbey of Saint Maurice.

Abbot Guillaume (who died in 1198) rebuilt the church in 1180. From then on, the church was the spiritual heart of the area still called La Béroche today and stretches from the municipality of Bevaix to the border with Vaud and the Ruz de la Vaux on the one hand from Lake Neuchâtel to the Creux-du-Van on the other.

In 1433, the Châtellenie of Gorgier Saint-Aubin was bought by Count Jean I of Neuchâtel (1374-1466), Lord of Vaumarcus, and became attached to the County of Neuchâtel. The abbey of Saint-Maurice exercised its authority until the Reformation in 1531. From that year on, the church became a Protestant temple.

Since 1888, Saint-Aubin is one municipality with Sauges. At the end of 2016, the population of the villages of Bevaix, Fresens, Gorgier, Montalchez, Saint-Aubain-Sauges and Vaumarcus agreed to merge to form the new municipality of La Grande Béroche.

(Source: www.saint-aubin-sauges.ch).