Forel, Vaud

Forel is a municipality in the Swiss canton of Vaud, located in the district of Lavaux-Oron. The oldest document mentioning the area around Forel (Lavaux) is dated 1140, and mentions Guy de Maligny, the bishop of Lausanne, owning the land with the Lac de Joux Abbey. The document mentioning the forests of Forel (Fores) dates to 1274. In 1300 it was mentioned as Forel. In 1298, Pierre and Garnier de Palézieux bought the hamlet of Forel (known today as the "In Forel") and the surrounding forests from Louis I of Savoy. Two years later, the same Baron of Vaud sold the land to the bishop of Lausanne and it became part of the district of the Grande Paroisse de Villette. After the departure of Lausanne's last prince-bishop in 1536, and the lands came under the administration of Bern, and established the district known as the Place General de Villette. It was not until 1601 that a representative of the farming area of Forel was invited to join the district council in Cully. The Bernese occupation did little to alleviate the feudal taxes and the inhabitants ended up paying more taxes and the tithes (of cereals, wine, vegetables, hemp, flax, cattle and others). After the collapse of the ancien régime, Forel from 1798 to 1803 under the Helvetic Republic was under the administration of the Canton of Léman and then the Canton of Vaud. In 1798 it became a part of the district of Lavaux. Forel belonged until 1824 to the Greater Municipality of Villette and was also known as Les Monts de Villette in reference to its mountains. In 1822 petitions to the State Council from residents of Epesses, the Monts de Villette and Aran, signed by some 145 people, reflected a showing the strong desire for local autonomy. In 1824, the State Council accepted the division of the municipality of Villette into the areas Cully and Chenaux (capital, Cully) Riex, Epesses, Grandvaux and Curson (capital, Grandvaux) Villette and Aran (capital, Villette) and Forel, which included Les Monts de Villette. A Provisional Council of six members was appointed and a meeting took place on 2 August 1824.