Les Clées is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in the district of Jura-Nord Vaudois in the

canton Canton may refer to: Administrative divisions * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and entertainment * Canton (band), an It ...

Vaud Vaud ( ; , ), more formally Canton of Vaud, is one of the Cantons of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of Subdivisions of the canton of Vaud, ten districts; its capital city is Lausanne. Its coat ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

History

Les Clées is first mentioned in 1134 as ''Clees''. Above the village are the remains of the

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

. The

keep A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residen ...

was restored in the 19th century, but the rest of castle remained in ruins. During the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

was a city that was granted numerous freedoms in 1272 by the

Count of Savoy The titles of the count of Savoy, and then duke of Savoy, are titles of nobility attached to the historical territory of Savoy. Since its creation, in the 11th century, the House of Savoy held the county. Several of these rulers ruled as kings at ...

. It owed its prosperity to the traffic through the Jougne Pass and the tolls that the castle collected on the pass road. Starting in 1536 it belonged to the

bailiwick A bailiwick () is usually the area of jurisdiction of a bailiff, and once also applied to territories in which a privately appointed bailiff exercised the sheriff's functions under a royal or imperial writ. In English, the original French combi ...

Yverdon Yverdon-les-Bains () (called Eburodunum and Ebredunum during the Ancient Rome, Roman era) is a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Jura-North Vaudois District, Jura-Nord vaudois of the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It ...

. The city was the center of the Les Clées district or bailiwick, which also included another eight villages. From the 15th century until 1566, the Vallée de Joux also belonged to the district. In 1134,

Pope Innocent II Pope Innocent II (; died 24 September 1143), born Gregorio Papareschi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 14 February 1130 to his death in 1143. His election as Pope was controversial, and the first eight years o ...

tried in vain to prohibit the reconstruction of the castle. In 1232, Hugo IV, the

Duke of Burgundy Duke of Burgundy () was a title used by the rulers of the Duchy of Burgundy, from its establishment in 843 to its annexation by the Crown lands of France, French crown in 1477, and later by members of the House of Habsburg, including Holy Roman E ...

granted the district to Guillaume II, the Count of

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

. The Duke of Burgundy also transferred the

feudal Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of struc ...

rights over the district to Jean Chalon in 1237, who was unable to maintain these rights. renounced the feudal rule and transferred them to, who could not be sustained. The Count of Geneva then held these rights until he was forced to give them up in 1260, following his defeat by Peter of Savoy. In 1272, Count Philip I of Savoy and the

dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean * Dean Sw ...

Romainmôtier Romainmôtier is a village and former municipality in the district of Orbe in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland. In 1970 the municipality was merged with the neighboring municipality Envy to form a new and larger municipality Romainmôtier-Envy R ...

entered into a contract, which granted the protection of the monastery and its lands to the castle of Les Clées. The subjects of the

provost Provost may refer to: Officials Ecclesiastic * Provost (religion), a high-ranking church official * Prince-provost, a high-ranking church official Government * Provost (civil), an officer of local government, including the equivalent ...

had to pay for a tax for this privilege, which continued until 1798. During the Burgundian War, on 22 October 1475,

Swiss Confederation Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerlan ...

troops seized and destroyed the city and castle and killed the castle garrison. Under

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

ese rule there were three courts in the Les Clées district, one of which was held in the city. Nevertheless, the city gradually lost importance. The chapel of Les Clées was built before the 14th century. It was a

filial church A filial church, in the Roman Catholic Church, is a church to which is annexed the cure of souls, but which remains dependent on another church. The term comes from the Latin ''filialis'', from ''filia'', “daughter”. Description The term ''fi ...

of the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

Lignerolle Lignerolle is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Jura-North Vaudois District, Jura-Nord Vaudois in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud in Switzerland. History Lignerolle is first mentioned around 1160–64 as ...

and remained under it even after the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...

. The chapel was rebuilt in 1738–1740. From the end of the 15th century until the beginning of the 18th century there was a furnace and a

pig iron Pig iron, also known as crude iron, is an intermediate good used by the iron industry in the production of steel. It is developed by smelting iron ore in a blast furnace. Pig iron has a high carbon content, typically 3.8–4.7%, along with si ...

smelting operation in the village. The construction of the

Vallorbe Vallorbe () is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Jura-North Vaudois District, Jura-Nord Vaudois in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud in Switzerland. History Vallorbe is first mentioned in 1139 as ''de valle ...

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

highway in 1990 divided the community in two.

Geography

Les Clées has an area, , of . Of this area, or 24.0% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 70.0% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 5.4% is settled (buildings or roads), or 1.0% is either rivers or lakes.Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics
2009 data accessed 25 March 2010 Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 0.7% and transportation infrastructure made up 3.8%. Out of the forested land, 67.2% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.8% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 8.7% is used for growing crops and 15.3% is pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. The municipality was part of the

Orbe District Orbe District was a district of the canton of Vaud, Switzerland. Mergers and name changes * On 1 January 1970 the former municipalities of Envy and Romainmôtier merged to form the new municipality of Romainmôtier-Envy. * On 1 September 2006 the ...

until it was dissolved on 31 August 2006, and Les Clées became part of the new district of Jura-Nord Vaudois.Nomenklaturen – Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz
accessed 4 April 2011 The municipality consists of the village of Les Clées and the

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

of La Russille.

Coat of arms

The

blazon In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct an accurate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visual d ...

of the municipal

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

is ''Gules, a Fence Argent.''

Demographics

Les Clées has a population () of . , 7.9% of the population are resident foreign nationals.Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Superweb database - Gemeinde Statistics 1981-2008
accessed 19 June 2010 Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of 3.9%. It has changed at a rate of 7.7% due to migration and at a rate of -3.9% due to births and deaths.
accessed 27-July-2011 Most of the population () speaks

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

(145 or 94.2%), with

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

being second most common (6 or 3.9%) and

Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian ( / ), also known as Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS), is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. It is a pluricentric language with four mutually i ...

being third (2 or 1.3%). The age distribution, , in Les Clées is; 15 children or 9.3% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 18 teenagers or 11.2% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 17 people or 10.6% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 19 people or 11.8% are between 30 and 39, 23 people or 14.3% are between 40 and 49, and 36 people or 22.4% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 23 people or 14.3% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 2 people or 1.2% are between 70 and 79, there are 7 people or 4.3% who are between 80 and 89, and there is 1 person who is 90 and older.Canton of Vaud Statistical Office
accessed 29 April 2011 , there were 64 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 71 married individuals, 10 widows or widowers and 9 individuals who are divorced.STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000
accessed 2 February 2011 , there were 60 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.6 persons per household. There were 15 households that consist of only one person and 6 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 60 households that answered this question, 25.0% were households made up of just one person and there was 1 adult who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 21 married couples without children, 20 married couples with children There were 2 single parents with a child or children. There was 1 household that was made up of unrelated people. there were 28 single family homes (or 57.1% of the total) out of a total of 49 inhabited buildings. There were 9 multi-family buildings (18.4%), along with 10 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (20.4%) and 2 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (4.1%).Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB - Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 - Gebäude und Wohnungen
accessed 28 January 2011 , a total of 60 apartments (93.8% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 1 apartment was seasonally occupied and 3 apartments (4.7%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 0 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0%. The historical population is given in the following chart: Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8) ImageSize = width:1080 height:210 PlotArea = height:150 left:100 bottom:50 right:100 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:240 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:50 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:10 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width:40 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1764 from:start till:149 text:"149" bar:1798 from:start till:158 text:"158" bar:1850 from:start till:222 text:"222" bar:1860 from:start till:224 text:"224" bar:1870 from:start till:232 text:"232" bar:1880 from:start till:197 text:"197" bar:1888 from:start till:210 text:"210" bar:1900 from:start till:228 text:"228" bar:1910 from:start till:196 text:"196" bar:1920 from:start till:194 text:"194" bar:1930 from:start till:165 text:"165" bar:1941 from:start till:152 text:"152" bar:1950 from:start till:148 text:"148" bar:1960 from:start till:155 text:"155" bar:1970 from:start till:115 text:"115" bar:1980 from:start till:131 text:"131" bar:1990 from:start till:150 text:"150" bar:2000 from:start till:154 text:"154"

Heritage sites of national significance

Les Clées Castle with the surrounding ruins and village is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance. The hamlet of La Russille and the Les Clées region are part of the

Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites The Federal Inventory of Heritage Sites (ISOS) is part of a 1981 Ordinance of the Swiss Federal Council implementing the Federal Law on the Protection of Nature and Cultural Heritage. Sites of national importance Types The types are based on t ...

Politics

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 25.31% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP (21.62%), the FDP (20.49%) and the LPS Party (10.35%). In the federal election, a total of 58 votes were cast, and the

voter turnout In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This is typically either the percentage of Voter registration, registered voters, Suffrage, eligible voters, or all Voti ...

was 48.3%.

Economy

, Les Clées had an unemployment rate of 4.5%. , there were 8 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 4 businesses involved in this sector. 9 people were employed in the

secondary sector In macroeconomics, the secondary sector of the economy is an economic sector in the three-sector theory that describes the role of manufacturing. It encompasses industries that produce a finished, usable product or are involved in constructi ...

and there were 2 businesses in this sector. 10 people were employed in the

tertiary sector The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector (raw materials) and the ...

, with 3 businesses in this sector. There were 76 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 36.8% of the workforce. the total number of

full-time equivalent Full-time equivalent (FTE), or whole time equivalent (WTE), is a unit of measurement that indicates the workload of an employed person (or student) in a way that makes workloads or class loads comparable across various contexts. FTE is often use ...

jobs was 22. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 6, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 8 of which 1 was in manufacturing and 7 (87.5%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 8. In the tertiary sector; 6 or 75.0% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 1 was in a hotel or restaurant, 2 or 25.0% were in education. , there were 6 workers who commuted into the municipality and 55 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 9.2 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering.Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 6.6% used public transportation to get to work, and 68.4% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 19 or 12.3% were

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

, while 107 or 69.5% belonged to the

Swiss Reformed Church The Protestant Church in Switzerland (PCS), formerly named Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches until 31 December 2019, is a federation of 25 member churches – 24 cantonal churches and the Evangelical-Methodist Church of Switzerland. The P ...

. Of the rest of the population, there were 20 individuals (or about 12.99% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 2 (or about 1.30% of the population) who were

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

ic. 16 (or about 10.39% of the population) belonged to no church, are

agnostic Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, the divine, or the supernatural is either unknowable in principle or unknown in fact. (page 56 in 1967 edition) It can also mean an apathy towards such religious belief and refer to ...

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

Education

In Les Clées about 62 or (40.3%) of the population have completed non-mandatory

upper secondary education Secondary education is the education level following primary education and preceding tertiary education. Level 2 or ''lower secondary education'' (less commonly ''junior secondary education'') is considered the second and final phase of basic e ...

, and 18 or (11.7%) have completed additional higher education (either

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

or a ''

Fachhochschule A (; plural ), abbreviated FH, is a university of applied sciences (UAS), in other words a Hochschule, German tertiary education institution that provides professional education in many applied sciences and applied arts, such as engineering, te ...

''). Of the 18 who completed tertiary schooling, 83.3% were Swiss men, 11.1% were Swiss women. In the 2009/2010 school year there were a total of 17 students in the Les Clées school district. In the Vaud cantonal school system, two years of non-obligatory pre-school are provided by the political districts.Organigramme de l'école vaudoise, année scolaire 2009-2010
accessed 2 May 2011 During the school year, the political district provided pre-school care for a total of 578 children of which 359 children (62.1%) received subsidized pre-school care. The canton's

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

program requires students to attend for four years. There were 8 students in the municipal primary school program. The obligatory lower secondary school program lasts for six years and there were 9 students in those schools.Canton of Vaud Statistical Office - Scol. obligatoire/filières de transition
accessed 2 May 2011 , there were 14 students in Les Clées who came from another municipality, while 31 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clees Cities in Switzerland Municipalities of the canton of Vaud Cultural property of national significance in the canton of Vaud