Nyon

Nyon stands on the northern shore of Lake Geneva, on the site of the Roman colony of Noviodunum. The colony possessed a forum, basilica and amphitheatre and lay on the road between Geneva and Lausanne. In the Middle Ages the lords of Prangins held Nyon; in 1293 the counts of Savoy besieged it from land and lake, then confirmed and extended its town rights.

Under Savoy, Nyon became a centre of government and coinage for Vaud. Bern took the town in 1536 and made its castle the seat of a bailiff. French Huguenots found refuge here after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, founding a fund to assist other refugees in 1688. Lakeside trade remained important, and eighteenth-century workshops made earthenware and porcelain. In January 1798 Nyon's councils refused allegiance to Bern, helping set the Vaud revolution in motion.