The city of Lausanne, ruled for centuries…

The city of Lausanne, ruled for centuries by the Dukes of Savoy and the Bishop of Lausanne, comes under Bernese rule in 1536 and the Reformation is introduced.

Hans Franz Nägeli had in 1531 been captain of the Bernese forces in the campaign against the adventurer-robber baron Giangiacomo Medici, lord of Musso, and during the occupation of the frontier of the canton of Valais in the intercantonal religious struggle known as the second Kappel War.

In 1536, he commands a Bernese contingent of six thousand men in the liberation of the Duchy of Vaud from Savoyard control and leads an expedition against the Bishop of Lausanne that frees François Bonivard from the castle of Chillon.