On 9 May 1476, Charles the Bold, the Duke of Burgundy, gathered his army in Écublens after his defeat at the Battle of Grandson, in preparation for the Battle of Morat. The area was under the Bernese Occupation from 1536 until 1798, when French troops arrived. On 12 May 1800, Napoleon inspected two divisions of his troops in Écublens on his way to the Great St Bernard Pass during his Italian campaign of 1800.