Sens

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For other uses, see Sens (disambiguation).

Coordinates: 48°14′51″N 3°17′16″E / 48.24754, 3.287659

Administration
Commune of Sens
Location

Country	France
Region	Bourgogne
Department	Yonne (sous-préfecture)
Arrondissement	Sens
Canton	Chief town of 3 cantons
Mayor	Marie-Louise Fort (2001-2008)
Statistics
Land area^¹	27.86 km²
Population^² (1999)	26,904
- Density	965.7/km² (1999)
Miscellaneous
INSEE/Postal code	89387/ 89100
¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
² Population sans doubles comptes: residents of multiple communes (e.g. students and military personnel) only counted once.

Inside the cathedral of Sens, Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, c. 1874.

Sens is a town and commune of France, in the Yonne département, of which it is a sous-préfecture, in the Bourgogne région. It is crossed by the Yonne and the Vanne, which empties into the Yonne here.

1 History
2 Main sights
3 Administration
4 Miscellanea
5 Twin towns
6 See also
7 Notes
8 External links

[edit] History

Caesar mentions Agedincum in the territory of the Senones^[1] several times in his Commentarii de Bello Gallico, and the city retains the skeleton of its Roman street-plan.^[2] The site was referred to by Ammianus Marcellinus as Senones (oppidum Senonas) but it did not become an administrative center until after the reorganization of the Roman Empire in 375, when it was the chief town of Lugdunensis Quarta.

During the Middle Ages, its archbishops^[3] held the prestigious role of Primates of Gaul and Germany. The Hôtel de Sens in Paris was their official residence in that city. Starting from 1135, the cathedral of Sens, dedicated to Saint Stephen, was rebuilt as one of the first Gothic cathedrals; there, in 1234 Louis IX of France celebrated his wedding to Marguerite of Provence. Sens witnessed the trial of Peter Abelard, Pope Alexander III sojourned for some time in the city, and there also Thomas Becket spent part of his exile.

Sens lived troublesome times during the Wars of Religion.

[edit] Main sights

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The Cathedral, one of the first Gothic edifices in France.
Archbishops' Palace.
Church of St. Maurice.
House of Abraham.
Museum.

[edit] Administration

Sens is the chief-town of the arrondissement of Sens.

[edit] Miscellanea

It is the presumed birthplace of the 12th-century architect William of Sens.

[edit] Twin towns

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

^ The manuscripts of the Gallic War also give varied readings of Agendicum and Agetincum (William Smith, ed. A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography); the gilded statue of "Brennus" ("leader") surmounts the hôtel de ville.
^ Its Cardo (rue de la République) and Decumanus Maximus (Grande Rue) still meet at near right angles.
^ The bishop of Sens perhaps became an archbishop as early as the mid-fifth century, but the cult of the traditional founders Savinian and Potentian, not mentioned by Gregory of Tours, did not appear until the eighth century, when they were added to the local recension of the Seventy Apostles. (Catholic Encyclopedia: Sens).