Sens

Sens
City Hall of Sens
Coat of arms
Sens
Location within Burgundy region  Sens
Coordinates: 48°11′51″N 3°17′16″E / 48.1975°N 3.2877°ECoordinates: 48°11′51″N 3°17′16″E / 48.1975°N 3.2877°E
Country	France
Region	Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
Department	Yonne
Arrondissement	Sens
Government
• Mayor (2014–2019)	Marie-Louise Fort
Area^1	27.86 km^2 (10.76 sq mi)
Population (2006)^2	26,646
• Density	960/km^2 (2,500/sq mi)
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 without double counting: 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 (French pronunciation: ​[sɑ̃s]) is a commune in the Yonne department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in north-central France, 120 km from Paris.

Sens is a sub-prefecture and the second city of the department, the sixth in the region. It is crossed by the Yonne and the Vanne, which empties into the Yonne here.

History

The city is supposed to have been one of the oppida of the Senones, one of the oldest Celtic tribes living in Gaul. It is mentioned as Agedincum by Julius Caesar^[1] several times in his Commentarii de Bello Gallico. The Roman city was built during the first century BC and surrounded by walls during the third. It still retains today 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. The Archdiocese of Sens ruled over the dioceses of Chartres, Auxerre, Meaux, Paris, Orléans, Nevers and Troyes.

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 between 1162 and 1165. The Archdiocese of Sens hosted a number of church councils.

Sens lived troublesome times during the Wars of Religion.

The city declined after Paris was elevated to archdiocese in 1622.

Main sights

• The Cathedral, one of the first Gothic edifices in France.
• Archbishops' Palace.
• Church of St. Maurice.
• House of Abraham.
• Museum.
• Serres municipales de Sens, municipal greenhouses

Sports

Sens is one of a few French towns with a youth baseball team. It was originally started by a local English teacher, Laurent Carpentier, as a way to increase student motivation for learning English and to introduce students to American culture. Since the team's beginning, baseball in general has grown in popularity in the town. ^[4][5][6]

Notable people

• Joseph ben Nathan Official, a French-Jewish controversialist. He lived, probably at Sens, in the thirteenth century.
• Samo, Frankish merchant and later king (rex) of the 7th century Slavic state known as Samo's Empire (Sens is one of two presumed birthplaces, the other being Soignies)
• Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1164 he took refuge in Sens where Pope Alexander III was sheltered.
• Louis Jacques Thénard, French chemist, managed to have himself educated at the academy of Sens.
• Samson ben Abraham, 12th century rabbi and notable Tosafist.
• Victor Scipion Charles Auguste de La Garde de Chambonas, mayor of Sens, brigadier general, and French foreign minister, at the beginning of the French Revolution.
• It is the presumed birthplace of the 12th-century architect William of Sens.
• Édouard Charton, an eminent French literary figure.
• Maurice Prou, historian
• Saturnin Fabre, a French film actor.
• Chris Malonga, footballer.
• Bacary Sagna, footballer.
• Clément Chantôme, footballer.
• Arnaud Rivard, Maitre de la Terre et de Paul Genevey.

Twin towns

• Chester, United Kingdom
• Lörrach, Germany
• Senigallia, Italy
• Vyshhorod, Ukraine
• Fafe, Portugal

See also

• Senones
• St. Columba of Sens
• Archdiocese of Sens
• Communes of the Yonne department
• St. Wulfram of Sens

References

• INSEE

1. 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.
2. Its Cardo (rue de la République) and Decumanus Maximus (Grande Rue) still meet at near right angles.
3. The bishop of Sens perhaps became an archbishop as early as the mid-5th century, but the cult of the traditional founders Savinian and Potentian, not mentioned by Gregory of Tours, did not appear until the 8th century, when they were added to the local recension of the Seventy Apostles. (Catholic Encyclopedia: Sens).
4. "Davis-Sens Trip". notixar.wordpress.com.
5. "Sens Baseball". abc-baseball.fr.
6. "Samouraïs Baseball Club". samourais-baseball.fr.

External links

• Tourist Office (English)
• Official website (French)
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "^{article name needed}". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton. archdiocese & Councils City council website (in French)
• Richard Stillwell, ed. Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites, 1976: "Agedincum (Sens), Yonne, France"
• Traiteur Sens
• Pictures of Sens Cathedral: , ,