Sens (pop. 27,952), in northwestern Burgundy, was the chief town of a Gallic tribe, the Senones, and later the capital of a Gallo-Roman province. In 1627 it became the see of an archbishop. The doctrines of Abelard were condemned at a church council held here in 1140, and Louis IX (St Louis) was married in the cathedral in 1234. Thomas Becket
lived here during his exile from England.
The 15th century Palais Synodal, restored by Viollet-le-Duc in the 19th century, now houses a Musée Lapidaire. The Municipal Museum has a fine collection of Gallo-Roman antiquities. The church of St- Pierre-le-Rond (13th-15th century) has good stained glass. The church of St-Savinien dates in part from the 11th century.