Lots of things have happened in Senlis, because it's on the road to
Paris, and for centuries has been getting into someone's way. Why, if it
hadn't been for Senlis, William the Conqueror might never have
conquered! You see, before William's day, Count Bernard of Senlis (who
boasted himself a forty-second grandson or something of Charlemagne)
quarrelled with King Louis IV of France. To spite him, Bernard adopted
the baby son of William Longsword, Duke of Normandy, killed in battle;
for Normandy was a "thorn in the eye" of France. Thanks to Bernard's
help Normandy gained in riches and importance. By the time William, son
of Robert the Devil and Arlette of Falaise, appeared on the scene, the
dukedom was a power in the world, and William was able to dare his great
enterprise.
But that was only one incident. Senlis was already an old, old town, and
as much entitled to call itself a capital of France as was Paris. Not
for nothing had the Gallo-Romans given it walls twenty feet high and
thirteen feet thick! They could not have builded better had they meant
to attract posterity's attention, and win for their strong city the
admiration of kings. Clovis was the first king who fancied it, and
settled there. But not a king who followed, till after the day of Henri
Quatre, failed to live in the castle which Clovis began. Henry V of
England married Bonny Kate in the chateau; Charles VIII of France and
Maximilian of Austria signed a treaty within its walls; Francis I
finished Notre-Dame of Senlis.
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