Note 45 — Chapter III · Some of the Primary Gothic Cathedrals: Noyon, Senlis, Sens, Laon, Soissons

Noyon was made a bishopric in the VI century, when St. Médard translated the see from St. Quentin, before the advance of the Huns and the Vandals. St. Médard gave the veil to Queen Radegund in the Merovingian cathedral of Noyon. Two Carolingian cathedrals stood in succession on the site: in the first, Charlemagne was consecrated king, 768, Noyon being his residence before Aix-la-Chapelle; in the second church, which rose after a Norman sacking, Hugues Capet was elected king shortly before 1000—the first monarch of the House of Capet, which was to rule over France during seven hundred years. Since the Revolution the sees of Noyon, Senlis, and Laon have been suppressed.