is a town in the
Saône-et-Loire ''
Département '' in
Burgundy ,
France .
Autun, founded during the reign of the Roman emperor Augustus (Autun is from ''Augustodunum'') became an early center of Christianity, as attested by the 3rd century funeral inscription, in Greek, of a certain Pectorius, and during the , bishop during the second half of the 6th century, a contemporary of St.
Germanus, Bishop Of Paris , who was a native of Autun, and
Leodegar (St Léger), bishop from 663 to 680, who came into conflict with
Ebroin and put to death by order of
Theoderic III .
The Abbaye de St. Martin was founded in
602 by Queen
Brunhilda of
Austrasia , and it was there that her remains were interred - the deposed monarch having been repeatedy racked for three days, torn apart by four horses, and then burnt on a pyre.
When the abbey was destroyed in
1793 , Brunhilda's sarcophagus was removed, and it is now in the
Musée Lapidaire in
Avignon .
Much later,
Charles Maurice De Talleyrand-Périgord , the future diplomat, was Bishop of Autun from 1788 to 1790, when he resigned.
The city boasts ancient
Roman gates and other ruins dating to the time of
Augustus (''Augustodonum'').
Autun has a major
Romanesque Cathedral .
Autun is twinned with:
