_From Saint-Firmin to Senlis the road is easy. We enter Senlis by the Creil Gate (see plan inserted between pp. 36-37). Turn to the left by the Avenue Vernois and the line of boulevards to reach the station, where starts the itinerary described further on, in Senlis._ [Illustration: GENERAL VIEW OF SENLIS] [Illustration: SENLIS] SENLIS ORIGIN AND CHIEF HISTORICAL EVENTS Senlis is of Gallic origin: it was the capital of the _Sylvanectes_. The Romans surrounded it with fortifications, a great part of which still exist (_see view below_). The first kings of France, attracted by the hunting in the surrounding country, frequently stayed at Senlis. It was in Senlis Castle (_see p. 61_) that Hugues Capet was elected king by the assembly of lords in 987. The Capetians often returned to the birthplace of their dynasty and it is to them that the town owes its chief buildings. Taken by the peasants in the war of the Jacquerie in 1358, besieged by the Armagnacs in 1418, it fell into the hands of the English and was delivered by Joan of Arc in 1429. Senlis knew great vicissitudes in the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries. After Henri IV., who interested himself greatly in Senlis and lived in its old castle, the kings of France gradually forsook the town in favour of Compiègne, Fontainebleau and Versailles. Occupied in 1871 by the Germans, it reappears in history in September 1914. The burning of the town and the summary executions which took place there will be recalled in the course of the visit (_pp. 38-52_). [Illustration: SENLIS IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.] VISIT TO THE TOWN (See plan inserted between pp. 36/37) [Illustration: THE BURNT STATION (Sept. 1914)] At the +Station+ one gets one's first view of the havoc done to the town by the events of September 1914. It was set on fire on the 3rd. _Follow the station road (Avenue de la Gare), which leads to the Compiègne Gate._ This is the road by which the Germans entered Senlis on September 2, at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon. [Illustration: BRITISH SOLDIERS IN THE PLACE DE LA GARE (Sept. 1914)] [Illustration: INTERIOR OF THE BURNT STATION (Sept. 1914)] Whilst one part of the advance guard made the tour of the town, following the boulevards and the ramparts which encircle it, other groups descended directly south by the two main streets which cross Senlis, thus making sure of a thorough exploration. [Illustration: ENTRANCE TO THE RUE DE LA RÉPUBLIQUE BEFORE THE WAR] The entrance lo the +Rue de la République+ suffered a great deal, as is shown by the two photographs, taken before and after the fire of September 2, 1914. [Illustration: PRISONERS IN FRONT OF THE GENDARMERIE (Sept. 1914)] On the left, the toll-house is completely burnt down; in the centre, the Hôtel du Nord and the Restaurant Encausse are in ruins. The building on the right is the Gendarmerie. The German prisoners who appear in the picture opposite are leaning against the wall of these barracks.