Editing Basilica of Saint-Denis (section)

=== Early churches ===
The cathedral is on the site where [[Saint Denis of Paris|Saint Denis]], the first [[bishop of Paris]], is believed to have been buried. According to the "Life of Saint Genevieve", written in about 520, he was sent by Pope [[Clement I]] to evangelise the [[Parisii (Gaul)|Parisii]]. He was arrested and condemned by the Roman authorities. Along with two of his followers, the priest Rusticus and deacon Eleutherus, he was decapitated on the hill of [[Montmartre]] in about 250 AD.  According to the legend, he is said to have carried his head four leagues to the Roman settlement of Catulliacus, the site of the current church, and indicated that it was where he wanted to be buried. A [[martyrium]] or shrine-mausoleum was erected on the site of his grave in about 313 AD, and was enlarged into a basilica with the addition of tombs and monuments under [[Saint Genevieve]]. These including a royal tomb, that of Aregonde, the wife of King [[Clothar I]].<ref name="newadvent.org"/>{{Sfn|Plagnieux|1998|p=2}}

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File:Dagobert visitant le chantier de la construction de Saint-Denis.jpg|[[Dagobert I]] visiting the construction site of the Abbey of St. Denis (painted 1473)
File:Clovis2 saint denis.jpg|[[Clovis II]] visiting Saint Denis (painted in 15th&nbsp;c.)
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[[Dagobert I]], King of the [[Franks]] (reigned 628 to 637), transformed the church into the [[Abbey]] of Saint Denis, a [[Benedictine]] [[monastery]] in 632.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Doublet|first=Dom|title=Histoire de l'abbaye de Saint-Denys en France|year=1625|pages=164–165}}</ref> It soon grew to a community of more than five hundred monks, plus their servants.{{Sfn|Plagnieux|1998|pp=2–3}}

Dagobert also commissioned a new shrine to house the saint's remains, which was created by his chief councillor, [[Saint Eligius|Eligius]], a [[goldsmith]] by training. An early ''[[Hagiography|vita]]'' of Saint Eligius describes the shrine:

<blockquote>:Above all, Eligius fabricated a mausoleum for the holy martyr Denis in the city of Paris with a wonderful marble [[Ciborium (architecture)|ciborium]] over it marvelously decorated with gold and gems. He composed a crest [at the top of a tomb] and a magnificent frontal and surrounded the throne of the altar with golden axes in a circle. He placed golden apples there, round and jeweled. He made a pulpit and a gate of silver and a roof for the throne of the altar on silver axes. He made a covering in the place before the tomb and fabricated an outside altar at the feet of the holy martyr. So much industry did he lavish there, at the king's request, and poured out so much that scarcely a single ornament was left in [[Gaul]], and it is the greatest wonder of all to this very day.<ref>''Vita S. Eligius'', edited by Levison, [http://www.fordham.edu/HALSALL/basis/eligius.html on-line at Medieval Sourcebook]
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