According to legend, St Mathurin was born here around the year 250. Having miraculously cured the daughter of Emperor Maximilian, his relics became the object of great veneration, thanks to his ability to heal the insane. The basilica, built in his honour in the 12C, was a place of pilgrimage visited by almost every king of France until the 17C: Charles IV the Fair, Louis VI, Charles VIII, François I, Henri III and Henri IV. Damaged during the Wars of Religion, the tower partly collapsed in 1675.