Saint Séverin in the heart of the city

More than 5000 years ago Stone Age people were plying the river in dugout canoes near what is now the neighborhood of Saint Séverin. 

By the Bronze Age, the Seine had become a major artery for trading the precious metal, and boats from the English Isles passed through as they travelled back and forth to the Mediterranean basin. 
In the Iron Age (3^rd century B.C.), a Celtic tribe, the Parisii, settled in the area, building their village on the adjacent island in the middle of the river for protection.  Wooden bridges crossed from the island to the two banks of the river, forming the junction between major trade routes arriving from Germany and extending to Spain. 
 

Lutetia, as the island settlement was known, became the primary crossroads of Northern Gaul due to its strategic location the on the north-south road at its intersection with the east-west river.  Following the Roman conquest of Gaul in 52 B.C., Lutetia was rebuilt.  The limited confines of the island were no longer sufficient for the growing city that began to creep up the sloping terrain of the southern Left Bank along the cardo of the Roman plan, the road to Spain, today's busy rue Saint Jacques that runs behind the church of Saint Séverin. 

Remains of the Roman era can still be seen nearby in the Thermes (baths) of Cluny and the Arène de Lutèce (arena) further up the hill.

Four centuries of relative calm prevailed under the Roman Empire, until the late Fourth century A.D. when fierce tribes from the north began their incursions.  The inhabitants of Lutetia once again took refuge on the island in the middle of the river, fortifying their settlement for protection from the Norse invaders who repeatedly occupied and destroyed the Left Bank.

At the end of the Fifth century, Clovis, warrior King of the Franks, took up residence on the island of the Parisii, and the town now became known as Paris, capital of the kingdom.  When Clovis asked for baptism, at the urging of his wife Clotilde and St. Genevieve, Christianity became the semi-official religion of the realm.  It was at this time as well that a hermit monk named Séverin lived on the Left Bank.  At his death, an oratory was built over his tomb, site of the future church that today bears his name.

By the Eleventh century, a small Romanesque church was built to replace the primitive chapel commemorating the tomb of the saint.  The Left Bank was by now a thriving community, and the church of Saint Séverin was the principal religious symbol of the area.

The 13^th century was a period of much growth and change, and the city of Paris developed rapidly to become the most inhabited of the western world.    All around the neighborhood of Saint Séverin, autonomous professors and their students met, before being assembled in the newly created University.  Their universal European language at that time was Latin, giving the name Latin Quarter to the area.