Short answers, pulled from the story.
Autun is a subprefecture of the Saône-et-Loire department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, in central-eastern France, founded as Augustodunum by Emperor Augustus to give the Aedui their own Roman capital. It is known today for its Roman ruins, the Romanesque Autun Cathedral, and industries including oil shale mining and firms such as Dim and Nexans.
Autun was founded as Augustodunum during the Principate era of the early Roman Empire. Emperor Augustus established it to give the Aedui, a Continental Celtic people allied with Rome, a capital of their own in place of Bibracte.
In 725, forces of the Umayyad Caliphate under the governor Anbasa ibn Suhaym al-Kalbi raided up the Rhône and Saône valleys and captured and sacked Autun. The raid was part of a wider Umayyad campaign across Burgundy, before Frankish resistance consolidated later in the eighth century.
Gislebertus is the name traditionally credited with the sculpture at Autun Cathedral, including the west tympanum depicting the Last Judgment. His name appears on that tympanum, though it remains uncertain whether it names the sculptor or a patron. If he was the artist, he is one of very few medieval sculptors whose name is known.
In 1506, the attorney Barthélemy de Chasseneuz built his reputation in Autun by defending a group of rats accused of eating the region's barley crop. Two years later, in 1508, he became crown attorney of the Autun bailliage.
Autun's population today is about 13,000 people. In Roman times, estimates of the city's population ranged between 30,000 and 100,000, depending on the source.