Date:

Mont-Saint-Michel

Mont-Saint-Michel is a commune of the Le Mont-Saint-Michel, in the département of Manche, located on the coast of Normandy, France.

The site is surrounded by medieval walls, with a village rising on a leucogranite outcrop which solidified from an underground intrusion of molten magma around 525 million years ago (during the Cambrian period) and is crowned by the abbey of Mont-Saint-Michel.

- Advertisement -

The island was accessible by a tidal causeway that was traversable during low tides before being converted into a raised causeway in the 19th century.

During the 6th and 7th century AD, the outcrop was used as a fortified stronghold of the Armoricans, a remnant of the Gallo-Roman culture that conducted trans-channel trade until the region was invaded by the Franks.

Image Credit : Falcon® PhotographyCC BY-SA 2.0

Mont-Saint-Michel was originally called Mont-Tombe during the 8th century, when the island was part of the Diocese of Avranches and was populated by religious devotees and hermits from the curé of Astériac. St. Aubert, bishop of Avranches, built an oratory on the island after having a vision of the archangel St. Michael, making the island an important religious centre for pilgrims.

In 966, Benedictine monks were installed on the island which marks the founding year of the Mont-Saint-Michel Abbey with a pre-Romanesque church. A later Romanesque church of the abbey was built in 1060 by William de Volpiano (an Italian monastic reformer and founding abbot of numerous abbeys in Burgundy, Italy and Normandy) who was commissioned by Richard II of Normandy.

- Advertisement -

The Mont was pictured in the Bayeux Tapestry, an embroidered cloth nearly 70 metres in length that depict events leading up to the Norman conquest of England concerning William, Duke of Normandy (William the Conqueror), and Harold Godwinson, later King of England, and culminating in the Battle of Hastings. Harold Godwinson is shown on the tapestry rescuing Norman knights in the tidal flats near the Mont during a battle with Conan II, Duke of Brittany.

Image Credit : Falcon® PhotographyCC BY-SA 2.0

William had rewarded the monastic community at Mont Saint-Michel after giving their support to his claim to the English throne over Harold Godwinson. They were granted lands in Cornwall, England, with particular note of a Cornish tidal island similar to Mont Saint-Michel, where a Norman priory was constructed named St Michael’s Mount of Penzance.

In 1204, King Philippe-Auguste of France had campaigned to take control of the fiefs of the Dukes of Normandy that resulted in Guy of Thouars, Duke of Brittany placing the island under siege. Guy of Thouars destroyed the village that encircled the outcrop and caused significant damage to the abbey buildings. In reparations, Philippe-Auguste gave a grant for the construction of a new monastery known as La Merveille (“The Wonder”).

The Monts prestige as a place of pilgrimage began to wane during the Reformation period (a movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church) and the abbey was closed by 1791.

The abbey buildings were repurposed during the French Revolution into a prison to hold the clerical opponents of the republican regime and earned the nickname of the “bastille des mers” (Bastille of the sea).

The prison was finally closed in 1863 and the abbey was reopened as a centre for Christian worship from 1922.

Header Image Credit : Marian78roCC BY-SA 4.0

- Advertisement -

Stay Updated: Follow us on iOS, Android, Google News, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Threads, TikTok, LinkedIn, and our newsletter

spot_img
Mark Milligan
Mark Milligan
Mark Milligan is a multi-award-winning journalist and the Managing Editor at HeritageDaily. His background is in archaeology and computer science, having written over 8,000 articles across several online publications. Mark is a member of the Association of British Science Writers (ABSW), the World Federation of Science Journalists, and in 2023 was the recipient of the British Citizen Award for Education, the BCA Medal of Honour, and the UK Prime Minister's Points of Light Award.
spot_img
spot_img

Mobile Application

spot_img

Related Articles

Intact Etruscan tomb discovered in the Necropolis of San Giuliano

An intact Etruscan tomb has been discovered at the site of the Necropolis of San Giuliano, which lies within the Marturanum Regional Park near Barbarano Romano, Italy.

Soldier’s wrist purse discovered at Roman legionary camp

Archaeologists have discovered a fragment of a soldier's wrist purse at the site of a temporary Roman camp in South Moravia, Czech Republic.

Lost equestrian sculpture found buried in Toul

Archaeologists from the National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (Inrap) have discovered an equestrian sculpture during excavations in Toul, France.

Roman-Era settlement unearthed in Alès

A recent excavation led by Inrap has uncovered a remarkably well-preserved Roman-era settlement on the slopes of the Hermitage hill overlooking Alès, southern France.

Excavations in Olympos reveal ancient mosaics and sacred inscriptions

Excavations in Olympos, Antalya province, have uncovered mosaic floors and inscriptions within a 5th-century church, part of a year-round project backed by Türkiye’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Mammoth bones uncovered during road construction works

The Construction of the S17 Piaski–Hrebenne highway near the Arabunie village in Zamość County has revealed the remains of what is believed to be either a woolly mammoth or a forest elephant.

Hidden Medieval tower unearthed in Lublin reveals forgotten chapter of city’s past

Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of a previously undocumented medieval tower within the grounds of the former Pobernardine monastery complex, near the Church of the Conversion of Saint Paul on Bernardyńska Street.

Sinkhole reveals lost remains of medieval hospital

A sinkhole that formed outside the York Theatre Royal has led to the discovery of what could be one of England’s largest medieval hospitals.