How The Mont Saint Michel was controlled by the Vikings and Normand dukes.

In 933, the dukes of Normandy ceded the Cotentin Peninsula to the Viking Rollo and his descendants. The Mont Saint Michel Abbey, located on the peninsula, was subsequently controlled by Benedictine monks from Fontenelle.

How did the builders attach the statue on the top of the Mont Saint Michel ?

Cathedrals are usually more than 50 m high. To carry the stones and beams and statues, the medieval builders would have been happy to use internal combustion engines or electric power. They had to make do with their own strength.

The Chatelet

The Chatelet (dungeon) was built in front of the north external front of Belle-Chaise, on which it leans without joining, leaving between this front and the south one an empty space, a large machicolation protecting the northen door, which has become the second inward door since the Chatelet has been constructed

Construction of the Mont Saint Michel from 1600 to 1900.

The new inhabitants of Mont Saint-Michel kept the buildings from going to ruin but they do not seem to have taken any great care to keep them intact. In 1627, they built a windmill on the bastion Gabriel and made many interior changes. Many marks of their dissensions are unfortunately visible and but few of their works are to be found now. 

Mont Saint Michel from 1300 to 1600

After Robert Jolivet died in 1411, he was eventually put in charge of the Mont Saint Michel by Pope John XXIII. During the first years of his administration, he seemed inclined to follow the example of his predecessors, but tiring of the severe rule of his Abbey, he studied in the « Faculté des Décrets ». Recalled toContinue reading “Mont Saint Michel from 1300 to 1600”

History of Mont Saint Michel from 1200 to 1400

The Merveille was begun in 1203 by Jourdain XVII abbot, 1191 to 1212; he built the room of the Almonry, the Cellar, and began the Refectory above the Almonry which Raoul des Isles finished from 1212 to 1218.

From Vikings to Kings, early years of the Mont Saint Michel.

After many vicissitudes, the church started in 1020, was finished in 1135 by Bernard, a professed monk of the abbey of the Bee and a prior of Gremont, who ordered a beautiful, high and strong tower to be built on the four large pillars of the chancel.

What is Mont Saint Michel In France?

Saint Aubert, Bishop of Avranches erected in the eighth century a church to honor Saint Michel who had appeared to him several times. He was able with God’s help and knowledge to what dimensions it should be built. He gave twelve clerks, called canons, goods, and property for their food and clothing.