MONT ST. MICHEL (LE), a rocky islet of France, off the coast of the department of La Manche, some 6 m. N. of Pontor son. Pop. (1931) 195. It forms a mass of granite about 3,00o ft. in circumference and 165 ft. in height, rising near the mouth of the Couesnon nearly a mile from the shore, to which it is united by a causeway. In the 8th century an oratory was established here by St. Aubert, bishop of Avranches, in obedience to the commands of an apparition of St. Michael. The place soon be came a resort of pilgrims from France, Great Britain, Ireland and Italy. In 966 Richard I., duke of Normandy, founded in place of the oratory a Benedictine monastery. In 1203 the monastery was burnt by Philip Augustus, who afterwards furnished large sums for its restoration (La Merveille), St. Louis made a pilgrimage to Mont St. Michel, and after wards supplied funds for the forti fications. During the last 3o years of the Hundred Years' War the abbey persistently resisted the English. In 1469 Louis XI.
instituted the Order of St. Michel which held its meetings in the salle des chevaliers. During the Wars of Religion, the Huguenots were not able to take the fort ress, which opened its gates to Henry IV. in 1595 after his ab juration. In 1622 the Benedictine monks of Mont St. Michel were replaced by monks of the Con gregation of St. Maur. In the 18th and 19th centuries until 1863 the abbey was used as a prison for political offenders. The fortress-abbey crowns the more precipitous side of the islet towards the north and west, the sloping portion towards the east and south being occupied by houses. A machicolated and tur reted wall surrounds the upper part of the rock. The northern and oldest portion of the ramparts dates from the 13th century; on the south they are pierced by a single 15th century gateway. The single street curves from the gateway up to the abbey, ending in flights of steps leading to the donjon or chatelet. It is bordered by old houses, among which is one built by Bertrand du Guesclin in 1366, and contains a i5th century parish church. Limitations
of space led to building of the abbey in three storeys. The floor of the church, partly on the rock, partly upon foundations, and, at the east end, over a crypt, is on a level with the uppermost storey of the monastic buildings. North of and below the apse is the building known as Belle-Chaise. It comprises the chatelet (15th century), a square machicolated entrance structure, the ad joining guard-room (15th century) with the salle des officiers above it, and behind all the Tour Perrine. The Merveille (1203 64) on the north consists of two continuous buildings of three storeys, on the east, one above the other, the hospitium (aumo nerie), refectory and dormitory, on the west, the cellar, knights' hall (salle des chevaliers) and cloister. Of the fine Gothic apart ments the chief are the refectory, divided down the centre by columns and lighted by large embrasured windows, and the superb knights' hall, with a vaulted roof supported on three rows of cylin drical pillars. The 13th century cloister is surrounded by double lines of columns carrying pointed arcades,' between which floral designs are carved. The exterior wall of the Merveille, 108 ft. high, is supported by 20 buttresses. The church, high above the other buildings, consists of transepts and four bays of the nave of Romanesque architecture and of a choir (1450-1521) in the Flamboyant Gothic style with a triforium surmounted by win dows. In 1776 three of the seven bays of the nave were pulled down. and soon after the incongruous western front was added.
The finest part of the exterior is the choir, ornamented with carved pinnacles and balustrading. The central tower terminates in a Gothic spire surmounted by a statue of St. Michael.