JFPQ+CC Mont-Saint-Michel, France
Mont Saint-Michel (Mont Saint-Michel — the Mountain of Archangel Michael) — a rock island, an island fortress, on the northwest coast of France, in Normandy, Manche department. The town on the island has existed since 709 AD. Currently, it has several dozen residents. Since 1879, the island has been connected to the mainland by a causeway. On the island stands a formidable granite rock, and on the rock — a majestic monastery with a Gothic church soaring into the sky. Around the island — not water, but sandy dunes, yet every day from the abbey walls one can observe how the entire landscape transforms — as the tide comes in.
Since ancient times, Mont Saint-Michel has been surrounded by legends. And since the 12th century, it became a very famous place of pilgrimage. Although the island is very close to the mainland — about two kilometers — in those distant times it symbolized a life that was remote, harsh, and surrounded by dangers. Frequent fogs, bad weather, the complex rhythm of tides, and quicksands — all this made the island almost inaccessible. In general, for the French, during turbulent historical turns, Mont Saint-Michel came to occupy roughly the same place as Solovki in Russia — harsh nature seemed to forge the characters of people, rebellious and impregnable; many talents were revealed here, and the unwanted languished in exile... A place of sanctuary and a place of prison.
Legends say that long ago Celts lived here. By the way, at that time there was no island as such, but a granite mountain. It was considered sacred and was under the protection of druids. Just like the islet Tombelaine, the “Island of Helena,” located near Saint-Michel and also surrounded by an aura of mysterious antiquity.
The nature in the bay changed. The mountain gradually became surrounded by water, it was called Mont Tombe, the “Tomb Hill.” And it literally began to attract hermits. From the 8th century, this piece of land finally became an island and was named Mont Saint-Michel, in honor of Saint Michael (Archangel Michael), Prince of the Heavenly Army. According to legend, it was here that he defeated the serpent. In the Apocalypse of John, there is mention of a dragon with seven heads and ten horns threatening the Virgin and the newborn Child. The sculpture of Saint Michael (Editor’s note: obviously, the author means the Archangel Michael), restored and reinforced on the spire at a height of 170 meters of the cathedral of the same name, is now the symbol of the island, a pride of both Normans and Bretons. The warrior with the beautiful face of a youth is clad in armor, holding a fiery sword in his hand.
The appearance of the first church on the island is also a legend. Nearby was the town of Avranches, where in 708 AD the bishop Aubert (who centuries later became Saint Aubert and is highly revered here) was visited one night by Archangel Michael, who ordered him to build a church on the rock, which was already almost completely surrounded by water, and dedicate it to him. According to legend, Aubert began construction only after the third apparition of Michael, when the archangel angrily struck the slow bishop on the head with his finger. Another legend tells how the faithful responded to Saint Michael’s call and miraculously, by Divine Providence, a child moved a stone and a holy spring was discovered on the island.
In 966, after Normandy accepted Christianity, the Norman duke Richard I invited Benedictine monks here, who founded the abbey. In the 11th century, construction of the main building began and lasted until 1520. From the 12th century, the island became a pilgrimage center. The popularity and authority of the abbey as a holy place grew tremendously. Since 1469, the Order of Saint Michael was established. From the late 16th century, the abbey gradually declined. Later, it became a prison.
In 1472, King Louis XI visited the abbey. This ruler, nicknamed “the Prudent” or “the Spider,” did much to unite the fragmented France into a single country. And he succeeded, mainly through negotiations and intrigues (hence the nickname “the Spider”). Louis XI was very devout but also a cruel ruler. One of his ministers — Cardinal Balue, who enjoyed unlimited trust — decided to betray his monarch. But his correspondence with the king’s enemies was intercepted, and since Louis could not execute such a high-ranking prelate, he imprisoned him in an iron cage, invented by Balue himself.
What was this cage, or as the king called it, the “little one”? It was made of iron and wood and hung from the ceiling. The cage had two holes: through one food was passed, through the other — you can imagine what. It was almost impossible to move inside the “little one,” as it immediately began to swing. For a person thrown into cold solitude in such a confined space, the torture became pure hell. Most prisoners went mad within a few months. But Cardinal Balue spent 11 years in it and survived. So, in 1472, Louis XI personally brought such a cage to Mont Saint-Michel. As a prison, Mont Saint-Michel was an ideal place: the island is surrounded by the sea — you cannot swim away; at low tide — you would drown in quicksands; you cannot dig a tunnel — granite rock. The only way out was to fly away, but at that time there were no helicopters.
Until the Great French Revolution, political prisoners held in metal cages and cells of the abbey were mainly pamphleteers and Jansenists. Having a dubious reputation as a place from which one could not escape, the prison at Mont Saint-Michel became popularly known as the “Sea Bastille.” During this period, the prison was mainly used as a “correctional center” for young nobles who were imprisoned here for, as documents stated, “bad behavior.”
The famous “little one” was dismantled in 1777 (now it has been recreated and is ready, if needed, for “use”). According to available information, the monks took good care of the prisoners: both in terms of food and various activities. In 1790, as a result of the revolution, the “Sea Bastille” was liquidated, but it still remained a prison, albeit only for priests and monks who did not submit to the new civil Constitution. The “prison history” was continued by Napoleon I. In 1811, he reopened the prison here, through which a total of about 15,000 prisoners passed, replacing each other (some died here). It should be noted that in those times, many revolutionary leaders were held in Mont Saint-Michel, such as Barbès, Raspail, Blanqui, and others.
There were 20 small cells in the prison, where prisoners were held two or three per cell. At one time, other — more spacious — rooms were used to accommodate prisoners, where common dormitories were created. Some rooms of the abbey were converted into workshops where inmates “resocialized” by weaving baskets, making hats, and doing other work.
In 1863, Napoleon III finally closed the prison. Its closure was aided by Victor Hugo and other 19th-century French writers who actively exposed the unpleasant exploitation of the old abbey.
Sources:
Natalia Chulichkova. Mont Saint-Michel. Magazine “Man Without Borders.” Moscow. www.manwb.ru. 2011
https://www.zakonia.ru/site/2042/tjuremnyj-muzej-mon-sen-mishel
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Мон-Сен-Мишель
