| On October 16th, 709,
the
Bishop of Avranches consecrated a small church after a dream sent to
him by Saint Michel. Then, in 966
a
community of Benedictines settled on the rock at the request of the
Duke of Normandy. By the year 1000, a small pre-Romanesque church
had been built. In the 11th century, a Romanesque abbey was founded
over a set of crypts where the rock comes to an acme. The first
monastery buildings were built up against the northern wall of the
abbey. In the 12th century the abbey extended it's boundaries to the
west and south. In the 13th century the first Gothic section of the
cathedral was built with a grant from the King of France, Phillip
Augustus. This Gothic section included the refectory and cloister.
In the 14th century, a large wall was built around the Mont St.
Michel because of the threat by the Hundred year war. The walls
helped to keep out a 30 year siege. The Romanesque chancel collapsed
in 1421 and was replaced by a Gothic flamboyant chancel. In 1618 the
façade began to collapse and had to be pulled down in 1768. The Mont
St. Michel was used as a prison by the government during the French
Revolution. In 1874, the French government took control of the
cathedral and its restoration. Finally, after leaving during the
Hundred year war, abbatial people moved back into the abbey in 1966,
in commemoration of the 1000th year anniversary of the cathedral.
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