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onjour! Let’s now discover one of France’s religious sites that is steeped in history, located
150 miles northwest of Paris: Mont Saint Michel is an important place of worship, but also a
fortified site that shares history with Normandy and its past wars with England.
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Mont St. Michel: the Fortified Abbey |
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Mont Saint Michel, the Fortified Abbey
Mont Saint Michel is a monastery built at the top of a rocky islet that overlooks the sea,
right at the border between Brittany and Normandy. The statue of Archangel Saint Michael
towers 560 feet above the English Channel. Mont Saint Michel was an island until a causeway
was built at the end of the 19th century. It was separated from the mainland by one mile of
sand at low tide, or by water at high tide. The range in tides is one of the greatest in
Europe: it can be 46 feet between high and low water marks. The bay around the Mont is
absolutely flat and the rising tide is said to sometimes match the speed of a galloping
horse. In the early 8th century, according to catholic lore, Archangel Saint Michael
instructed the bishop of Avranches, Saint Aubert, to build the monastery. From the year
1000 on, and for 6 consecutive centuries thereafter, the Dukes of Normandy and the pilgrims
financed the construction of additional structures despite the difficulty of building on an
island only accessible by foot. During the French Revolution, the fortified abbey became a
prison for political opponents. Mont Saint Michel was designated an official French National
Heritage Site in 1872 and is restored on a yearly basis by the French Government, much to
the delight of its visitors.
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| Recipe
for February 2001 |
Omelette à la Normande |
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Cooking SOS ! If you
run into trouble with one of our recipes, send
an SOS e-mail to
911@FranceMonthly.com
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The First Bank Loans
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During the 11th century, the monks living at Mont Saint Michel had to come up with new ways of
earning financial returns on their assets. For the first time in history, a religious community
did not have to work for a living, thanks to the generous gifts of the pilgrims. Their capital
was the land they either bought or were given by princes and kings, and their income came from
3 different sources:
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They worked the land with the help of servants.
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They rented some plots for 10% of the harvest which was much more than the monks needed for
themselves, so they sold or traded the surplus.
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They even became bankers and granted loans in exchange for land that they could then exploit for
the duration of the loan! Income obtained that way was essentially interest, and thus the first
bank loans were made in the Middle-Ages!
For the first time in history, a religious community did not need to work for a living. The
pilgrims, who were filled with wonder at the Month St Michel and its fortified monastery,
supported them with their donations!
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Mont Saint Michel: The Impregnable Fortress!
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A direct attack against Mont Saint Michel was all but impossible because of its solid fortifications
and strategic geographic position. In September 1591, the Count of Montgomery plotted to take over
the fortress. He took a Norman soldier prisoner and offered him money to hang a rope from the abbey
walls: this would allow English soldiers to climb up and enter the monastery. The Norman soldier
agreed but later felt guilty and confessed the plot to the monks. They dropped the rope as planned
and the English soldiers were killed one by one as they reached the top of the walls. Throughout
the following centuries, no one was ever able to invade Mont Saint Michel. This was proof to the
pilgrims that this site was indeed protected by Archangel Saint Michael.
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The Mysterious Prisoner |
During the French Revolution, Mont Saint Michel became a prison. In 1815, a man named
Mathurin Bruneau came back from America claiming to be Louis XVI's son and demanded
his right to the throne!
His uncle Louis XVIII wasn’t about to give up his crown. Officially, Louis XVII had died
in 1795 but nobody was quite sure about this. Mathurin tried to prove his real identity
by writing to his sister, the Duchess of Angouleme. She replied with a list of private
questions that only her brother would have been able to answer. Unfortunately for him,
he never did receive this letter (it remains today in the French National Archives).
He spent five years in the Mont Saint Michel prison and died in 1825. So no one will
ever know the truth!
Would you like to visit Mont Saint Michel soon?
Click here.
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Mont Saint Michel: Brittany or Normandy?
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Not so simple!
Brittany and Normandy are separated by the River Couesnon which has several times changed its
bed during past centuries, leaving Mont Saint Michel sometimes in Brittany, sometimes in Normandy.
Nowadays, Mont Saint Michel is officially in Normandy and Normans are very proud of it.
There is a saying: "The River Couesnon in its lunacy, has gone and left the Mont in Normandy"!
But who knows for how much longer...
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Looking for a Partner for Camembert?
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In terms of combining food and beverage, two rules prevail: flavor similarity and flavor
contrast. Another rule French people like to follow is pairing a dish and a drink from one
particular region. For instance, a ripe Camembert from Normandy may be better appreciated---contrary
to any preconceived notions---with a hard cider! Normandy produces more than one third of all
French cider and is the 1996 birthplace of AOC (Appelation d'Origine Contrôlée) cider, the
"Cidre du Pays d’Auge". There are three types of cider in France:
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"Cidre doux": sweet and lightly alcoholic (1.5 to 3 %)
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"Cidre brut": less sweet and a bit more alcoholic (4.5 to 5 %)
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"Cidre Tradition": dry, bitter and cloudier (unfiltered, 6 % alcohol)
If you have a sweet tooth, you’d probably choose the Cidre doux with a ripe Camembert,
but true Normans would only consider drinking the Cidre Tradition with their famous cheese.
If you are not quite that adventurous, why not try the Cidre brut with traditional crepes
from Brittany, another French region that produces cider.
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