Masaryk University Faculty of Arts

Department of Art History

Sabina ROSENBERGOVÁ

THE MOUNTAIN AND THE MAN BENEATH: Medieval Mont-Saint-Michel through the Perception of Pilgrims

Master Thesis

Thesis Supervisor: Ivan FOLETTI

2017

I hereby declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the sources mentioned in the bibliographical list.

...... Sabina Rosenbergová

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Acknowledgements

This space is dedicated to those who helped the author in her endeavour. Therefore, I would like to express my gratitude to them. First of all, I owe a deep debt of gratitude to all the people who participated in the project Migrating Art Historians and were inspiring to me along the way. Of these, I am most grateful to Ivan Foletti, who supervised this thesis and proved himself again to be an excellent supervisor, overflowing with ideas and encouragement. This thesis blossomed from the project The Pilgrimage to Mont Saint- Michel in the Post-Romantic Era and during the Middle Ages supported by the Grant Agency at Masaryk University in the year 2017, and the Centre for Early Medieval Studies located at the same institution. I gratefully acknowledge the funding received, which made this thesis possible. I also greatly benefited from the libraries at the University in Poitiers, where the majority of this thesis was compiled. Therefore, my gratitude goes to those who contributed to the pleasant and intellectually stimulating environment of those places. On a more personal note, I would like to thank my friends and colleagues in Brno, Poitiers and elsewhere, especially Pavla Tichá. Last, but not the least, my family has been supportive as always and I am deeply thankful for that. And finally, very sincere gratitude goes to Petr Vronský.

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Contents

INTRODUCTION ...... 9 CHAPTER I. IN DAYS OF BISHOP AUTBERT: THE FOUNDATION LEGEND ...... 13 CHAPTER II. NEW COMMUNITY, NEW NEEDS ...... 17 CHAPTER III. VARIOUS AUDIENCES ...... 27 CHAPTER IV. TO SEE THE ARCHANGEL MICHAEL...... 33 CHAPTER V. SACRED TERRAIN ...... 39 CONCLUSION ...... 49 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 53 ILLUSTRATIONS ...... 61

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8

Introduction

The thesis presented here concentrates on Mont-Saint-Michel in Normandy. Its focus is on pilgrims and their perception of the place in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Mont Tombe, the name of the hill where the church dedicated to the Archangel was erected, used to be a shrine, frequently visited by pilgrims throughout the Middle Ages. Nonetheless, studying Mont-Saint- Michel is a tough proposition for a scholar interested in the monument’s medieval period. It is due to several reasons, rooted in the events of the modern period. One of them is the serious damage to the edifices caused by wars, looting and finished by the French Revolution. It is certainly true that Mont-Saint-Michel had already lost its prominent function as a religious and pilgrimage centre at the end of the eighteenth century – the revolution, however, gave the last blow to religious life at Mont. These circumstances were subsequently intertwined with the laicisation of the Mont. After the Revolution, the Mont became a prison. Due to the effort of the French Romantics, including Victor Hugo, the prison was abolished in 1863 and Mont-Saint-Michel was added to the list of national monuments in 1874. The desolate state of the new monument led to a number of restoration works. Tourism at Mont-Saint-Michel started to develop in this period. Now, it has attracted enormous numbers of visitors. The current Mont-Saint-Michel is mostly a place of consumerist tourism and it is admired as a place of national identity and perceived as a medieval monument, though it is more a Romantic vision of the medieval past.1 All the same, the monastic community was restored at Mont-Saint-Michel in 2001 and therefore the Mountain reacquired this lost component. At the same time, pilgrimage to Mont-Saint-Michel is undergoing its revival. Today, tourists, monks, believers, and pilgrims mingle together in the area of the Mountain. The current, like the medieval, Mont-Saint-Michel had different functions and its area served several types of people. The necessities of the monastic community were different from the necessities of pilgrims arriving at the Mont – they, however, shared the same space. Even though this thesis focuses on the pilgrims, the medieval monastic community and their devotional life, full of specific demands, must not be absent.

The loss of the majority of (not only) medieval furnishing, documents and other objects, and the blurred identity of the Mont, stand between the historian and his or her matter of research. This lays an uneasy duty on the scholar, to explore his or her own relationship to the current Mont- Saint-Michel – to the place, which is so appealing and so present in our culture that always makes

1 On this notion see article by FOLETTI – ROSENBERGOVA, Holy Site (forthcoming).

9 the scholar take a personal stand. The goal of the scholar ought not to be to get rid of this conditon, which probably cannot be done, but to be aware of its limitations. The second more objective limit is the absence of the majority of the medieval Mont-Saint- Michel. Due to this fact, art historians interested in any different subject than architecture and manuscript illumination are sentenced to delve into conserved written sources and to extract an image of what medieval Mont-Saint-Michel could be from them. In this case, the art historian could hardly begin with objects. Methodology used in this thesis reflects this absence of objects. Because of those limits a large part of my thesis comes from written evidences, mainly legends. The number of preserved Mont-Saint-Michel hagiographical works is not insignificant and could reveal much to art historians as well. In this thesis, I focus on the perception of pilgrims – unfortunately we do not have any profound pilgrimage description of Mont-Saint-Michel and we have mainly sources produced in the environment of the monastic communities. In other words, we are informed about pilgrims and their perception mainly via official sources, which are most likely a reflection of the ideal vision of pilgrimage devotion. Nevertheless, the comparison between different time layers of those narrative sources results in the notion that the pilgrimage praxis is reflected in the sources. Alongside patrons’ intentions and artistic skills, the spectator created the object he or she was looking at. Furthermore, the viewer continued to reconstruct the meaning of the object long after the creators had passed away. The spectator, in this case a pilgrim, participated to a large extent in the development and transformation of the cultural aspects of sites that became pilgrimage centres. I understand pilgrimage as a multi-sensorial experience, involving the whole body with its senses. None of this can be overlooked. And last but not least, the architecture and its placement in the landscape, together with the phenomenological approach, should not be omitted. Specifically, in the five chapters of this thesis, my aim will be to reflect on the perception pilgrims had of Mont-Saint-Michel as a holy place, visited by people to venerate the church of the Archangel. The first chapter opens the debate with an introduction of the ninth-century foundation legend of Mont-Saint-Michel, which, throughout the period studied, served as an important text for the Benedictine monks, who inhabited Mont-Saint-Michel in the tenth century. The foundation legend is essential for the arguments in Chapter II, in which the eleventh-century construction of the Romanesque church and the hagiography is discussed. It will be argued that the motifs of the legend were appropriated by the Benedictines and incorporated into the architecture and cult practices – the position of Bishop Autbert, the legendary founder, will be examined in particular. Regarding the hagiographical sources, I will argue that the legends, normally perceived as the official rhetoric of the monastic community, contain the pilgrimage experience as well. The chapter concludes that, despite the assumptions, the relics of the Archangel Michael are rarely mentioned in the hagiography, and pilgrim’s devotion was not concentrated around them. Chapter III examines, therefore, the presence of pilgrims at Mont- Saint-Michel and also the pilgrimage to other Michaeline sanctuaries in Western Europe. It will be shown that pilgrims had certain ideas about the appearance of Michael’s churches, even before

10 they arrived to the very place – thus they sought a specific kind of experience. The pilgrimage perception of Mont-Saint-Michel is elaborated in Chapter IV, where it is demonstrated that the whole Mountain was seen as a sacred space, where the Archangel Michael used to show himself. The final chapter, subsequently, refers to the extinction of these practices in the twelfth century in favour of material objects.

A NOTE ON THE STATUS QUÆSTIONIS

Mont-Saint-Michel is studied abundantly, therefore I list here only the most relevant and extensive studies to facilitate a basic orientation and offer a tool to find other bibliographical references. The essential work on Mont-Saint-Michel was produced by the first restaurateurs, like Paul Gout.2 He published two volumes of Le Mont-Saint-Michel: histoire de l’abbaye et de la ville; etude archéologique et architecturale des monuments in Paris 1910 summing up the history, restoration works and archaeological excavations conducted on the monument. This can also be said about Yves-Marie Froidevaux (1907-1983),3 who published important studies about further archaeological excavations and other restoration aspects.4 Significant synthesis as well as original studies were published in Millénaire monastique du Mont Saint-Michel. This research project was intended as a commemoration of the Benedictine monks’ arrival at Mont-Saint-Michel in 966.5 The commission supervising the project was headed by the historian Lucien Musset (1922–2004), a professor at the University of Caen and specialist in ducal Normandy, Vikings and Norman historiography.6 In the course of 26 years, between 1967–1993, five volumes were published out of the planned six. The books address many aspects of Mont-Saint-Michel, starting with the history of the place (volume I) and the intellectual environment of the monastery (volume II), going through the cult and pilgrimage to the Mountain (volume III), and finishes with volumes dedicated only to bibliography and sources (volume IV) and to archaeological excavations (volume V). The book Culte et pèlerinages à Saint Michel en Occident. Les trois monts dédiés à l’Archange edited by Pierre Bouet, Giorgio Otranto, and André Vauchez published in Rome 2003 consists of papers presented at a symposium in September 2000 in Cerisy-la-Salle. This books represents the beginning of a new interest in Michaeline sanctuaries after the year 2000. Recently, a large project dedicated to the cult of Michael in Europe brought new light to the knowledge and issues of this topic. Scholars from the University of Bari, École française de Rome,

2 OMONT, Paul Gout (1912). 3 Yves-Marie Froidevaux was a French architect specialized in the restoration of medieval monuments. Between 1957–1983, he was named the chief architect at Mont-Saint-Michel. See DOUILLARD, Yves-Marie Froidevaux (1987). 4 For instance see: FROIDEVAUX, Resurrection du Mont Saint-Michel (1965) – FROIDEVAUX, Observations et découvertes (1993) – FROIDEVAUX, L’èglise Notre-Dame-sous-Terre (1961). 5 More on this impressive project and content of first three volumes see BOUET, Le millénaire monastique (1973), pp. 51–58. 6 NEVEUX, Lucien Musset (2005), pp. 5–6.

11 the University of Caen Basse-Normandie and the University Paris Nanterre established an international scientific group to deal primarily with the sanctuaries at Monte Gargano, Mont- Saint-Michel and Saint Michael's Abbey in the Val di Susa. As the output of this project, three conferences, followed by the publications, were held. In 2007, Culto e santuari di san Michele nell’Europa medievale. Atti del Congresso Internazionale di studi edited by Pierre Bouet was published in Bari. In an introduction to this book, the editor suggests that there had finally passed enough time since the publishing of the Millénaire monastique to think about Mont-Saint-Michel and the Archangel’s cult again. The Pellegrinaggi e santuari di San Michele nell’Occidente medievale edited by Giampietro Casiraghi and Guiseppe Sergi and published in Bari 2009, is focused on the three main pilgrim sanctuaries dedicated to the Archangel Michael: Monte Gargano, Mont-Saint-Michel and Saint Michael's Abbey in the Val di Susa. It deals with its history and mutual relation in the political and religious context of the Medieval West. The last volume, called Rappresentazioni del Monte e dell’Arcangelo san Michele nella letteratura e nelle arti, edited by Pierre Bouet, Giorgio Otranto, André Vauchez, and Catherine Vincent was published in Bari in 2011 and deals with depictions of the Archangel Michael through different medias and various eras. Finally, in 2009, fascinating medieval hagiographical sources were published in profound critical editions. The hagiography from the ninth to the eleventh century can be found in the Chroniques latines du Mont Saint-Michel (IXe siècle–XIIe siécle) edited by Pierre Bouet and Olivier Desbordes. The twelfth-century French translation of the Latin texts for pilgrims can be observed in Cathrine Bougy’s edition of Le Roman du Mont Saint-Michel (XIIe siècle) by Guillaume de Saint- Pair.

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I.

In days of Bishop Autbert: the foundation legend

Even though the subject matter is the eleventh and twelfth-century Mont-Saint-Michel, a legend, which is omnipresent in the writings of the studied period, has to be introduced. This legend contains themes, which constantly repeat themselves and creates a sort of topoi in Mont-Saint- Michel’s hagiography. The legend is called Revelatio ecclesiae sancti Michaelis archangeli in Monte qui dicitur Tumba and is Mont-Saint-Michel’s oldest legend.7 The account was composed around 820 by an unknown author.8 It is highly probable, however, that the author was a canon of Mont-Saint-Michel or a member of a canonical collegium in Avranches, as he knew the geographical situation of the Mont very well. In composing this text, the author made used of an older tradition, written or oral (Chapters IV–VII), and updated it with an original introduction (Chapters I–III). Part of the motivation behind this writing was probably to react to the religious reform of Emperor Louis the Pious. In the Council of Aix, 816/7, he sought to impose the Rule of St Benedict as a monastic norm throughout the empire – and also to reaffirm the authority of the bishop of Avranches over other clerics in the dioceses.9 The legend recounts the foundation of the sanctuary by Bishop Autbert on the call of the Archangel Michael himself. The text begins with an approximate dating of the revelation of the Archangel on Mont Tombe: in the time of the French king Childebert and Bishop Autbert.10 It was

7 This source was published in many critical editions, here I have chose the most common one: Acta sanctorum ordinis Benedicti. Ed. J. MABILLION, reprinted MACON, III–1, pp. 84–87 — Reuelatio seu apparition sancti Michaelis archangeli in paritibus occiduis (hoc est in monte Tumba in Gallia) scripta ab auctore anonymo ante saeculm X. PL XCVI, col. 1389–1394 — dom Thomas LE ROY: Les curieuses recherches du Mont-Sainct-Michel. In: Historia Montis Tumbae, prout est in antiquis manuscripts. Ed. Eugène de Robillard de DE BEAUREPAIRE, vol. I, Caen 1878, pp. 407– 419 — Revelatio Ecclesiae Sancti Michaelis (In Monte Tumba). In: BOUET – OTRANTO – VAUCHEZ (eds), Culte et pèlerinages (2003), pp. 10–26. The text of Revelatio was recently published in a French-Latin critical edition in Chroniques latines (2009), pp. 90–103 together with an additional research, pp. 29–87. 8 The oldest version of this account is preserved in manuscript 211 BMA, f. 180v–188v, written at the end of the tenth century, probably during the abbacy of Maynard II (991–1009). Fore more on the question of dating, see ALEXANDER, Norman illumination (1970), Appendix. According to the linguistic expertise supported by the historical context, the text of Revelatio was composed around the year 820 (more in BOUET, La Reuelatio (2003), pp. 65–90 or see Chroniques latines (2009), pp. 35–38.) An alternative opinion dates the creation of the text at about 851–867 (see SIMONNET, La foundation (1999), pp. 7–23, sp. p. 18–19). However, both opinions agree that the ninth-century author of Revelatio made use of an older oral or written tradition to compose his account. 9 Chroniques latines (2009), p. 33. 10 Revelatio Incipit: partibus sub Childeberto rege Francorum et Auberto episcopo.

13 only in a later addition, recorded at the beginning of the twelfth century, that the year 708 was settled as the foundation date and 709 as the year of consecration.11 The text, subsequently, justifies the Archangel’s intervention in the Western Roman Empire. All of Section III is dedicated to the geographical situation of Mont Tombe, with surprisingly accurate details. The author informs us of the mountain’s exact altitude above sea level, two hundreds ells (in altum in spatio ducentorum cubitorum porrigitur),12 continues with information about its distance from Avranches (ab Abrincatensi urbe sex distans milibus), and closes with a description of the Mont’s particular situation surrounded by the sea.

The legend contains several themes that should be underlined. The notion that the church was constructed according to precise instructions given by the Archangel Michael, who communicated them to Autbert, is the first. Bishop Autbert had three dreams, in which the Archangel Michael was revealed to him and demanded that he constructs a church in his honour at Mont Tombe. Autbert, however, was hesitant. He ignored two of the Archangel’s revelations. When the Archangel appeared for the third time, the venerable bishop was roused more strongly (Interea tertia admonitione venerandus episcopus pulsatur austerius).13 Finally, Autbert obeyed and established the church dedicated to the Archangel Michel at Mont Tombe. The sanctuary itself was constructed in the same manner as a grotto at Monte Gargano – “and so he raised a building which did not terminate in a high ridged roof but was fashioned in the form of a circle, in the manner of a grotto, capable of holding, they estimate, one hundred people” – as was demanded by the Archangel himself.14 As second point to mention regards the Archangel’s relics. Autbert, knowing that he possessed none of the Archangel’s relics, sent two monks to Monte Gargano to ask for relics held there. In the section “How holy relics were deported from Monte Gargano” (Qualiter a Gargano sacra sint pignora deportata), the relics are described as a fragment of a piece marble bearing the imprints of the Archangel’s foot and a small piece of his purple mantel.15 Once he gained the relics, the bishop installed twelve clerics to serve endless liturgy in the Archangel’s name. The Revelatio concludes with the miracle of a spring, which was given to the community out of the Archangel’s grace.16 Autbert asked for help from the Archangel as well as Christ, because it was known that the Archangel had already given water sources to the thirsty.17 In the end, the

11 For this problem see: Chroniques latines (2009), p. 68. 12 In language of modern units of measurement, the author estimates the high as 88.80 m, which is not far from the reality. See in: Chroniques latines (2009), p. 92, n. 14. 13 Revelatio IV/2. 14 Ibidem V/1 „Extruxit itaque fabricam non culmine subtilitatis celsam, sed in modum cryptae rotundam, centum, ut aestimatur, hominum capacem, illius in monte Gargani volens exaequare formam, in monte praerupti silicis angelico apparatu facta terrigenis ad laudem et gloriam Dei habitatione…“ 15 Ibidem VI/1 “...partem scilicet marmoris supra quod stetit, cujus ibidem usque nunc in eodem loco superextant vestigia.” 16 Ibidem VIII: De obtenta aqua per angelicam revelationem. 17 It is rooted in Liber de apparitione sancti Michaelis in monte Gargano/6.

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Archangel showed him a place (tandem angelica ostensione locum didicit) where he could find a water source. The episode illustrates the Archangel’s power over natural forces.

The legend was one of the most important documents for Mont-Saint-Michel. The text of Revelatio is included in many of the manuscripts produced in the monastery during the Middle Ages. It testifies the adoption of Revelatio by the Benedictine monks, who settled at the Mont in 966 and replaced the previous community of canons. The Benedictines incorporated Revelatio into their liturgical readings. Its liturgical purpose is clear, for instance, in manuscript 211, ABM (f. 150–209). It dates to the end of the tenth or the beginning of the eleventh century and features the text of Revelatio placed among eleven other liturgical readings. Each section begins with the term lectio.18 These texts, including Revelatio, were read on the three feasts linked to St Michael and to Mont Tumba – on 8 May, the dedication of the sanctuary at Monte Gargano; on 29 September, the universal feast of the Archangel Michael; and on the dedication of the sanctuary at Mont Tombe, which takes place on 16 October.19 Expressed differently, the Revelatio represented an essential legend for Mont-Saint-Michel’s community throughout the medieval period. As shown above, it was a part of the liturgical readings, thus it was very present in the monastic community. The Revelatio commemorated Bishop Autbert as founder, the fact that Mont Tombe was a place chosen by the Archangel, and the presence of the Archangel’s relics.

This hagiographical story obviously existed in different times and spaces. These two variables, naturally, affected the content and interpretation of Revelatio in later periods. The process, nonetheless, functioned reciprocally, creating an antagonist relationship: some of the features of Revelatio were inscribed into new hagiographies and into new liturgical spaces as well. In the later hagiographical sources compiled at Mont-Saint-Michel we can easily observe the “presence of the past” because they were consciously written to represent the past and link it with the present. Nonetheless, the link to the present is provided not only by an intellectual representation of the past through narrative, but also in the form of objects. In more precise terms, the legend could take the shape of discrete narrative texts, but it also appears as charters, royal diplomas, hagiography, reliquaries, sculptures, or architectural design. The legends therefore represent the “imaginative memory” of the monastery.20

18 The manuscript is available at: http://bvmm.irht.cnrs.fr/resultRecherche/resultRecherche.php?COMPOSITION_ID=15774 (2. 10. 2017). ETAIX, Les homéliaire patristique (1966), pp. 411–415. 20 This approach to the “presence of the past” is typical for monasteries in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. It was enabled by a peculiar concept of the past in the medieval period based on an ambiguous mixture of belief in historical progression on the one hand and its consistency on the other, of an epochal change and at the same time a continuity of times and historical situation. To the problematic of the perception of time in the eleventh and twelfth centuries‘ chronicles see GOETZ, The Concept of Time (2002) pp. 139–165.

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II.

New community, new needs

Whilst Revelatio was originally written in an era of canons and the existence of a Carolingian sanctuary at Mont Tombe, later it was adopted by the Benedictines and served in their new, monumental Romanesque church. As mentioned earlier, the foundation legend had an important role in the ensuing life of the Benedictine community at Mont-Saint-Michel. Now, the assumption will be developed further, by proposing examples of its integration into the architecture, forms of devotion and hagiographical stories. At the same time, however, several changes and shifts in meaning will be observed – these will be treated as indicators of meaningful changes in the manner of devotion at Mont-Saint-Michel.

THE ARCHANGEL’S CHURCH

At the end of the tenth century, Mont-Saint-Michel was destroyed by a fire. The seventeenth- century monk-historian Thomas Le Roy, on the basis of the abbey’s now-lost archives, conjectured that the fire took place in c. 992, shortly after the election of a new abbot, Maynard II (r. 991–1009). The churches’ destruction by fire is mentioned in a chronicle by Rudolphus Glaber. He does not give a date, but says that the fire befell the abbey after the appearance of a comet, meaning Halley’s Comet, which appeared in summer 989.21 As a consequence, the construction of a new monumental Romanesque church at Mont-Saint- Michel started in 1023 under the abbot Hildebert (1017–1024).22 In charge of the first reconstruction and conception was William of Volpiano (d. 1031), who brought Cluniac-style reforms into Normandy.23 Today, the Romanesque church has nearly been lost and imagining its original appearance takes considerable effort. Only the transept and part of the original nave have survived to this day. The Romanesque church originally had three naves with seven travées. Above the lateral naves, there was a gallery. The northern nave was finished later than the southern one, probably at the beginning of the twelfth century. The naves were finished by a

21 Thomas LE ROY, Les curieuses recherches du Mont-Sainct-Michel, p. 86; Rodulfus Glaber Opera, pp. 110–111. 22 On the profound description of the Romanesque church see for example: BAYLÉ, Les constructions préromanes (1998), pp. 102–124. 23 On the Williams’ role in the monastic reform movement in the Duchy of Normandy see: BULST, La réforme monastique en Normandie (1984).

17 western facade with at least two entrances.24 In 1776, the last three travées were demolished. A connection between the nave and the choir was provided by a transept. Under each branch of the transept, there is a crypt, which compensates for the disparity of the terrain. However, the crypts were not accessible from the church. A vast crypt was placed under the choir. This implies that the choir was elevated above the main nave, but its height cannot be estimated.25 According to the written sources, the church started to be built from the apse; the choir with transept was built between 1023–1058. The nave was finished later, probably during the abbacy of Renouf (1055–1085).26 A place now known as a church, Notre-Dame-sous-Terre, demonstrates, that the text of Revelatio was an important source in the construction of the new Romanesque church.27 Originally, it was most likely built by the canons as their main sanctuary, plausibly around c. 930–950. It served their successors, the Benedictines, as their abbey church until it was replaced in the eleventh century by the Romanesque church.28 During the eleventh-century reconstructions, however, the old church was not demolished, but instead incorporated into the new edifice.29 It is not known for sure, how access to the lower church was provided – a hypothesis of Paul Gout (published in 1910), however, seems reasonable: in his reconstruction (fig. 1) Gout placed one staircase in the lateral nave and the second one in the main nave at the level of the fourth and fifth travée. The presence of this staircase is recorded on the Mont-Saint- Michel’s plan of 1776 (fig. 3). The space of Notre-Dame-sous-Terre was surrounded by the communication corridors of the monastic buildings and thus became the centre of the monastery.30 Beginning in the mid twelfth century, at least, Notre-Dame-sous-Terre was understood as an original church, constructed by Autbert on Mont-Saint-Michel.31 Katherine A. Smith suggested that it was probably the place where the relics of Autbert and contact relics of the Archangel Michael were preserved. In short, the Notre-Dame-sous-Terre was meant to conserve the history of Mont-Saint-Michel as it was known from Revelatio and represented a sort of textual aedificatio.32

24 In Miracle composed around 1050 there is described a person who set down „ante ipsius ecclesiae januas“ thus in front of the church doors, as signalized by usage of the plural form in the word januae (Chroniques latines (2009), p. 332, n. 77. 25 LEMARIE, La vie liturgique (1967), p. 312. 26 For more on the description of the Romanesque church and on the archive materials proving this dating see: BAYLÉ, Les constructions préromanes (1998), p. 105. 27 Today, the space is most usually called a crypt but due to the presence of actual crypt under the choir, it would be more pleasant to name this space as a lower church. 28 An extensive article on this topic was published by GANDY, Who built what (2015), pp. 153–182. 29 An archaeological research was condemn by Yves-Marie Froidevaux and published in FROIDEVAUX, L’èglise Notre- Dame-sous-Terre (1961). 30 BAYLÉ, Les constructiones préromanes (1998), p. 102. 31 Le Roman du Mont-Saint-Michel, v. 412–416: “Our predecessors had a habit to say that the church, which was started by Autbert, was found in the middle of the current one: in fact, there is, under a vault, a very nice chapel, dedicated to Virgin Mary.”; “Que li mostiers, a icel jor/ Que seint Autbert le commencha/ Fut en mié cest: la ore a,/ Soz une volte, une chapele/ De Nostre Dame, si est bele.“ 32 SMITH, Aedificatio Sancti Loci (2001), pp. 361–396 (esp. 371) and SMITH, Architectural Mimesis (2009), pp. 65–82.

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The Romanesque choir was replaced by a gothic one after the former collapsed in 1421. The original choir was rounded by a polygonal ambulatory without radiant chapels, as is proven by excavations made by Yves-Marie Froidevaux in 1964–1965 (fig. 2). In the illumination of Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry (c. 1412 and 1416), (fig. 4), which depicts the original Romanesque choir, there is one radiant chapel on the axis of the church. This chapel, dedicated to Santa Maria de circa, was added later and was used during the procession after certain liturgies.33 We are not aware of the date of the construction of this chapel, but it would be reasonable to suppose that its construction was a reaction to the increasing cult of the Virgin Mary in the twelfth century and may coincide with the foundation of a priory dedicated to the Virgin Mary on the sister tidal island of Tombelaine in 1137. The choir of Mont-Saint-Michel is the oldest known choir with an ambulatory in Normandy. The presence of an ambulatory remains exceptional and could rarely be found in Romanesque churches in the region – one of the few other examples is the crypt of cathedral in Rouen, built around 1030, which had an almost identic plan except with three extra radiant chapels.34 The variety of great relic church with ambulatory and radiant chapels (such as St Martin in Tours, St Hilaire de Poitiers, St Foy in Conques or St Magdalene in Vézelay) is not characteristic of Normandy in the eleventh century. As suggested by John Crook, builders had also lost sight of the original, cult-centred function of crypts, which had mostly become cryptes constructives, no longer related to the cult of the saints. The relics were usually elevated into the body of the church, or behind the high altar.35 Traditionally, the presence of an ambulatory is interpreted as a reaction to the needs of incoming pilgrims, to provide access to the relics. As demonstrated by Paolo Piva, however, the fixed connection between ambulatories and pilgrims is rather a historiographical myth. Ambulatories as a construction solution are far older than the pilgrimage boom in the eleventh century – the same is the true for the galleries above the lateral naves. In fact, the function of ambulatories varied greatly. They could be, for instance, a space reserved for the devotion of members of the monastic community.36 Until the mid-twelfth century, the main altar was placed in the choir and was dedicated to St Michael.37 The figure 11, illumination from ABM, ms. 210, folio 25v made in the mid-twelfth century, shows a king’s donation to the monastery. In its middle register, the illumination shows the altar of the Archangel Michael and a group of people in line – the first one is dressed like a

33 LEMARIE, La vie liturgique (1967), p. 317. 34 BARRAL I ALTET (ed.), Le Paysage Monumental (1987), pp. 570–574. 35 CROOK, The Architectural Setting (2000), pp. 161–209, sp. p. 171–176. 36 On this notion see PIVA, L’ambulacro e i „tragitti“ di pellegrinaggio (2012), pp. 81–146. 37 See the verses in Le Roman du Mont-Saint-Michel, in which the main altar is described. More on this also in the last chapter of this thesis. Roman du Mont-Saint-Michel v. 4005–4014: “Ancienne costume esteit/ Que treis cierges tozdis aveit/Devant le mestre autel du mont/ Encor veiez, li dui i sunt/ Devant le vout saint Gabriel/ En est li uns, saint Raphael/ En a le suen de l’autre part/ Et nuit et jor checun d’eus art./ Devant l’imagre saint Michael/ n’a lumiere...”

19 monk and his head has tonsure, the others are dressed like aristocrats and have no tonsure. All of those people are in the space of the main altar, in the choir. Therefore, access to Michael’s altar was allowed at least to aristocrats on special occasions. Whether the altar was accessible to common laymen and pilgrims can not be said for sure: in 1294, however, the main altar was newly dedicated to St Andrew and All Saints and the altar of St Michael was put into the main nave38 – probably to be more accessible to pilgrims. The typical feature of Michaeline altars in the West was their placement into elevated positions – for example in towers, galleries, etc. Their veneration included the ascent to those places.39 Presumably, this tradition developed from the typical feature of churches dedicated to the Archangel Michael – the aspect of the upward movement (the physical activity) tied together with the veneration of the Archangel Michael. The situation in Michaeline sanctuaries, nonetheless, was different: the upward movement had been already guaranteed by the elevated position of the church itself. The Roman du Mont Saint-Michel, written in the mid-twelfth century, similar to the ninth-century Revelatio, recounts: “those who see Mont from the distance consider that it is all rounded and that the church together with the abbey resemble a tower”.40 Therefore, the direct access to the main altar dedicated to the Archangel Michael was probably not so important for the pilgrims, because already entering into the church itself, was the same as entering the tower, where his alar is venerated.

THE MIRACLE STORIES: VENERATED BISHOP AND VIOLENT ARCHANGEL

The Benedictines inhabited Mont Tombe starting from 965 or 966, and the new monumental church was constructed in the eleventh century. In this period, a new collection of miracles was compiled. Recorded at the end of the eleventh century (about 1080–1095), this overture has survived to the present days as De miraculis in Monte Sancti Michaelis patratis, which is a modern title coined by editors of the manuscripts.41 It consists of three overtures: Introductio monachorum (the arrival of the Benedictine monks at Mont-Saint-Michel in 965 or 966), De translatione at miraculis beati Autberti (a the title given to this writing by modern scholars, it describes episodes the discovery of Autbert’s relics at the beginning of the eleventh century and Autbert’s miracles) and Miracula sancti Michaelis (St Michael’s miracles performed in the period between the foundation and the year 1050). All three writings are attributed to one author, who was presumably a monk of Mont-Saint-Michel. The first part, Introductio monachorum is understood by modern scholars as a form of defence against the duke of Normandy, who had the power to appoint abbots at Mont-Saint-

38 Ms. Avranches 159, fol. 237 (cited in: LEMARIE, La vie liturgique (1967), p. 317). 39 KLUKAS, Altaria Superioria (1978), pp. 452–457. 40 Le Roman du Mont Saint-Michel, v. 475–478: “Cil qui de loing veient le mont/ Le hesment estre tout roont/ Et que l’igliese tor ressemble/ Ou l’abeie tote ensemble.” 41 The whole text was published in Latin-French translation in De miraculis in Monte Sancti Michaelis patratis. In: Chroniqes latines (2009), pp. 149–246.

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Michel.42 The so called Laudatio Normanniae opens the first part and constitutes a sort of certain introduction to the overture.43 Chapter II is based on the Revelatio. When comparing the content of the Revelatio and Chapter II of Introductio monachorum, some shifts in meaning can be noted. The first is that the narration is concentrated on Bishop Autbert and leaves some of the Archangel’s intervention behind. Still, the fact that the church was constructed on the Archangel’s demand is included, as well as the presence of Archangel’s relics from Monte Gargano. One very important shift in meaning is that the Archangel’s intervention is described as an apparition (apparitione) and not as a revelation (revelatione) – usage of the world apparitione implies a more physical presence than a nocturnal vision, as in the case of revelatione.44 This notion first indicates a change in the understanding of the Archangel Michael. He started to be more physically present.

The physicalization of the Archangel Michel can also be found in the second writing, from the end of the eleventh century. De translatione et miraculis beati Autberti recounts about the miracle of the finding of Autbert’s, at the beginning of the eleventh century, and two miracles connected with his relics.45 This account was, in fact, newly composed at the end of the eleventh century, capturing events that occurred in the same century. The writing represents the will of the Benedictine community at Mont-Saint-Michel to consolidate the cult of their community’s founder and presents his legendary hagiography. Significant to the narration, referring to the Archangel’s physicalisation: a hole was found on the Autbert’s head (foramen in ejus sancto capite),46 which was interpreted as a hole left there by the Archangel Michael, when he appeared to Autbert. The head, subsequently, became an important relic. Nevertheless, the De translatione et miraculis beati Autberti says that Autbert’s entire body was miraculously found. After it was transferred to the church, the monks found an authentic saying Hic requiescit corpus Autberti Abrincatensis episcopi by the bones. The body was placed at the altar (super altare) of St Trinity. In all probability, this altar was located in the southern transept.47 It implies that the bishop’s body was installed into the church. That kind of practice was wide spread in the eleventh century and its objective was to theatricise the cult of the saint founder.48 The desire to emphasise the founder’s cult had several motivations, such as proving

42 Croniques latines (2009), pp. 149–156. 43 Laudatio Normaniae is a modern title given to the text by Eugène de Robillard de BEAUREPAIRE when he edited the text in 1878. 44 Introductio monachorum, II/1 and Revelatio IV/1. On this see introduction to the Introductio monachorum by Pierre Bouet and Olivier Desbordes in Croniques latines (2009), p. 188. 45 Important studies on the question of Aubert’s relics were done by ALLEN SMITH, An angel’s power (2003), pp. 347– 360 — NEVEUX, Les reliquies (2003), pp. 245–269 — Croniques latines (2009), pp. 234–245. 46 De translatione et miraculis beati Autberti/I, De sancta translatione beati Autberti/6. 47 Dom Huynes found in one of the chronicles destroyed during the French Revolution, that already in 1050 the altar in southern transept was dedicated to St Trinity. Dom Huynes: Histoire générale de l'abbaye du Mont-Saint-Michel au péril de la mer, vol I, p. 92. 48 This can be compared to the church of Saint-Hilaire in Poitiers. See article by VOYER, Une mise en scène du culte (2005), pp. 141–162.

21 uninterrupted continuity of the community, defending its leading role in the dioceses, and possessing the body for devotional practices. Beginning in 1061, the commemoration of Autbert’s translatio was celebrated each 18th June.49 On this feast’s liturgy, the community invoked Autbert as theirs predecessor and emphasized his healing power. He was venerated as the one having virtues, because this cannot be provided by the Archangel Michael.50

The De translatione does not set the exact date of the discovery of Autbert’s relics. In the Introductio monachorum the author dates it to the time of Abbot Maynard II (991–1009); according to Miracula it occurred at the time of Hildebert I (1009–1017).51 Regardless of the exact date – it can be proven that the relics were surely discovered before 1061, because in that year Autbert’s right-arm was carried in a procession.52 Throughout the eleventh and twelfth centuries, Autbert’s relics were of high importance. In his chronicle, Robert de Torigni testifies that he opened the reliquary with bones of Saint Autbert in 1158 (without the head, which was kept in the Abbatial church in a silver reliquary and the arm) and found there an authentication paper and a green marble table. Autbert’s body was probably then placed in three different reliquaries.53 Catherine Allen Smith, in accordance with Jacques Dubois, suggested that this green marble was the contact relic of the Archangel Michael brought from Monte Gargano at the beginning Mont-Saint-Michel’s existence.54 This proposal sounds tempting, but the chronicle by Robert de Torigni, who claims to have re-discovered the relics, did not connect this marble with the Archangel’s relics. Abbot Robert’s chronicle gives additional essential information: Autbert’s head was already kept in the abbey church in a silver vessel. In Rubrique abrégée des abbés du Mont, ABM, ms. 21, f. 178 (date c. 1400), in a rubric of Abbot Bernard de Bec in 1131, it is mentioned that he made many deeds for the monastery: in particular a golden and silver box, in which the Autbert’s head was placed.55 This reliquary probably coincides with a description in eight inventories made

49 PIGEON, Le diocèse d’Avranches (1888), pp. 635–637 (cited in: Croniques latines (2009), p. 229, no. 4). 50 In the eleventh century, the liturgy on the feast of translatio titles Autbert as pontifex and confessor. The document is kept in Rouen, Bibliothèque municipale, ms. suppl. 0016 (mm 015), f. 22. As proved by J. Alexander, the manuscript is a fragment of incomplete sacramentary of Mont-Saint-Michel kept in Morgan Library, ms. 64. More in ALEXANDER, Norman illumination (1970), Appendix VI. 51 De translatione et miraculis beati Autberti, I, De sancta translatione beati Autberti, I and Introductio Monachorum VIII/1. 52 PIGEON, Le diocèse d’Avranches (1888), p. 659. 53 Chronique de Robert de Torigni, pp. 315–16: “Eodem anno, Robertus, abbas Sancti Michaelis, meliorans auro et argento quaedam antiquata in capsa sancti Auberti episcopi, invenit in ea ossa ipsius sancti, excepito capite, quod per se reservatur in eadem ecclesia in vase argento. Invenit etiam cum eodem corpore litteras testificantes id ipsum, et quandam tabulam vidris marmoris. Repositum est iterum corpus beati confessoris et episcopi Auberti in eadem capsa in tribus ligaturis, et marmor, et vetus breve cum novo, in quo indicatur sub quo anno dominicae incarnationis et quo abbate repositum fuit tunc idem corpus.” 54 ALLEN SMITH, An angel’s power (2003), pp. 335. 55 “Hic multa bona fecit monasterio, vas ex auro et argento in qua posuit caput beati Autberti.” ABM ms. 213, f. 161r (cited in Croniques latines (2009), p. 240, n. 47).

22 between 1396–1791: it had the form of a dome, measured 65 cm in height and 28 cm in diameter. The reliquary was enclosed and the presence of Autbert’s skull, with the hole, was attested only in writing. We do not know where the relics were placed at the time of Abbot Robert in the middle of the twelfth century. The only mention we have is an inventory made in 1396, preserved in the ABM ms. 213, made around 1400. At folio 161r. of the manuscript, it is indicated, that the body of St Autbert was separated into three different reliquaries – one was placed behind the altar of St Michael and another one on the main altar, in a nice, large vessel. We do not know the location of the third one. In the church, the relic of St Autbert’s head, with an imprint of Archangel Michael’s finger, was also present,56 as well as an arm-reliquary. In the age of Robert de Torigni, the arm was used for oaths, but it seems that the vow per brachium Sancti Auberti occurs for the first time during the abbacy of Bernard de Bec (1131–1149) as this sentence appears for the first time in the charters of his abbacy.57 As the Robert de Torigni’s chronicle testifies, oaths were taken in front of the altar of St Michael, while the arm was placed on the altar (super altare).58 This testimony also proves the presence of laity in the choir on special occasions. Autbert’s arm-reliquary is depicted in Cartulaire de l'abbaye du Mont- Saint-Michel on the folio 25v of ms. 210 in ABM (made 1154–1158) which shows the king’s donation to the monastery (fig 11). Beginning in the eleventh century, such arm-reliquaries were wide spread in Western Europe. Typically, they were carried in processions and used for blessings. The arm-reliquaries, generally, were associated with bishop saints and underlined their authority.59 The presence of the head reliquary bore the same meaning – it provided a bishop with striking occurrence and effectively embodied the presence of the saint. The earliest mentions of skulls or other relics extracted from tombs to be encased in a head reliquary can be seen in the ninth century, and increased in the eleventh century.60 It is necessary to underline that St Autbert’s cult was of high importance in the life of the monastic community at Mont-Saint-Michel. In contrast to the Archangel Michael, Autbert performed only healing miracles. The first of the two miracle stories recounts two monks cleaning the Autbert’s skull with water. One of them suggested drinking this water, which had been in a contact with the holy relics. The younger monk said he would rather die than drink water that had been in contact with a skull of a dead man. The older monk drank the water and

56 ABM, ms. 213, f. 161r. “Item, in una alia capsa supra reuestarium et retro altare sancti Michaelis, in una alia capsa et in pulchra capsa magna supra majus altare, majora ossamenta corporalis beati Auberti, condam fundatoris nostri... Item habemus nobile caput beati Auberti, Abrincensis episcopi, ubi remanet vestigium digito beati Michaelis sibi impressum pro acceleranda istius domus fundacione.” 57 NEVEUX, Les reliquies (2003), p. 251; There is at least 11 testimonies that the arm-reliquary was used for oaths. See BEAUSSE, Note sur un mode de tradition (1914), pp. 36–38. 58 Two brothers Thomas and Jean confirmed donations made by their ancestors “per bracchium sancti Auberti posuerunt super altare sancti Michaelis” and Gilbert Campeaux swore “per bracchium sancti Auberti sancto Michaeli super altare reddidit.” Chronique de Robert de Torigni, p. 262. 59 HAHN, The Voices of the Saints (1997), pp. 20–31, esp. 21–28. 60 HAHN, Strange Beauty (2012), pp. 117–120.

23 was restored to perfect health. The younger monk, however, became seriously ill and soon died (De translatione et miraculis beati Autberti/II. Miracle). The second miracle tells the story of a woman healed during the annual procession of the body of St Autbert, from Mont-Saint-Michel to Avranches. (De translatione et miraculis beati Autberti/III. De paralitica meritis beati Autberti curata).

The last collection of legends, written around 1080–1095, is called Miracula sancti Michaelis and records ten miracles performed by the Archangel Michael between the eighth and the mid- eleventh centuries. The first two miracles demonstrate prohibited behaviours: a monk dies after opening the reliquary with the Archangel’s relics (I. De clerico qui temerario ausu voluit inspicere pignora) and a pilgrim dies after spending a night in the abbatial church (II. Quali plexus est ultione qui in sacto templo praesumpsit excubare). The third miracle speaks about the discovery of the Archangel’s relics after the fire in the abbatial church (III. De repertione sanctarum reliqquiarum) and is followed by the story of an abbot of Avranches, Norgodus, who saw Mont-Saint-Michel on fire during the night, but the day after realized that what he saw was only the presence of the Archangel Michael (IV. Qualiter Norgodus praesul Abrincensis Montem sancti Michalis quasi ardere viderit). Two miracles then follow, which testify to the sanctity of stones taken from Mont- Saint-Michel. The first one is about a woman who cannot climb up on Mont, because she neglected a church in which a stone from Mont-Saint-Michel was kept in an altar as a relic (V. De muliere quae in monasterium sancti Michaelis nequibat ascendere). The second recounts a disease that affected a pilgrim who took a stone from Mont-Saint-Michel without the permission of the monks (VI. De peregrino qui injussus lapidem de eodem loco detulit). Miracle number seven depicts the survival of a pregnant woman caught by the rising tide. Thanks to the Archangel Michael, the sea created a sort of shelter around her and she gave birth while the tide was up and was later found with a healthy child (VII. De muliere quae in medio mari peperit). Miracles VIII (De custode ipsius monasterii divinitus percusso) and IX (De quibusdam monachis ibidem caelesti igne cohercitis) refer to monks who were punished for inappropriate behaviour towards Saint Michael. Finally, Miracle X recounts a concert of angels performing in the abbatial church when it was closed for the night. As already indicated, the presence of the saint is provided via relics kept in a specific reliquary. The contact relics of the Archangel Michael, carried from Monte Gargano, were present at Mont- Saint-Michel, but they were not the centre of attention. In this hagiographical collection, they figure into only two stories (number I and III). This story proves that the Archangel’s relics were not visible, as was common practice.61 As argued, for instance, by Cynthia Hahn, relics in this

61 One theory suggested by Bouet explains that the hiding of the relics from means that it was an effort to avoid any form of idolatry and for the same reason, all the miracles are said to be happened by the grace of God. I rather suppose that the explanation roots in a common practice: the relics itself were never on display and the miracles are happening by the grace of God because Michael is a mediator between heaven and earth.

24 period of the Middle Ages were always concealed in reliquaries, and never exposed for viewing.62 Medieval commentaries, such as the one by Thiofrid of Echternach (c. 1100), say that without the beauty of a reliquary, a relic could be repulsive: for that reason relics should not be seen and decorum required they never be exposed to improper touch or display.63 The Archangel’s relics were kept in a small box (pyxis, bustula), deposited in a small coffer (capsa minor), which was placed in a big coffer (capsa major).64 That means the relics were enclosed in a relatively large reliquary. There are no indications that this reliquary, however, was at the core of the cult. Unlike Conques, where the pilgrims were thrilled to see the reliquary of Saint Faith, at Mont-Saint- Michel there is no sign that the pilgrims had a strong desire to worship the reliquary with Michael’s relics. Of course, we could be confronted here with a lack of sources. Another reason, in my opinion more pleasant, could be that in all of these stories, from the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the Archangel Michael rarely performs miracles of healing.65 Strictly speaking, the first real healing miracle was added to the collection in 1146 (XI. De quodam homine contracto ante altare sancti Michaelis pristinae sanitati restituto).66 Nevertheless, until the mid-twelfth century, the Archangel Michael is never represented as the one to be beseech for healing. He is, above all, the master of natural forces and the one who punishes inappropriate behaviour regarding devotion.67

The hagiography of the end of the eleventh century, mainly testifies about the appropriation of Bishop Autbert by the Benedictine community at the Mont. The narrations are more concerned with Autbert leaving some of the Archangel’s interventions behind. Autbert is presented as the legendary founder of the church, overflowing with healing powers and holy virtues. The Benedictines also installed the bishop’s body in the church, which was a typical practice of monastic communities searching for the theatricalization of the holy founder’s cult. Autbert’s relics were kept in the head- and arm-reliquaries, which are common for Holy Bishops and Autbert’s presence was always demonstrated by his relics. This cannot be said about the Archangel. According to the miracle stories, his presence was not provided by relics – only two miracles out of ten mention his relics. In the first one, the monk died because he opened the reliquary with the Archangel’s relics, which was a commonly forbidden practise in all the West. The second one recounts the discovery of the Archangel’s relics after the fire. Both, of course, testify to the power of the relics, but not in the same sense at Autbert’s relics: to perform healing or mercy miracles.

62 HAHN, Strange Beauty (2012), pp. 3–10, 17–23. 63 Ibidem, p. 23. 64 Miracula sancti Michaelis, I. 65 For a comparison of the percentage of healing miracles in Michaeline legends versus other saints in Normandy see Croniques latines (2009), p. 274. Michael’s is significantly under the average percentage of miracles in legends, which is around 50–60% healing miracles. Michael has only 16.5% healing miracles in his legends. 66 Croniques latines (2009), pp. 336–339. 67 BOUET – BOUGY, Les représentations du Mont (2011), pp. 25–31.

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Generally, the promotion of various cult-centres through the production and dissemination of miracle stories developed rapidly in the eleventh century.68 Although the stories follow different interests, as official rhetoric of the community in order to defend its freedom, they hide testimonies of pilgrimage experiences and make it possible for us to indulge in some speculations about the sociology of its audience. The saints’ miracles served the interests of both the monks and of the public seeking their help. It should be mentioned that the actors in the Mont-Saint- Michel miracles are often monks of the community. Several pilgrims and laymen, however, are represented. Miracle VII (the woman giving birth in the middle of the sea) reflects a shared fascination about the phenomenon of tides. This attraction, though, was probably stronger for those coming at Mont-Saint-Michel for a short time, who did not have the possibility to observe this phenomenon each day. I assume Miracle VII reflects the experience of pilgrims arriving to Mont-Saint-Michel more than an observation of the monastic community. Therefore it is essential to keep in mind that the sanctuary of Mont-Saint-Michel had a number of different visitors. The space of the abbey church was shared by members of the monastic community, local lay nobility, regional inhabitants and pilgrims arriving from all over Europe. All these people, with various motivations and needs, mingled in the shrine and its surroundings. This mixture produced various cults and devotional practices – and certain particularities in both.

68 WEBB, Pilgrims and pilgrimage (1999), p. 22.

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III.

Various Audiences

From its very beginning, the sanctuary at Mont Tombe was not designated only for monks. Revelatio ecclesiae Sancti Michaelis, the foundation legend, says that Mont Tombe was encircled by a dark forest occupied by wild beasts. In the forest, two churches were erected and inhabited by monks searching for a lonely place for contemplation. But through God’s grace, this place was designated to become a shrine of his holy Archangel, the forest was destroyed by the sea to give passage, in the form of sandy shores, to offer people of the earth a way to celebrate the wonders of God (populo terrae ut enarrent mirabilia Dei).69 Accordingly, the space of the Romanesque church did not serve the monastic community alone, but also the lay people and pilgrims who came to venerate God. As shown in this chapter, both audiences were significant, though there was certainly a difference in pilgrimage and monastic devotional praxis. It will be argued that Michaeline sanctuaries in the West share common aspects regarding the descriptions of pilgrims, and therefore the pilgrims had certain ideas about the appearance of the Archangel’s churches and the manifestation of the divine there. These expectations, furthermore, formed the pilgrimage devotion to the Mont-Saint-Michel.

Naturally, the monastic community tried to control pilgrimage and to give it a certain order.70 The point of view of the monastic community is shown in the official hagiographical sources, although, as suggested above, the pilgrimage experience was reflected in the legends. The devotion of both groups was not concentrated only on the space of the church itself. The whole Mountain and even its surrounding were part of the ritualized space.71 The lay people and pilgrims accompanied the processions, for example. The eleventh and twelfth centuries witnessed at least two processions taking place between Mont-Saint-Michel and Avranches. On Fridays before Pentecost, the canons and the bishop of Avranches arrived at the Mont with the procession with St Pience’s relics. Similarly, the monks and the abbot of Mont-Saint-Michel held a procession from the Mont to the cathedral of Avranches carrying the right arm and skull of Saint Autbert on Tuesdays after the octave of Pentecost.72 In the latter, the relics were carried

69 Revelatio, III/2, 3. 70 On this issue see more in the article by BOESCH GAJANO, Il Pellegrinaggio nelle sue espressione liturgiche (2009), pp. 15–31. 71 On the ritualized space of cities and places around churches see synthesis of EMERSON – TUDOR – LONGTIN, Performance, Drama, Spectacle (2010), pp. XXIII–XXXIX. 72 LEMARIE, La vie liturgique (1967), pp. 332–333.

27 through the main street (quod deferebatur per majorem vicum ipsius civitatis) and the procession was accompanied by numerous people.73 Who were those numerous people accompanying the procession? Some of them, undoubtedly, were local laymen. The others represented a multifarious group of pilgrims. The pilgrims coming to Mont-Saint-Michel were from all social classes, arrived with different motivations, and came from various parts of Europe – in other words, there was no “standardized” pilgrim. What they had in common was that they arrived on foot, on horseback, or on ships, approaching the place relatively slowly. Local pilgrimages were as common as long distance pilgrimages to the famous sanctuaries of Rome, Jerusalem or Santiago. Mont-Saint- Michel stood for both: it was the destination of some pilgrimages, as well as a mere stopover on the way to others. Finally, the pilgrimage could have been a regular event, based on the ongoing relationships between monks, custodians of relics, and their neighbours – for example, on the occasion of processions or major feasts.74

Pilgrims arriving at Mont-Saint-Michel are attested in sources starting in the mid-ninth century.75 This evidence indicates that Mont-Saint-Michel was a place where pilgrims stopped over on their way to the major sanctuaries, which were: Jerusalem, Rome and Monte Gargano in the ninth and tenth centuries. This trend developed further in the eleventh century, but apparently preceded the greatest boom of Pilgrimage to Santiago.76 The Itinerarium Bernardi Monachi Franci records the pilgrimage of Bernardus, a monk from France, who went with two other companions to the Holy Land in 867.77 On his way back, after they parted away in Rome, he arrived at sanctum Michaelem ad duas Tumbas – this geographical expression indicates the two tidal islands located in the bay. Bernardus’ record is not very extensive. He mentions the phenomenon of the tide allowing passage to the Mont just twice a day, and he adds information about the special occasion offered by the Archangel Michael: the passageway to the sanctuary was traversable all day long on the day of Michael’s feast. Similar to Bernardus’ record is a mention by the ninth-century pilgrim Ratbert, on the way to Rome, Monte Gargano and Jerusalem as well, who arrived “ad S. Michaelis ecclesiam... loci qui ad Duas Tumbas ex antiquo vocatur.”78 These early references to Mont-Saint-Michel, however, are scanty on the details. The first substantial description appears in the famous chronicle by Rudolfus Glaber (985–1047)

73 De translatione et miraculis beati Autberti/III. 74 WEBB, Pilgrims and pilgrimage (1999), p. 16. 75 For an extensive bibliography on the issue of pilgrimage to Mont-Saint-Michel in the Early Middle Ages see: MUSSET, Recherches sur les pèlerins (1962), pp. 127–150 — Millénaire monastique, vol. III, Culte de saint Michel et pèlerinages au Mont (1971) — BOUET – OTRANTO – VAUCHEZ (eds), Culte et pèlerinages (2003) — JUHEL (ed.), Les Pèlerinages au Mont Saint-Michel (2005). 76 MUSSET, Recherches sur les pèlerins (1962), pp. 129–131. 77 The text of Itinerarium Bernardi monachi Franci was edited by J. P. MIGNE, PL, vol. 121, cols 569–574. More on this text in: AVRIL – GABORIT, L’itinerarium Bernardi (1967), pp. 269–298; and translation to French relevant to Mont- Saint-Michel in: Croniques latines (2009), p. 374. 78 Vita et miracula S. Frodoberti. PL CXXXVII, col. 616.

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Historiam libri quinque written around 1030, which describes the situation in Europe around the turn of the first millennium. Glaber mentions Mont-Saint-Michel in his third book in Part III. Despite its limitation, Glaber’s chronicle proves the popularity of Mont-Saint-Michel among pilgrims around the year one thousand. Surprisingly, he does not cite the cult of the Archangel or any other cult as the reason to visit the place, but rather the spectacle caused by tides. Glaber says: “Soon after the appearance of a comet in 989, the church of St Michael the Archangel was destroyed by fire; this church is built on a headland at the edge of the ocean, and it is universally venerated, even down to our days. In that place there is most certainly something to see, for as the moon waxes and wanes the tides of the Ocean ebb and flow with strange motion about the headland. When the tides are full flow they call them malinae, but when they are ebbing, ledones. Because of this spectacle the place is much visited by people from all over the world. Not far away is the little river Ardre, which after the fire flooded somewhat, making it impossible to cross. Those wishing to visit the church found their way barred, and so for a while this route was closed. Afterwards the river returned to its bed, leaving the bank deeply scored by its passage.”79

The influx of pilgrims from all over the world is noted in Mont-Saint-Michel’s hagiography of the eleventh century.80 The exorbitance of this statement is obvious, but the presence of pilgrims from various destinations, like the Apennine peninsula, Flanders, Bavaria and other German speaking provinces, can be proven by other written evidences.81 Notwithstanding, it can be presumed that majority of pilgrims came from the territory of modern France, as is testified by Abbot Richard († 1046) from Saint-Vanne in Verdun, who recalled his journey to pray at Mont- Saint-Michel in one of his sermons.82 A confirmation of the frequent pilgrim activity at Mont-Saint-Michel in the twelfth century can be found in the famous Codex Calixtinus (compiled in about 1138–1145). This account criticizes the behaviour of the pilgrims at Mont-Saint-Michel. The Codex Calixtinus includes St Michael among the saints who were aggrieved by the treatment of pilgrims. St Michael is on the

79 “Denique contigit in proximum ecclesiam beati Michahelis archangeli cremari incendio, que scilicet, constituta in quodam promuntorio litoris oceani maris, toto orbe nunc usque habetur uenerabilis. Nam et inibi certissimum conspicitur, uidelicet ex incremento atque decremento lunari, eundo ac redeundo processu mirabili in giro eis promuntorii reuma scilicet Oceani. Cuius etiam maris excrementum malinas uocant, decrementum quoque ledones numcupant; atque ob hoc maxime predictus locus a plurimis terrarum populis sepius frequentatur. Est etiam non longe a predicto promuntorio fluuiolus cognomento Arduus, qui post haec paululum excrescens, per aliquod temporis spacium intransmeabilis effectus, atque ad predictam ecclesiam ire uolentibus uiam plusimum impediens, aliquantisper eiusdem itineris obstaculum fuit. Postmodum uero in sese rediens profundissime litus suo cursu sulcatum reliquit.” Rodulfus Glaber Opera, pp. 111–113. 80 Miracula sancti Michaelis V/1: “concurrebant illuc innumerabilis (...) catervae; Miracula sancti Michaelis VII, 2: ad idem sancti Michaelis monasterium populositas paene confluebat terratum.” 81 On this material and sources see MUSSET, Recherches sur les pèlerins (1962), pp. 130–131. 82 “...ad montem S. Michaelis iter arripuit gratia orationis.” Richard de Saint-Vanne: Sermo de vita et miraculis beatissimi Vitoni. Ed. Herbert DAUPHIN: Le bienheureux Richard, abbé de Saint-Vanne de Verdun, Louvain/Paris, 1940, pp. 373–375, § 11.

29 list with St Leonard (Noblat), St Mary Magdalene (Vézélay), John the Baptist (St Jean d’Angély) and Bartholomew (Benevento).83 Pilgrims visited Mont-Saint-Michel primarily between May and November, in the period of the largest feasts. There is no written evidence of this, but if we take the extension of indulgences in the twelfth-century Europe, before they were regulated by the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215, into account, it is conceivable that indulgences were guaranteed on special days (feasts) the, therefore the majority of the pilgrims arrived on these days.84

THE PILGRIMS’ EXPECTATIONS

What can be said about the experience of those who accomplished the pilgrimage to Mont-Saint- Michel? First of all, it is necessary to remember that Michaeline sanctuaries in Western Europe formed a network, so to speak, of shrines with similar features. In those churches, people used to venerate the Archangel Michael. However, the position of the angels and archangels, nonhuman creatures, in western Christian worship is full of problems and paradoxes. They specifically do not to possess a physical body, thus they are condemned to have no corporeal relics. As described by Peter Brown in his classic book The Cult of the Saints, the power of corporeal relics lies in their tangibility – they could be discovered and transferred, and can testify the commonplace interaction among patrons (Saints) and their clients (faithful). Churches dedicated to the martyrs or saints claimed a physical link to their patron saint through their bones or contact relics. The real presence of corporeal relics is something that could not be given by nonhuman creatures, such as angels. This led to an overshadowing of the angelic cults in the late fourth century.85 For the same reason, angels cannot be commemorated in the liturgy as martyrs and confessors: they have no dies natalis or a place of martyrdom. Their presence in liturgical calendars was later provided by the addition of the dedication date of any shrines in their honour.86 The first sanctuary of the Archangel Michael in the West was founded at Monte Gargano in the fifth century. At least throughout the sixth century, the worship at Monte Gargano was concentrated on the place itself, and was connected with no cult of relics.87 Even today, the interior of the sanctuary at Monte Gargano is shaped in the form of a grotta. This feature spread, together with the Archangel Michael’s cult, all over Europe. Therefore, Michaeline sanctuaries are associated with the same appearance: they are always at the top of hills or in underground places, or combining both. Many examples can be found on the Apennine peninsula, such as San Nicandro Garganico and Cagnano Varano in Puglia, and Monte Maggiore and Olevano sul

83 Part of Book I of the Liber Sancti Jacobi, translated in The Miracles of St James, p. 44. 84 WEBB, Pilgrims and pilgrimage (1999), p. 64. 85 BROWN, The Cult of the Saints (1983), pp. 86–96. 86 CABIÉ, Les anges dans la liturgie (1997), p. 8. On the way in which Archangel Michael was incorporated into worship see: ARNOLD, The Footprints of Michael (2013). 87 CARLETTI, Il santuario del Gargano (2006), p. 34.

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Tusciano in Campania. Their presence, however, was not limited to the Apennine peninsula, and can be traced from end to end of the whole Christian West.88 In the mid-seventh century, the Longobards annexed the Michaeline sanctuary at Monte Gargano to their realm. The Archangel Michel was extremely popular among the Longobards in southern Italy: he was worshiped as their protector from when the Byzantine army was defeated in their campaign on the Gargano peninsula in 650. This episode launched the long-lasting relationship between Longobard rulers and the Archangel Michael’s cult in the Middle Ages.89 The sanctuary at Monte Gargano became an important pilgrimage location and the pilgrims came to venerate Michael as the protector of the Longobard army. The Gargano sanctuary was remodelled in the eighth century. The reconstruction emphasized the monumental entrance to the shrine and this feature become widely known among medieval pilgrims: the sacred stairways carved into stone, leading to a church hidden in the mountains.90 The popularity of the Archangel Michael in Western Europe increased around the year one thousand, together with the promise of the upcoming Apocalypse. The Archangel Michael was venerated as the guardian of the Christian people, and the master of heavenly forces in his celestial habitat, which made it necessary that his cult be on the top of hills or mountains.91 Even though there were relics of the Archangel Michael, they never appear in the pilgrimage narration before the year one thousand or in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, or at least are not performing miracles. The pilgrims’ attention is more concentrated on the various kinds of natural elements. The description of Monte Gargano by the already mentioned Bernardus, the ninth-century pilgrim, refers to Michael’s sanctuary as “sub uno lapide”.92 This motif often repeats itself in pilgrimage testimonies. Together with the other natural elements, it contributed to the creation of the typology of Michael’s settlements. The records of pilgrims visiting any Michaeline sanctuary, depict a strong connection between nature, sanctity and miracles. In pilgrimage narrations, a cave or mountain (or both), the therapeutic function of water or a forest, and natural elements (earthquakes, storms, lighting, thunder, tides...), are always present. In other words, the natural elements often accompany the manifestation of the divine in the pilgrimage narrations about Michael’s sanctuaries.93

The pilgrims varied greatly one from the other, but what remained the same was the aspect of movement: whether they arrived by foot, on a ship, or on a horseback, they shared the experience of approaching the Mountain relatively slowly. Moreover, they shared certain expectations about Michaeline sanctuaries in general and this one in particular. In his chronicle Rudolfus Glaber says that people visited Mont-Saint-Michel because of the phenomenon of tides. In Mont-Saint-

88 OTRANTO, Note sulla tipologia degli insediamenti micaelici (2007), pp. 385–415. On the spread and characteristic of Michaeline sanctuaries in the West see many studies in BOUET (ed), Culto e santuari (2006). 89 OTRANTO, I Longobardi e il santuario (2010), pp. 334–335. 90 On this notion see article by TOSCO, Architectura e vie di pellegrinaggio (2003). 91 CALLAHAN, The Cult of St Michael (2003). 92 “Inde progressi venius as montem Garganum, in quo est ecclesia sancti Michaelis sub uno lapide” PL 121, col. 574. 93 OTRANTO, Il pellegrinaggio micaelico (2009), pp. 127–135.

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Michel’s hagiography, Michael is master of natural forces. Therefore, pilgrims sought a specific kind of experience based on the manifestation of the Archangel Michael’s power and his presence at Mont-Saint-Michel. They expected to see the Mountain chosen by the Archangel and they searched for natural phenomena demonstrating his presence, like the tide. Therefore, if the conclusion of the previous chapter – that the relics of the Archangel Michael are not the centre of his cult in the hagiographical stories, is taken into account, the conclusion of this chapter moves us further in this regard. The pilgrims’ attention was not concentrated on his relics, because the presence of the Archangel was already discernible in the natural forces and settings.

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IV.

To see the Archangel Michael

Mont Tombe is located in the relatively flat region on the border of Normandy and Brittany. Except its sister tidal-island Tombelaine, there are no considerable hills in its vicinity (fig. 7). Therefore, Mont-Saint-Michel is the dominating element on the local landscape and is clearly visible from afar. In fair weather, the mountain could be seen from a distance of least 30 kilometres. The previous chapter indicated that the slow approach to the Mountain was a shared experience among all the pilgrims arriving at Mont-Saint-Michel, thus they probably saw the Mountain ahead of them one day before they reached it.94 The chapter also argued that the presence of the Archangel Michael in pilgrimage narrations was manifested via natural forces. This part reflects on the concrete examples of the Archangel’s manifestation on Mont-Saint- Michel. Turing back to the aspect of visibility from a distance, it should be remarked that this is reflected in Mont-Saint-Michel’s hagiography. The oldest legend from the ninth century remarks: “... when one looks from a distance, one sees nothing else than a tower of a nice dimension, or rather of nice appearance.”95 In the Roman du Mont Saint-Michel, written in the mid-twelfth century, the description of Tumba is based on the passage from Revelatio above saying: “those who see Mont from the distance consider that it is all rounded and that the church together with the abbey resemble a tower”.96 This natural characteristic encouraged the ritualization of the landscape around the Mount.97 The Roman du Mont Saint-Michel recounts monks arriving back from Monte Gargano. Reaching the church of Saint-Michel-de-Montjoie, near the chapel of Saint-Michel de Montain, they arrived around 30 kilometres from the Mont, at the very place from where Mont-Saint-Michel can be seen for the first time,98 “they had climbed from the top of a hill, they saw the Mountain and were filled with joy.”99 The visibility of the church was further enhanced because it was painted in a

94 On this notion see article by ROSENBERGOVA, Mont-Saint-Michel (forthcoming). 95 Revelatio III/1: “Procul vero cernentibus nil fore aliud quam spatiosa quaedam, immo speciosa, turris videtur.” 96 Le Roman du Mont Saint-Michel, v. 475–478: “Cil qui de loing veient le mont/ Le hesment estre tout roont/ Et que l’igliese tor ressemble/ Ou l’abeie tote ensemble.” 97 On the phenomenological approach to the landscape, monuments and their mutual communication with men see NORBERG-SCHULZ, Genius loci (1980). 98 On the concrete position of the churches see LABANDE, Les pèlerinages au Mont Saint-Michel (1971), p. 242. 99 Le Roman du Mont Saint-Michel, v. 715–716: “Desus un tertre sunt poié, Dont le mont veient, si sunt lié.“

33 white colour reflecting the sunshine.100 Most likely, pilgrims would have passed the church Saint- Michel-de-Montjoie when approaching Mont-Saint-Michel. In his verses, the author of the Roman du Mont Saint-Michel describes the place where the moment of the first sight was exalted. The first glimpse of the monument was significant for a pilgrim on the route, because he was used to orientating himself on the landscape with church towers.101 And they, like the monks of Mont- Saint-Michel, were filled with joy when they saw Mountain.

The church on Mont Tombe was visible from distance even at night. One of the legends recounts the story of Norgodus, the bishop of Avranches. One night, Norgodus saw Mont-Saint-Michel on fire and believed the entire church and abbey had been destroyed. The following morning, he went to Mont-Saint-Michel and met the Michaeline abbot in the middle of the shore. Mont-Saint- Michel’s abbot assured Norgodus that nothing odd had happened at the Mont that night. Therefore, Norgodus understood that the fire he had seen was nothing but the presence of Michael accompanied by the spirits of the blessed ones who used to visit the place at night.102 Indeed, the abbey church was strictly closed to pilgrims as well as to monks at night, because the night-time was reserved for the Archangel. He had chosen this place as his terrestrial residence in the West,103 and human fragility cannot endure the presence of the Archangel.104 The pilgrim who stayed over-night in the abbey church paid for it with his life, because he interfered with the secrets of a heavenly being. Before he died, however, he spoke of an indefinable light that flooded the church at midnight, and of the Archangel Michael with the Virgin Mary and St Peter, who revealed themselves and strolled in the church.105 It was also known that the Archangel Michael could miraculously appear at night of his feast, as happened in 1102. An anonymous chronicle says that, in the middle of the night at his Feast, the Archangel Michael was seen by many, because he appeared on the Mountain in the form of a burning column.106 The presence of the Archangel Michael was thus manifested by light and fire. This is not unusual. In the Bible, the Archangel Michael is typically described as flamma ignis (cf. Ex 3:2, Ps 28:7, Dn 3:22, Job 18:5, Apoc 1:14, 2:18). Moreover, in the sixth century at least, the light signified that the building was imbued with the divine presence. In the narration by Gregory of Tours, he approached a chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary at night in Marsat (in Gaul, near Clermont-

100 Ibidem, v. 739–742: “En sol le mont tot cleir pareit Cele igliese, que faite esteit: Defors esteit tote blanchie, vers le soleil molt reflambie.” 101 The research on this issue will be published in the book of Migrating Art Historians (in process of publication). 102 Miracula sancti Michaelis IV/4: “patener intellexerunt non aliud signasse ignem visum quam praesentiam beatorum spiritum eundem locum cum sancto Michaele invisentium.” 103 Ibidem VII/1: “quem isdem beatissimus princeps sibi providit in partibus occiduis.” 104 Ibidem II/2: “angelica ibidem praesentia quam nullo modo mortalis tolerare valeret fragilitas”. 105 Ibidem II/3: “ipsam ecclesiam inaesimabili lumine choruscare conspexit beatumque Michaelem, caelesti militiae principem, quasi deambulantem in circuitu sacrae aedis.” 106 „Anno MCII visus est a nonullis prope ac procul positis sanctus Michael archangelus, prout credimus, in figura columnae igneae, in nocte scilicet suae festivitatis, penetrasse ecclasiam hujus montis.“ Anonymous chronicle edited by Léopold DELISLE as appendix to his Chroniques de Robert de Torigni, vol. II, p. 233.

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Ferrand) and he “noted at a distance such a bright light shining through its windows that I thought many torches and candles were burning inside.” Upon entering, however, he could find “nothing from which that bright light had originated except the power of the glorious Virgin.”107 Christians used light effects to represent theophanic manifestations starting in Late Antiquity.108 The light was also meant to be seen by those who were outside the edifice. As proven by Vladimir Ivanovici, this was the case of baptisteries used for nocturnal rituals. Due to the presence of big windows with glass panels, light could radiate into the surroundings.109 Using glass windows was not an unknown practice in Europe around the year one thousand. In the Abbey of Fruttuaria (Piedmont), fragments were found of painted glass windows dated to the beginning of the eleventh century, to the period when the monastery was founded by William of Volpiano. The same situation is seen in the sanctuary of Saint-Benigne in Dijon: a glass window was discovered with depictions of St Paschasius’s martyrdom, which was very likely created under the supervision of the same William. In the same period, the presence of stained glass has been proven in the abbey of Farfa and also in Cluny, where most of the glass windows were made in grisaille.110 We can assume that under William of Volpiano, the suprevisor of the construction of the Romanesque church and the propagator of Cluniac Reforms in Normandy, the glass windows were installed at Mont-Saint-Michel as well. Unfortunately, we are not informed about the lighting equipment in the interior of Mont- Saint-Michel’s abbey church in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Instructions for liturgical practice at the end of the fourteenth century document a rounded lamp over the choir. The lamp carried 30 candles lit only for the major sacraments, otherwise only three, five or seven candles were used.111 While only a small amount of candles sufficed for some of the minor liturgies, at the time of the major ones, the light emitted by thirty candles had to have been rather strong. At the end of the fourteenth century, the original eleventh-century Romanesque choir still existed and so the lighting equipment probably could have been original. To prove this hypothesis beyond a doubt, however, is in the realm of dreams, due to the lack of sources. All the same, even if the fourteenth-century description did not capture the original lighting equipment, it probably did not differ significantly. When the lamps inside the interior of the church of Mont-Saint-Michel were lit, the glass windows let the light through. A person standing on the shore of the bay could see the windows of Mont-Saint-Michel clearly: the windows of the southern wing of the transept especially are undoubtedly visible from afar. Photography cannot record this aspect, but figure 5 depicts a view of Mont-Saint-Michel from the shore, where the windows are clearly visible. At night, the light could provide visibility even from further distances (fig. 6) and therefore the light from the Mont

107 Gregory of Tours De gloria beatorum martyrum 1.8, translated by van DAM: Gregory of Tours (1988), p. 29; PL 71.713C-4A. I am grateful to Vladimir Ivanovici to indicate me this source. 108 On this see for example IVANOVICI, Manipulating theophany (2016), pp. 23–37. 109 IVANOVICI, Reuniting the waters (forthcoming). 110 DELL'ACQUA, Illuminando colorat (2003), p. 69. 111 LEMARIE, La vie liturgique (1967), pp. 316.

35 could be seen, for instance, in Avranches, as the legend about Bishop Norgodus indicates. As the version of the same legend recorded in the mid-twelfth century in the Roman du Mont Saint- Michel testifies, this phenomenon was certainly perceived by pilgrims. It tells of pilgrims waiting along the routes to Mont-Saint-Michel hoping to see the Archangel Michael appear at the Mont in the form of light:

“He realized the flame he had seen was nothing else than Saint Michael with his companions visiting the Mountain, his church and his home. The other night, he certainly descended among his people. The bright light clearly indicates he brought with himself many angels. Since that night, he has descended many other times, and there are still living those, who clearly saw him. There passes not a year without anyone seeing him coming into his church from the heaven, like a torch surrounded by the flame. That night on the way to the Mont, there we would find a number of pilgrims, all watching and waiting in a case they would see Saint Michael descending the heaven. My God, how pleased are those who can see the light!”112

The Archangel’s presence in the closed church was shown via another sense: hearing. Legend X in the Miracula sancti Michaelis tells of the angelic concert often possible to hear in the abbey church. The miracle describes the experience of a monk, who sat down by the church entrance. Soon after, he heard a beautiful song, with the interior of the church resonant with three harmonious voices (acsi infra ecclesiam trium haud dissonum vocum resonaret concentus). He came closer to the door and listened to the extremely nice sound of Kyrie eleison.113 Likewise, the presence of the Archangel Michael was incorporated into the phenomenon of tides controlled by him. Miracle VII tells about a woman giving birth during high tide, thanks to the grace of Michael. A ninth-century record tells us that the Archangel Michael holds the sea to provide all people unlimited access to his sanctuary on his feast day.114

THE ARCHANGEL’S PRESENCE

In the paragraph above, I argued that the Archangel Michael manifested himself at Mont-Saint- Michel as light, music and power over the tides. Therefore, his presence was not mainly provided through his relics, as is common in cases of the Saints. In fact, the connection of the archangels and angels between the world and heaven was based on the theological concept of the Christian

112 Le Roman du Mont Saint-Michel, v. 2999–3022. “Idunc se sunt aperceü / Que icels feus que unt veü/ nule altre chose esté nen a/ Fors seint Michiel qui vista,/ Il et si altre compaignon,/ Le mont, s’igliese, et sa mesion./ A cele nuit veraiement/ Ert descendu entre sa gent:/ Bien demostrout la grant clarté/ que molt out angres amené./ A cele nuit i est venuz/ Mainte feiz puis et descenduz,/ Si que encor vivent la gent/ Qui l’unt veü apertement. N’est gaires an veü ne seit/ A son mostier venir tot dreit/ Devers le ciel, cum un brandon/ Qui est espris tot environ. Icele nuit, par ces chemins, Trovereit l’en molt pelerins/ Qui trestuit veillent por atendre/ Se seint Michiel vesront descendere. Dex, tant par est beneüré/ Qui poit veier cele clarté.” 113 Miracula sancti Michaelis X/2 „Qui confestim, hoc audito, festinus surrexit et appropians ecclesiae januis non parvo horae spatio easdem voces Kyrie eleyson quam dulcissime cantantes auribus hausit.“ 114 Bernardus monachus itinerarium, PL 121, cols. 569–574 (exp. 574). „In festivitate autem sancti Michaelis non conjungitur mare in redundando in circuitu illius montis, sed stat instar murorum a dextris et a sinistris.“

36 angelic hierarchy. An angelology was a highly developed theological question cultivated in intellectual circles. Since St Augustin’s definition of angles in his commentary on Genesis115 the main role served by angelic beings was to praise the glory of God, control nations, natural elements and individual persons and announce the grace of God. Beginning in Late Antiquity, angels were invoked in the liturgy as those who transmitted God’s power.116 Later, Gregory the Great developed this idea further, but in this regard a work by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, De caelesti hierarchia, was more influential, which appeared in the West in the ninth century.117 Pseudo-Dionysius’ interpretation understands the (arch)angels as mediators between mankind and God. Of all the beings in heaven, the Archangels are in closest touch with the terrestrial world, and represent messengers transmitting God’s revelation.118 Pseudo-Dionysius’ ideas were known and developed in the intellectual environment of the monastic community at Mont-Saint-Michel. The manuscript ABM 211 (f. 150–209), composed at the end of the tenth or beginning of the eleventh century, contains the liturgical readings used on the main feasts of the Michaeline sanctuary. It consists of two important texts on St Michael’s cult in the West: the Apparitio of the Archangel at Monte Gargano and his Revelatio at Mont Tombe. The first part of the reading contains the Memoriam beati Michaelis archangeli (in ms. 211 fols. 156–161) divided into 7 lectures, and 4 texts relating to the cult of angels: the passage from the evangel of Mathias Accesserunt discipuli ad Iesum (18, 1–10), Claude de Turin’s sermon of on the first verses of this evangel, one homily attributed to Beda Venerabilis on a passage from the Apocalypse: Factum est magnum proelium in caelo (12, 7), a part of homily 34 of Gregory the Great consecrated to the celestial world, and finally the text of Pseudo-Dionysius Areopagite De caelesti hiearchia.119 The second group of texts begins with the Revelatio ecclesiae sancti Michaelis archangeli and is divided into eight lectures followed by five homilies. The first three are attributed to Beda Venerabilis. The first one is his comment on a passage from the evangel of Luke (6, 43–44) Non est arbor bona quae facit fructus malos and is followed by a comment on the evangel of John 10, a meditation on the Temple of Jerusalem, finished by the text about Zacchaeus, which symbolises faithful people. The last two homilies are attributed to St Augustine.120 The survival of the Pseudo-Dionysius’ concept of the Angelology as described in De caelesti hiearchia at Mont-Saint-Michel in the studied centuries, can be proven by the ms. 49 in ABM,121

115 On the Augustine Commentaries of Genesis and the definition of the angles see: CHAFFEY, An Examination of Augustine’s Commentaries (2011), pp. 89–101.

116 CABIÉ, Les anges dans la liturgie (1997), p. 8. 117 BLACHE, La Hiérarchie céleste (1997), pp. 261–264. 118 On the commentary to De caelesti hierarchia see Dionysios Areopagita: O nebeské hiearchii. Translation and commentary Martin KOUDELKA. Praha 2009. Cfr. on the role of the angels in Late Antiquity and the Early Medieval period FOLETTI, Poslové, prostředníci a ochránci (2016). 119 BOUET, La Reuelatio (2003), pp. 69–70. 120 Ibidem, pp. 69–70. 121 The manuscript was produced in the third quarter of the twelfth century. Accessible on-line at: http://bvmm.irht.cnrs.fr/resultRecherche/resultRecherche.php?COMPOSITION_ID=11390 (18. 10. 2017)

37 containing a commentary by Hugo of Saint Victor, Expositio in Dionysii Aeropagitae Hierarchiam Caelestem (Commentary on the Celestial Hierarchy), which is a modern theological reflection on Pseudo-Dionysius work perhaps begun around 1125.122

In other words, in the theological concept of the Angelology, the Archangel Michael was the mediator between God and mankind. He chose Mont Tombe as the place of his terrestrial residence, where he manifested his presence and transferred God’s grace. It was possible to see the Archangel as light, it was possible to hear him as music and it was possible to see his power in the tides. And lastly, the whole Mountain was a testament of his presence. For that reason, those who climbed a hill and saw the Mountain were filled with joy, because they saw the Archangel Michael.

122 Hugh of St Victor: In Hierarchiam Caelestem S. Dionysii Aeropagitae secundum interpretationem Joannis Scoti, Libri X, PL 175, cols. 923–1154.

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V.

Sacred Terrain

Whether implicitly or explicitly, medieval hagiography often describes the landscape in terms of a centre and its periphery, and Mont-Saint-Michel’s legends are no exception. The legends describe the monastery site as the sacred centre, as a prefiguration of heavenly Paradise. It can often be observed that the abbey is seen as the central, symbolic, focal point, around which the world is created. Thus, it creates topographies describing the abbey as the centre to which the periphery is subjugated.123 In the so called Laudatio Normanniae,124 the overture to Introductio Monachorum, the author describes Normandy as a chosen region. The description is so appealing that it deserves a little space here:

Normandy has “abundance of all resources, but it also provides the neighbouring provinces with substantial contributions. Indeed, the healthiness of the air, the fertility of rich soil, the fruitfulness of the vines, the charm of the forests, the gentleness of the woods and the roads, the pleasantness of the gardens and the beneficial plantations, the abundance of materials of all kinds, the diversity of wild and domestic animals, the multitude of birds of every species, the great profusion of saltwater and freshwater fish, the permanent circulation of ships and all commodities, the notoriety of illustrious cities, the great number of prestigious monasteries, the crowd of remarkable men and knights full of boldness, as evidenced by the military conquests made at various times of the country of Maine, the kingdoms of England, Campania, Apulia, Calabria, Sicily, and several other regions; and lastly, all the other advantages beneficial to the life of man constitute, it is an acknowledged fact, a manifest superiority of Normandy over all the nearby provinces.”125

123 HOWE, Creating Symbolic Landscapes (2002) pp. 211–212. 124 Laudatio Normaniae is a modern title given to the text by Eugène de Robillard de BEAUREPAIRE when he edited the text in 1878. 125 Introductio monachorum, I/1. “Namque aeris salubritate, optimae telluris ubertate, vinearum fertilitate, silvarum delectabilitate, nemorum fructiferarumque arborum apricitate, hortorum salubriumque herbarum amoenitate, metallorum quorumque congerie, silvestrium domesticarumque bestiarum multiplicitate, avium cujusque generis multitudine, piscium marinorum dulciumque aquarum copiosa effusione, navium cunctarumque mercium assidutate, clarissimarum urbium dignitate, nobilium coenobiorum numerositate, illustrium virorum animosissimorumque militum populositate, ut testimonio sunt Cenomannicus pagus, Anglica regna, Campania, Apulia, Calabria, Sicilia aliaque plura ab eis armis adquisita diversis temporibus, cunctis ad postremum commodis humanae vitae omni suae vicinitati noscitur longe praestare.”

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The author goes on to say that all this splendour, illuminating the entire West, is due to the presence of Michael’s relics on Mont Tombe, attracting people from all over the world.126 The visibility of the Mountain from a distance probably supported the idea of its control over the whole region. As argued above, the whole Mountain signifies the presence of the Archangel Michael. This notion reinforced the sanctity of the Mountain’s terrain – it was perceived as sacred in the eleventh century at the least.127 Two legends in the De miraculis in Monte Sancti Michaelis patratis indicate that small pieces of the stone were treated as relics. Lecture V (De muliere quae in monasterium sancti Michaelis nequibat ascendere) recounts the story of a man who arrived at Mont-Saint-Michel and asked the monks to be given a small stone (minimum lapidem) from the Mountain. Once back home, he placed the stone into an altar and dedicated this edifice to St Michael (lapidem ponens in altare pro reliquiis eandem basilicam in honore sancti Michaelis solemniter dedicari fecit). When he died, his wife and children ignored this church. Subsequently, she wished to make a pilgrimage to Mont-Saint-Michel, but she was prevented from doing so by a great pain. She understood her crime and went back home to start taking care of the church, in which the stone from Mont-Saint-Michel was placed in the altar.128 This account is immediately followed by another story (Lecture VI, De peregrine qui injussus lapidem de eodem loco detulit) regarding the miraculous power of the stones taken from the Mountain. A man seeking healing went to Mont-Saint-Michel. Without permission, he took a stone as a relic (alterum lapidem absque cujusque licentia secum detulit pro benedictione129) and, once back home, placed it on the altar of a local church (in quodam altari130 (…) recondidit). As a consequence he got even more sick. To get his health back, he had to return the stone to Mont- Saint-Michel. After doing so, he recovered and was given by the monks the stone to put it into the altar of the church he was obliged to found in honour of the Archangel.131

Bringing back mementos of holy travels was a wide-spread practise, starting with such early examples as the Pilgrim’s box from the Sancta Sanctorum or the ampullaes preserved in the Monza Cathedral treasury.132 Richard of St Vannes, abbot of Grace-Dieu in Normandy, who led a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1026–1027, was given a bag full of relics by the patriarch of Jerusalem and came back “laden with relics gathered at Jerusalem and everywhere round

126 Introductio monachorum, I/2: “Et cum omnibus, ut dictum est, vitae emolumentis ceteras praecellat, universo tamen occidenti in hoc longe supermicat, quod infra se, in monte qui dicitur Tumba, beati Michalis continet patrocinia.” 127 On the question of the Michaeline miraculous stones on the West see DONKIN, Stones of St Michel (2014), pp. 23– 31. 128 Miracula sancti Michaelis/V. De muliere quae in monasterium sancti Michaelis nequibat ascendere. 129 The Latin term benedictione stands here as a synonym to pignora or reliquiae. In: Chroniques latines, (2009), p. 320, n. 45. 130 This expression also can signify placement into an altar, but when compared with an expression the author used for putting into an altar (reposuisse in altare), here it probably means that the stone was simply placed on the altar as a visible relic. In: Chroniques latines, (2009), p. 320, n. 46. 131 Miracula sancti Michaelis/VI. De peregrine qui injussus lapidem de eodem loco detulit. 132 On the ampullae in the context of pilgrimage see article by FILIPOVÁ, The Memory of Monza's Holy Land Ampullae (2014), pp. 10–25, sp. pp. 12–17.

40 about”.133 Despite the popularity of this practice, it had disappeared from Mont-Saint-Michel by the middle of the twelfth century. The Roman du Mont Saint-Michel (mid-twelfth century) criticizes the pilgrim who took the stone as a relic. The story of the man who asked the monks for a small stone to put into the altar of a newly dedicated church of Saint Michael recounts: “I think, if he had a better relic than a small stone which was of no value and very small, he would certainly not put it into the altar.”134 The eleventh century record of this miracle (Miracula sancti Michaelis/V), nevertheless, does not include any negative reference to the small stone-relic. The second miracle referring to the miraculous power of the stones, about the pilgrim who took the stone without authorisation (Miracula sancti Michaelis/VI), is not listed at all in the Roman du Mont Saint-Michel. It implies that a crucial change happened in a relatively short time of circa 70 years – the stones, previously treated as relics and distributed by the monks themselves, were said to be of no value in the mid- twelfth century.

THE CARTULARY AND ROMAN OF MONT-SAINT-MICHEL

To understand this crucial change, we have at our disposal two writings compiled in the period of the mid-twelfth century. The first one is the Cartulaire du Mont-Saint-Michel, conserved in the ABM under number 210. The manuscript consists of several writings. The Cartulary itself can be found on folios 5r–112r, and is followed by a register of acta produced in the first five years of the abbacy of Robert de Torigni (1155–1159) on folios 112v–118r. It is finished by several documentary materials from Robert’s abbacy, as well as later documents from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The manuscript was bound to its current state in the seventeenth century.135 The folio 4v, which was most probably meant as an original frontispiece, is illustrated with a depiction of St Autbert’s Vision (fig. 8). Other major drawings in ink can be found on folios 19v, 23v and 25v (Figs 9, 10, 11). The cartulary is unfinished, and evaluating the vacant space, there at least seven other drawings was indented. For this reason, it is assumed that the manuscript was abandoned.136

133 Vita Richardi Abb. S. Vitoni Virdunensis, MGH SS 11, p. 289. Cited in: WEBB, Pilgrims and pilgrimage (1999), p. 35, n. 51. 134 “Se Reliques meillors eüst/ Au mien espeir, neient ne fust/ en l’autel mise la pierrete/ qui esteit vile et petitete.” In: Le Roman du Mont Saint-Michel, v. 3075–3077. 135 KEATS-ROHAN, Bibliotheque municipale d'Avranches (2000), pp. 95–112. 136 The dating of this manuscript was a question asked by many scholars. The common consensus agrees it was compiled in between 1149–1155, probably on the order of the Abbot Geoffroy (1149–1150) or at the beginning of the abbacy of Robert de Torigni (elected 1154). On the discusion see for instance KEATS-ROHAN, Bibliotheque municipale d'Avranches (2000), pp. 95–112 — Cartulaire du Mont Saint-Michel. Fac-similé du manuscrit 210 de la bibliothèque municipale d’Avranches, Paris 2005 — The Cartulary of the Abbey of Mont-Saint-Michel, Donington 2006, pp. 9–26. According to Monique Dosdat’s opinion the cartulary was made in the earliest year of the Robert’s abbacy by a work of a single scribe and two illuminators, probably laymen (DOSAT, L’enluminure romane (1991), pp. 72–81). Katharine Keates-Rohan offers an opinion that the Cartulaire was commissioned by one of the Robert’s predecessors during the abbey’s uneasy period when it struggled with the ducal authorities. She suggests the cartulary was ordered by Abbot Bernard de Bec, as part of restoration of the abbey, and the works continued under his successor Geoffrey,

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In general, cartularies represent very meaningful material to identify the characteristics of historical narration in a certain period. They were not only an attempt to conserve material in the abbey’s archive and record the abbey’s property, but the authors of cartularies were consciously arranging testimonies to create consistent work fulfilling various demands. One of the purposes was to organize the monks’ collective memory on the history of the abbey. The twelfth and thirteenth centuries represent the golden era of cartularies, thus the Mont cartulary is not an exceptional example of this kind of writing.137 The first folios (5r–16v) of Cartulaire du Mont-Saint-Michel contain a version of Historia narrating the abbey’s history. It begins with the text of the Revelatio, followed by the Introductio monachorum, describing the arrival of the reforming Benedictine monks at the abbey. This introduction is essential to the whole writing – it announces the programme and purpose of the cartularist. The Revelatio emphasizes the celestial origins of the abbey’s foundation – so it could not submit to any terrestrial authority. These points are emphasized in three finished drawings, which each show members of the Norman ducal family in positions that are firmly subordinate to the Mont’s celestial masters (fig. 9). The Introductio, meanwhile, emphasizes that the community is Benedictine, therefore subject to the Rule of St Benedict, which requires in its sixty- fourth chapter, that an abbot should be elected by the community he is to rule. All these arguments lead to the conclusion that the abbey community’s specific purpose in creating the cartulary was to defend its right to elect its own abbot. The manuscript contains famous illuminated drawings. The illumination of St Autbert’s Vision (fig 8), the original frontispiece, shows the Archangel Michael touching the head of Bishop Autbert with his finger. This illustration is followed by the text of the Revelatio. The Cartulary’s version follows the older records of the Revelatio, except in the part where the description of Autbert’s vision appears: “meanwhile, the venerable bishop was pushed (pulsatur) sharply for the third time“ the phrase „as is testified even today by a circle hole which can be seen in the bishop’s head“ is added“.138 The part of this phrase about the hole in the bishop’s head suggests that the Archangel Michael had a real, physical body, because he had the strength to leave a concrete hole in the skull. This illumination varies from the iconographical tradition of Autbert’s visions, which used to appear as the frontispiece. The manuscript 50 in ABM folio 1r (c. 980–1000)139 (fig. 12) and ABM ms. 76 folio 1r (c. 1040–1055)140 (fig. 13), which were both frontispieces, show the type of

who was closely associated to previous abbot. After his death, the manuscript was abandoned (it would mean the manuscript was undertaken in between 1149–1150). 137 BOUCHARD, Rewriting Saints (2015), pp. 9–37. 138 Revelatio, IV/2 in ms. ABM 210. “Interea tertia admonitione venerandus episcopus pulsatur austerius apparente in ejusdem presulis capite usque in hodiernum diem in testimonio foramine.” 139 Accessible on: http://bvmm.irht.cnrs.fr/resultRecherche/resultRecherche.php?COMPOSITION_ID=17069 (17. 11. 2017) 140 Accessible on: http://bvmm.irht.cnrs.fr/resultRecherche/resultRecherche.php?COMPOSITION_ID=17073 (17. 11. 2017)

42 iconographic tradition, in which no physical contact between the Archangel and Bishop Autbert is made.

The second source composed at Mont-Saint-Michel in the mid-twelfth century is called Roman du Mont Saint-Michel. It was written by Guillaume de Saint-Pair in all probability at the beginning of the abbacy of Robert de Torigni (1154–1186).141 The proclaimed goal of the author was to transfer the important writings – which narrate the origins and the history of the sanctuary at Mont Tombe and the miracles performed there – from Latin to French, in order for pilgrims, uneducated in Latin, to understand the stories. The book is divided into three parts. The first deals with the stories of Revelatio, while the second follows the text of Introductio monachorum and especially highlights the points concerning the relationship between the monks and the lay authorities, the dukes of Normandy. The last book consists of the narration of miracles. The first two books are structured similarly to the Cartulaire du Mont-Saint-Michel compiled in approximately the same period. Book III is based on the other manuscripts recording the miracles, although one miracle is new and cannot be found in the older manuscripts.142 In most cases, Guillaume is accurate to the original Latin version of the texts. There can be found, however, a numbers of deviations, which represent significant matter for research. One of them concerns the arrival of the Benedictine monks (v. 1787–1854). A profound explanation of the political situation behind this act is added: Richard I of Normandy, unhappy about the bad morality of the canons at Mont-Saint-Michel, replaced the canons with the Benedictines monks after consulting with the archbishop of Rouen, the king of France (Lothaire, 954–986), and the Pope (John XIII, 965–972) about this intervention.143 Cathrine Bougy sees in Book II of the Roman attempt of monks to protect their rights against the nobility.144 The Roman describes Bishop Autbert as a man with a very holy life (qui molt esteit de seinte vie)145. Compared to the Revelatio, a shift of meaning can be observed: in the Revelatio, Autbert is said to be a very pious man and beloved by God (religiosissimus et Deo amabilis)146. Whereas the author of the Roman always calls him the “saint” Autbert (seint). It was indicated in the previous chapters that Autbert, the legendary founder of Mont-Saint- Michel, was held in a high regard by the monastic community and his cult was crucial for their devotional practices. The Roman integrates Autbert also into pilgrimage devotion. At the end of Book I, in which the author describes the origins of the sanctuary according to the Revelatio, another story depicting the death and burial of St Autbert, and the miracles performed by him

141 This manuscript was recently published in a critical edition by Catherine BOUGY as Guillaume de Saint-Pair: Le Roman du Mont Saint-Michel (XIIe siècle) in Caen 2009. The name of this overture is a modern title invented by Francisque MICHEL in 1853 when published the manuscript. 142 Introduction to this problematic with further bibliography could be find in Le Roman du Mont Saint-Michel (2009), pp. 9–109. 143 BOUGY, Comment lisait-on une lettre au Moyen Âge (2003), p. 3. 144 Ibidem, pp. 1–11. 145 Le Roman du Mont Saint Michel, v. 32 146 Revelatio IV/1, p. 95

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(v. 1173–1378) is added. Guillaume stressed the Bishop’s significance for people and goes on to say: “he was the father of orphans (peire as orfenins), and is still today the host of the pilgrims (Si rest ostes as pelerins)“ (v. 1275, 1276). When he died, his body was carried from the village to Mont-Saint-Michel, followed by a crowd. He was buried in the abbey church in the choir under the altar, which was an expression of deep respect. Consequently, miracles started to happen and the canons, witnessing numerous miracles, decided to move Autbert’s body into a reliquary. They enclosed his body in a casket (chasse) covered with silver and a lot of gold (ou argent out et d’or grant masse), except for his head and right arm, because these were carried in processions (por porter as processions) and the head with the hole (le pertus qu’ert en la teste) was shown to nobles arriving for solemn feasts. When Autbert’s reliquary was done, the casket was placed in St Michael – and was laid on the altar (A seint Michiel en fut portez: Desus l’autel la chasse ont mise).147 Guillaume de Saint-Pair here leaves us a bit of information regarding the cult of Autbert in the mid-twelfth century. As pointed out by Cathrine Bougy, Guillaume very probably inscribed into this narration his personal experience with a similar kind of ceremonies as those portrayed. Moreover, the inclusion of the additional Autbert story indicates the high importance of the legendary founder in this period and his promotion among the pilgrims. We are aware that there were (at least) three reliquaries containing Aubert’s remains: the reliquary of his head, his right arm, and the reliquary with his bones. These reliquaries were carried in processions – it maybe would not be too daring to suggest that Guillaume’s narration is an echo of a real procession held on the day of Autbert’s feast, from Avranches to Mont Saint Michel, to commemorate Autbert’s death and burial.

THE VICTORY OF STATUES

In Roman du Mont Saint-Michel, one new miracle appears, which is not included in other books.148 This miracle recounts the courtesy of Saint Michael. At Mont-Saint-Michel, there used to be a habit of placing three candles in front of the image of the Archangel Michael at the main altar. However, one day, the candles were miraculously relocated in front of the crucifixion. When the church guard tried to put the candles back, they changed place once more and appeared again in front of le sent image Damledé (v. 4045–4046). This situation was subsequently discussed at the monks’ collegium. An old monk explained to his brothers that this behaviour was the act of Saint Michael, who wished to warn the monks and remedy their error, because they denied Christ worship. In this miracle, Catharine Bougy sees the intention of the community to defend itself against accusations of idolatry. It her view, this scene transmits the message that

147 The last sentence is not clear, because there is no certainty if a seint Michiel refers to the church or to the Archangel. In her commentary Bougy suggests that the preposition a ties up rather with a person, but it also could be an intentional ambiguity. See Le Roman du Mont Saint-Michel, p. 176, n. 213. 148 Le Roman du Mont Saint-Michel, v. 3997–3998: “Un miracle veul reciter Que en livre ne puis trover.” The whole story v. 3995–4105.

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Michael is a messenger of God, his intercessor. This image of Michael, as messenger of God, is accompanied with his second face, as an attendant in Paradise.149 In this legend, the church’s interior is described:

“Following the old tradition, there were always three candles in front of the main altar of the Mont. You can still see two of them: one in front of the face of Saint Gabriel, Saint Rafael has his own on the other side, and they burn all day and night long. In front of the image of Saint Michael, there is no lighting...”150

Firstly, it is important to explain some of the terms used. The old French world vout or volut, in the expression “in front of the face” (devant le vout), comes from the Latin vultus in the religious context meaning to designate the face of the Lord or the Saints. The term imagro, the expression used referring to the Archangel Michael, comes from the Latin imago meaning statue, moulded or sculptured figure.151 In fact, in Latin, the term imago could signify sculpture as well as painting. Thus, we cannot say for sure that the usage of imagro here means a sculpture. What could be said for sure, however, is that the imago of Michael differentiated from the vout of Gabriel and Rafael. Therefore, it is presumable that the usage of the dissimilar words signals the usage of different techniques: the sculpture and painting. The interior described in the verses from the Roman du Mont Saint-Michel is pictured in the illumination in ABM, ms. 210, f. 25v (fig. 11). The illumination is framed with stylized architecture indicating that the scenes take place inside a building. The depiction is divided into three registers. The upper one shows three lit candles. In the middle and lower sections, a depiction of the Archangel Michael is positioned on a piece of furniture covered with a veil. The three candles symbolise that the scene takes place in front of the main altar, where the imagro of Saint Michael is positioned.

Simultaneously, another miraculous statue appeared in the Mont-Saint-Michel bay. In 1137, the second tidal island was transformed into a priory, with a church dedicated to the Virgin Mary.152 The presence of Mary sanctuaries or altars in or near the churches of St Michael was wide spread in Europe.153 From the eleventh century on, Marian relics began to multiply exponentially in Europe, creating a denser and denser network of pilgrimage shrines. Church dedications to the

149 BOUET – BOUGY, Les représentations du Mont (2011), pp. 31–37. 150 Roman du Mont Saint-Michel, v. 4005–4014: “Ancienne costume esteit/ Que treis cierges tozdis aveit/Devant le mestre autel du mont/ Encor veiez, li dui i sunt/ Devant le vout saint Gabriel/ En est li uns, saint Raphael/ En a le suen de l’autre part/ Et nuit et jor checun d’eus art./ Devant l’imagre saint Michael/ n’a lumiere...” The legend further explains why there is not anymore lighting in front of the Michael’s representation. 151 WARTBURG: Französisches Etymologishes Wörterbuch, vol. IV, p. 564 b. Cited in n. 208 and 209 in Le Roman du Mont Saint-Michel, p. 302. 152 For a history of Notre-Dame de Tombelaine and several examples of pilgrims’ badges attributed to the shrine, see GOUT, Le Mont Saint-Michel (1910), vol. I, pp. 71–80. 153 BONNERY, Les sanctuaires associés (1997), pp. 11–19.

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Virgin Mary increased rapidly from the twelfth century on, due in part to her importance among the Cluniac and Cistercian monastic orders. In this period, annual processions began to appear.154 A Marian sculpture was at the heart of devotion at Tombelaine. The first hagiographical stories about the miraculous statue of the Virgin at Tombelaine appear around this date.155 Before long, the place became a pilgrimage shrine, testified by preserved pilgrimage badges with depictions of the Virgin Mary of Tombelaine.156 In fact, the cult of Mary and Michael coexisted: there are several surviving badges with the depictions of both saints, Mary and Michael, using typical iconography157 – the Archangel Michael weighs the souls of sinners and the Virgin Mary balances the scales with her rosary.158

In the mid-twelfth century, therefore, the presence of miraculous statues at Mont-Saint-Michel can be traced. The physical presence of the Archangel Michael, prefigured by the skull of the Autbert with the hole left there by the Archangel, was more and more real. It seems that the new concentration around the miraculous sculptures and their materiality left no space for the power of the old type of relics, such as stones. Moreover, besides the miraculous stones, the Roman du Mont-Saint-Michel does not include the stories about hearing of the angel’s choir from the church and the death of the pilgrim, who was sentenced to die because he spent the night in the church and saw the presence of the Archangel Michael. The mid-twelfth century witnessed a key modification in the manifestation of the Archangel’s presence – it was no longer provided by natural forces, light, music and by the sight of the Mountain itself, but by his sculpture. This coincides with the massive turn to “materiality”, which flooded Western Europe between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries and gave rise to the massive popularity of holy images.159 In some cases, the admiration for images endangered the devotion to the relics themselves.160 Therefore, the presence of statues and images reduced the devotion towards the non-material manifestations of the Archangel Michael, which contributed to, granting the holiness to the whole Mountain. Thus, it also eliminated the devotion to stone-relics as mementos of the holy ground. Later on, the process was completed when the main altar was newly dedicated to St Andrew and All Saints and the altar of St Michael was moved into the main nave to be more accessible and visible to all.161 The sculptures also started to control the region around the Mont, because they were carried in the processions all around. The Archangel Michael started to perform healing miracles from the mid-twelfth century and their number increased rapidly during the later

154 Virgin Mary, Cult of. In: Encyclopaedia of Medieval Pilgrimage (2010), pp. 799–802. 155 For a list of the several collections in which this story appears see Evelyn Faye WILSON’s introduction to The “stella maris” of John of Garland, p. 75. 156 WEBB, Medieval European Pilgrimage (2002), p. 150. 157 LAMY-LASALLE, Les enseignes de pèlerinage (1971), pl. XXX, nos. 1, 4, 5, and 6. 158 On the history of this iconography see TURCAT, Un thème iconographique (1996), pp. 227–233. 159 VAUCHEZ, Sainthood (2005) pp. 446–450. 160 On the place of images in later medieval Christian practice DUFFY, The stripping of the altars (1992). Duffy asserts that, at least in the case of England: “(although) early medieval devotion to the saints was focused on their relics, late medieval devotion focused on images.” (p. 67). Quoted in SMITH, An angel’s power (2003), pp. 358. 161 ABM, ms. 159, fol. 237. Cited in: LEMARIE, La vie liturgique (1967), pp. 317.

46 period of the Middle Ages.162 The other aspects of the Archangel’s presence seem to slowly fade away, so at the beginning of the fourteenth century, one of the inhabitants of Normandy said: “people must be fools to go and pray to Saint Michael there, because there is nothing of him there but a monastery and a great silver image”.163

162 On this see table of BOUET, Les formes de devotion (2009), pp. 82-84. 163 “D’aler Saint Michiel aourer/ Quar i n’i a de li noient:/ Il n’i a riens que un moustier/ Et un grant ymage d’argent.” In: Recueil général et complet des fabliaux des XIIIe et XIVe siècles, Geneva 1973, vol II, pp. 173.

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Conclusion

The central subject of this thesis has been the eleventh and twelfth-century Mont-Saint-Michel in the perception of pilgrims. The foundation legend was settled as the cornerstone, because it was very present in the writings produced at Mont-Saint-Michel and in the devotion of the period studied. The legend was composed around the year 820, so before the Benedictine community inhabited the Mountain and replaced the former community of canons. The Benedictines effectively appropriated the older hagiography and it became used in their monastic life at the Mont. The legend brought three key themes to light: the Archangel Michael chose Mont Tombe as the place for his veneration, he revealed himself to Bishop Autbert to communicate this decision, and Bishop Autbert constructed the church. This legend was so important that it was taken into consideration when the new monumental Romanesque church was erected. Under the main nave, a lower church was created, which was believed to be the original sanctuary constructed by Bishop Autbert. Most of all, the official hagiographical discourse and other writings produced at Mont-Saint- Michel mirror the needs and demands of the community. In the eleventh century, the key issue seemed to be the necessity for a local saint for the internal functioning of the monastery and its devotional practice. Bishop Autbert was highly appreciated in eleventh-century hagiography, and his figure here is more emphasized in comparison to the hagiography of the ninth century. Furthermore, his own hagiographical story was composed. The Benedictines, in order to establish the cult of the founder and possess a body for devotional practices, appropriated Autbert through the miraculous finding of his body and its translatio into the abbey’s church. Moreover, a hole was found in Autbert’s skull, interpreted as the fingerprint of the Archangel Michael, when he revealed himself to Autbert in the visions. The head and the right arm were kept as separate relics in the abbey church. Autbert’s body was placed under the altar in the transept. All these aspects, the head- and the arm-reliquary and the elevation of his body into the church are typically associated with bishop saints. On the feast commemorating Autbert’s translatio, he was invoked as the community predecessor having virtues. The “profile” of the Archangel Michael was noticeably different. First of all, there were no corporeal relics of him. Until the mid-twelfth century, he did not perform healing miracles. In the eleventh-century hagiography Miracula sancti Michaelis, the Archangel often acts in a terrible, ruthless way and his omnipotence was manifested via the control over all natural powers: fire, light, water and sea. It seems that the presence of the elements was more significant for the pilgrims than the possibility to venerate the relics. The most famous sanctuary of the Archangel was at Monte Gargano, but there was a whole network of Michaeline sanctuaries. These sanctuaries were connected by the similar features: on top of hills or in underground

49 places (usually combining both) – the important aspect was ascent (the physical activity) of those arriving to venerate the Archangel Michael. Moreover, natural elements (earthquakes, storms, lighting, thunder, tides...) always accompany the manifestation of the divine in pilgrimage narration of Michael’s sanctuaries. Pilgrims arrived at Mont-Saint-Michel from the middle of the ninth century, and their number increased rapidly in the period of the massive pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. They came to see the Archangel Michael, whose sanctuary was situated in a flat region and was clearly visible from afar. The abbey church was strictly closed at night because, at night, the Archangel came down into his mundane household. His presence was usually manifested via fire and light lit in the church, which the glass windows let through and radiated into the surroundings. The pilgrims waited along the routes to the Mont, hoping to see the Archangel in the form of light. It was also possible to hear the Archangel in the church, in the form of an angelic concert and see his power in the phenomenon of the tides, which he could control. The Archangel himself chose Mont Tombe as the place for his sanctuary. For this reason, the pilgrims perceived the whole Mountain as the testimony of the presence and power of the Archangel Michael. Therefore, the terrain of the Mont was seen as sacred and was taken in the form of small stones, which pilgrims brought home with them and treated as contact relics. Nevertheless, this praxis disappeared in the mid-twelfth century. Instead, the statue of the Archangel Michael was placed in the church and became the centre of the attention. The concentration on Michael’s sculpture overshadowed the natural elements as the manifestation of the divine.

In general, pilgrimage devotion is seen as concentrated around the cult of relics164 and, in the words of André Vauchez, pilgrims were eager to reach the sacred space, where the power of the divine has chosen to manifest itself via miracles.165 In this thesis, I argued that the case of Mont- Saint-Michel is different. The relics at Mont-Saint-Michel (namely the corporeal relics of Autbert and contact relics of Michael) mainly served to the monastic community – to religious practices, to commemorate local history, to encourage the prestige of the monastery, and to defend monastic rights. On the contrary, the pilgrimage devotion at Mont-Saint-Michel appears to be broader: pilgrimage narrations highlight above all the aspects of natural phenomena, in which the power of the divine is manifested. Even though the deserialization of nature is a relatively recent affair, we are inclined to forget that, for medieval society, nature was always part of the cosmos, therefore of God’s creation. As Mircea Eliade has noted, every pilgrimage shrine is an archetype of a sacred centre, of the place where heaven and earth come together, where time

164 On this notion with the notes on bibliography see article by GAFFURI, Luogi di culto e santuari (2000), pp. 179– 196. 165 VAUCHEZ, Spiritualité du Moyen Âge (1975), p. 147.

50 does not change and transcendence can be experienced.166 Therefore, for the pilgrims, the focal point of their devotion at Mont-Saint-Michel was not the relics, but the experience of the Mountain itself. Merely entering the Mountain, which required crossing the bay, was already to entering the sacred space – as the legends about the holy stones indicate. The Archangel Michael, consequently, interfered with this sacred space. He used to appear in the form of light and music in the abbey church and he used to control the tides: in the perception of pilgrims witnessing his presence was contact with holiness. Moreover, the whole landscape around the Mountain was involved, as it was believed that the Mountain had the power to control it. These multi-sensorial experiences at Mont-Saint-Michel seem to slowly disappear in the twelfth century, and yield their power to the new miraculous statues, which experienced great success in the eleventh and twelfth centuries in Western Europe. This thesis, therefore, captures the last era of surviving devotion, based on the non-material manifestations of the Archangel Michael slightly before they were eclipsed by the cult of sculptures and relics.

166 On the sacrality of nature see ELIADE, The Sacred and the Profane (1959), pp. 151–155. And on the concept of sacred centre see chapter Sacred Places: Temple, Palace, ‘Center of the World’ in ELIADE, Patterns in Comparative Religion (1958), pp. 367–387.

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SMITH, Architectural Mimesis (2009) = Katherine Allen SMITH: Architectural Mimesis and Historical Memory at the Abbey of Mont-Saint-Michel. In: Negotiating Community and Difference in Medieval Europe. Gender, Power, Patronage and the Authority of Religion on Latin Christendom. Eds Katherine Allen SMITH — Scott WELLS. Boston 2009, pp. 65–82.

TOSCO, Architectura e vie di pellegrinaggio (2003) = Carlo TOSCO: Architectura e vie di pellegrinaggio tra la Francia e l’Italia. In: BOUET — OTRANTO — VAUCHEZ (eds), Culte et pèlerinages (2003).

TURCAT, Un thème iconographique (1996) = André TURCAT: Un thème iconographique: le pesée des âmes. In: Dominicains et dominicaines en Alsace, XIIIe–XXe siècles (actes du colloque de Guebwiller, 8–9 avril 1994). Colmar, 1996, pp. 227–233.

VALLERY-RADOT, Remarques sur l'église Notre-Dame-sous-Terre (1962) = Jean VALLERY-RADOT: Remarques sur l'église Notre-Dame-sous-Terre au Mont-Saint-Michel. Bulletin de la Société des Antiquaires de France 1962, pp. 100–106. van DAM, Gregory of Tours (1988) = Raymond van DAM: Gregory of Tours. The Glory of Martyrs. Liverpool 1988.

VAUCHEZ, Sainthood (2005) = André VAUCHEZ: Sainthood in the later middle ages. Cambridge 2005.

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VAUCHEZ, Spiritualité du Moyen Âge (1975) = André VAUCHEZ: Spiritualité du Moyen Âge occidental (VIIIe–XIIIe sciècle). Paris 1975.

VOYER, Une mise en scène du culte (2005) = Cécile VOYER: Une mise en scène du culte d’un saint: La collégiale Saint-Hilaire de Poitiers. Reliques et sainteté dans l’espace médiéval, Pecia 2005/8–11, 2005, pp. 141–162.

WEBB, Medieval European Pilgrimage (2002) = Diana WEBB: Medieval European Pilgrimage, c. 700–c. 1500. Basingstoke 2002.

WEBB, Pilgrims and pilgrimage (1999) = Diana WEBB: Pilgrims and pilgrimage in the medieval West. London 1999.

ON-LINE SOURCES BOUET, Pierre: Bibliographie sélective sur le Mont Saint-Michel (des origines au XIIIe siècle): https://www.lescheminsdumontsaintmichel.com/spip/IMG/pdf/Biblio.pdf (31. 8. 2017) Manuscripts of Mont Saint-Michel, Avranches, Bibliothèque municipale: http://bvmm.irht.cnrs.fr/recherche/rechercheParVille.php (21. 9. 2017)

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Illustrations

Fig. 1 Plan of the Romanesque church of Mont-Saint-Michel. Design by Paul Gout. © GOUT, Le Mont Saint-Michel (1910). Fig. 2 Plan of the Romanesque choir of Mont-Saint-Michel, according to Y.-M. Froidevaux. Design by Bruno Lepeuple. © Valerry-Radot, Remarques sur l'église Notre-Dame-sous-Terre (1962), p. 40. Fig. 3 Plan of Mont-Saint-Michel in 1776. © Reproduction by Patrick Cadet. Fig. 4 Mont-Saint-Michel in the illuminated manuscript: Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry (c. 1412 and 1416). © Wikimedia Commons Fig. 5 Mont-Saint-Michel from the shore. © author. Fig. 6 View on Mont-Saint-Michel from Avranches . © Wikimedia Commons. Fig. 7 View on Mont-Saint-Michel and its surroundings. © Katarína Kravčíková. Fig. 8. Vision of Autbert, Cartulary of Mont-Saint-Michel, ABM ms. 210, folio 4v, mid-twelfth century. Accessible on: http://bvmm.irht.cnrs.fr/resultRecherche/resultRecherche.php?COMPOSITION_ID=17090 Fig. 9. Cartulary of Mont-Saint-Michel. ABM ms. 210, folio 19v, mid-twelfth century Accessible on: http://bvmm.irht.cnrs.fr/resultRecherche/resultRecherche.php?COMPOSITION_ID=17090 Fig. 10 Cartulary of Mont-Saint-Michel, ABM ms. 210, folio 23v, mid-twelfth century. Accessible on: http://bvmm.irht.cnrs.fr/resultRecherche/resultRecherche.php?COMPOSITION_ID=17090 Fig. 11 The king’s donation to the monastery, Cartulary of Mont-Saint-Michel, ABM ms. 210, folio 25v, mid-twelfth century Accessible on: http://bvmm.irht.cnrs.fr/resultRecherche/resultRecherche.php?COMPOSITION_ID=17090 Fig. 12 Vision of Autbert, ABM, ms. 50, folio 1r, c. 980–1000 Accessible on: http://bvmm.irht.cnrs.fr/resultRecherche/resultRecherche.php?COMPOSITION_ID=17069 Fig. 13 Vision of Autbert, ABM, ms. 76 folio 1r, c. 1040–1055 Accessible on: http://bvmm.irht.cnrs.fr/resultRecherche/resultRecherche.php?COMPOSITION_ID=17073

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