1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
Avranches (French pronunciation:[avʁɑ̃ʃ]ⓘ;Norman:Avraunches) is acommune in theManche department, and the region ofNormandy, northwestern France. It is asubprefecture of the department.[3] The inhabitants are calledAvranchinais.[4]
By the end of theRoman period, the settlement ofIngena, capital of theAbrincatui tribe, had taken the name of the tribe itself. This was the origin of the nameAvranches. In 511 the town became the seat of a diocese (suppressed in 1790) and subsequently of a major Romanesque cathedral dedicated to Saint Andrew,Avranches Cathedral, which was dismantled during the French revolutionary period. As the region of Brittany emerged from the Roman region of Armorica, Avranchin was briefly held byAlan I, King of Brittany as part of the Kingdom of Brittany at the turn of the 10th century. The regions that later became the Duchies ofNormandy and Brittany each experienced devastatingViking raids, with Brittany occupied by Vikings from 907 to 937. In 933 Avranches and its territory, theAvranchin, were ceded to theNormans.
The same council was forbidden to confer on childrenbenefice, carrying with it thecure of souls, or on the children of priests for the churches of their fathers. Each parish was required to have an assistant (vicarius), and the Advent fast was commended to all who could observe it, especially to ecclesiastics.
The town lost some influence after theFrench Revolution during which the diocese was abolished, the bailif was removed and primary and secondary schools were closed. The town was also occupied and raided by troops both pro-republican and anti-revolutionary (Chouans).[6] However, in 1802 the Avranches diocese was restored as part of theDiocese of Coutances.
A literary description of the town in the 19th century is recorded inGuy de Maupassant's novelNotre Cœur, when the main character Mariolle meets his lover and sets out forMont Saint-Michel: The houses crowning the heights gave to the place from a distance the appearance of a fortification. Seen close at hand, it was an ancient and pretty Norman city, with small dwellings of regular and almost similar appearance built closely adjoining one another, giving an aspect of ancient pride and modern comfort, a feudal yet peasant-like air.[8]
Avranches is situated at the southern end of theCotentin Peninsula on theE40 road connectingSaint-Lô withBrittany and on the rail line betweenLison (linking to Caen) andDol (linking to Rennes).
The town was founded on high ground overlooking the dunes and coastal marshes along the bay forming the corner between the peninsulas of the Cotentin and Brittany. From Avranches, it is possible to see theMont Saint-Michel, which was founded bySaint Aubert,Bishop of Avranches in the 8th century.
A museum,Le Scriptorial, houses the collection of manuscripts of Mont Saint-Michel, deposited in the municipal archives during the French Revolution. It is one of the largest collections of medieval illuminated manuscripts in France, outside national and university libraries.
Formerly dominated by the cathedral, where Henry II did penance, an open grassed areaLa Plate-Forme overlooking the bay towards Mont Saint-Michel displays only a few remnants of the destroyed building.
The major churchNotre Dame des Champs (Avranches) was constructed in Gothic Revival style in the 19th century to restore the religious life of the town after the destruction of the cathedral. The basilica church of Saint Gervais houses a treasury, best known for the purported skull of Saint Aubert complete with hole where the archangel Michael's finger pierced it (probably a prehistorictrepanned skull).
The botanical gardens were founded in the grounds of the former Franciscan convent in the late 18th century. The expansion and introduction of exotic species in the 19th century and the location of the gardens overlooking the bay made the gardens an important sight in the town.
TheManoir de Brion, an ancient Benedictine priory of Mont Saint-Michel, is located in Dragey.
Avranches is twinned with St. Helier in Jersey. On 2 March 2010 a Jersey-registered boat "Archangel" succeeded in reaching Avranches atMarcey-les-Grèves. It is believed this was the first instance of a foreign vessel reaching Avranches in modern times.[14]
Saint-Gaudens, France, since the autumn of 1944, when the town of Saint-Gaudens,Haute-Garonne fraternally assisted Avranches by giving clothing and food to it
^Avranches : ses rues et places, ses monuments, ses maisons principales, ses habitants, leurs professions pendant la Révolution (1909), Avranches, Félix Jourdan, p.517.
^The National Cyclopaedia of Useful Knowledge, Vol II (1847), London, Charles Knight, p.569.
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