The Siege That Never Worked: Mont Saint Michel in the Hundred Years’ War
Through the Hundred Years’ War, while the rest of Normandy fell to England, Mont Saint-Michel never did. English forces blockaded it from the sea, held the neighboring islet of Tombelaine as a forward base, and stormed the walls in 1434; the garrison threw every attempt back. The two captured English bombards still sit at the entrance gate.
The short version
- Mont Saint-Michel was the one fortress in this part of Normandy that never fell to England, blockaded from the sea and assaulted in 1434.
- The two captured English bombards, the michelettes, still sit inside the outer gate.
- The ramparts and towers visitors walk today went up during the war, paid for by the crown.
- Our Mont St. Michel Day Trip gives you three hours on the rock, enough for the ramparts, the abbey and lunch, with the abbey ticket included.
- Louis XI seated the Order of Saint Michael here in 1469. To pair the Mont with the D-Day beaches, another war on the same coast, our D-Day and Mont St. Michel day tour covers both in one day.
The Fortress That Held
The Mont entered the war as an abbey and finished it as a fortress: the ramparts and towers visitors walk today went up largely in this period, paid for by a crown that could not afford to lose the site. The site itself was half the defense: the tides limited any besieger to short windows, and supply by sea kept the garrison fed through blockade years in the 1420s. Tradition puts 119 knights in the garrison at the great assault of June 1434, when English forces breached the outer wall and were driven back out; the war moved on and the Mont stayed French.
What It Meant
An island dedicated to the archangel who leads armies, unconquered while the kingdom drowned, made the Mont a national symbol before the nation had the word for it. Joan of Arc’s contemporaries pointed to it; pilgrims kept crossing the bay through the fighting; and in 1469 Louis XI seated France’s new royal order of chivalry, the Order of Saint Michael, here. The timeline page places the war years in the longer story, and the choir that rose from the 1421 collapse belongs to the architecture page. Our Mont St. Michel Day Trip from Paris walks the ramparts and the abbey in about three hours, ticket included.
Seeing the War on the Mont Today
The war is the first thing you touch on the way in: the two English bombards, the michelettes, sit inside the outer gate, left where the garrison dragged them after the 1434 assault. From there the ramparts run east and north around the village, with the towers of the fifteenth-century enclosure in order, and the walk is free and open at any hour.
Inside the abbey, the war explains the choir. The Romanesque choir collapsed in 1421 while the siege was on, and the flamboyant Gothic choir that replaced it went up in the decades after 1446, so the brightest part of the church is a product of the fortress years.
Allow 30 minutes for the ramparts and the gate before the abbey climb; the whole visit, village included, fits in the three hours a day trip allows.
Frequently Asked Questions
Did the English ever capture Mont Saint-Michel?
No. They blockaded it, held Tombelaine as a base, and assaulted the walls, and the garrison held through the entire Hundred Years’ War, the only fortress in this part of Normandy that never fell.
What are the cannons at the entrance of Mont Saint-Michel?
Two English bombards abandoned in the failed assault of 1434, kept by the defenders as trophies and displayed just inside the outer gate ever since. Locals call them the michelettes.
Who were the 119 knights?
Tradition counts 119 knights in the garrison that repelled the English assault of 1434 under Louis d’Estouteville. The number comes from period chronicles and is honored on the Mont, with the usual caution owed to medieval counts.
Our Most Popular Trips From Paris
Visit the historic abbey and environs. Marvel at this UNESCO World Heritage site.
Mont St. Michel, Omaha Beach and the American Cemetery packed into one long day.
See the D-Day beaches and Mont Saint Michel. Overnight in charming Bayeux.
