English: Le Mont-Saint-Michel is a French commune located in the Manche department in Normandy. It takes its name from the rocky islet dedicated to Saint Michael, where the Mont-Saint-Michel abbey stands today.

Originally, this rock was known as Mont Tombe. There were to be two oratories, one dedicated to Saint Symphorien, the other to Saint Stephen, built by hermits in the 6th and 7th centuries. In 708, Aubert, bishop of Avranches erected a first sanctuary on this Mont Tombe in honour of the Archangel saint Michel. He set up a community of twelve canons on the site to guard the sanctuary and welcome pilgrims. In 966, Benedictine monks settled there on request from the Duke of Normandy, Richard I. These monks, under the authority of the Abbot, followed the Order of Saint Benedict, and were responsible for the growth of the new monastery. The Abbey very quickly became a major place of pilgrimage in the Christian West, but also one of the centres of medieval culture where a large number of manuscripts were produced and stored. Mont-Saint-Michel was given the nickname "City of the Books". At a political and intellectual crossroads, the Abbey was visited by a large number of pilgrims over the centuries, including several Kings of France and England. This ancient monument offers a diversity of architectural styles, as its construction began in the 10th century, continuing up to the 19th century restorations. The historical, political and economic situation throughout the Middle Ages had considerable influence on the works undertaken and the methods used. Over the centuries and following fires, collapses, reconstructions, changes in use or restorations, the Abbey has been transformed. The Abbey church, built on the summit of the Mount at 80 metres in altitude, sits on an 80 metre long platform, consisting of four crypts built into the spur of the rock. Positioned on the border between Normandy and Brittany, Mont-Saint-Michel was both a place of passage and a fortress for the Duchy of Normandy. From the 14th century onwards, the successive conflicts of the Hundred Years War between France and England required new, powerful fortifications to be erected. The Mount, defended by a few knights loyal to the King of France and protected by a wall flanked by several defensive towers, managed to resist attacks by the English army for nearly 30 years.

Following the Revolution, the property of the Church was declared "national property", the monks of Mont-Saint-Michel were driven away and the "Mont Libre" became a prison for refractory priests in 1793. In 1811, an Imperial decree transformed the Abbey into a reformatory, mainly for common law prisoners and some political prisoners.