Avranches (ävräNsh'), town (1993 est. pop. 9,520), Manche dept., NW France, in Normandy, on the English Channel. Because of its proximity to the rocky island of Mont-Saint-Michel, Avranches has a large tourist trade. A Roman town, it became an intellectual center in the early Middle Ages; Lanfranc taught there. It was devastated in the Hundred Years War, the Wars of Religion, and World War II.
Avranches
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Coordinates: 48°41′06″N 1°21′20″W / 48.685°N 1.355556°W
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Commune of Avranches |
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 Botanical garden |
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| Location | |
  Avranches
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| Administration | |
|---|---|
| Country | France |
| Region | Basse-Normandie |
| Department | Manche |
| Arrondissement | Avranches |
| Canton | Avranches |
| Mayor | Guenaël Huet (2001–2008) |
| Statistics | |
| Elevation | 7–108 m (23–350 ft) (avg. 108 m/350 ft) |
| Land area1 | 4.5 km2 (1.7 sq mi) |
| Population2 | 8,500 (1999) |
| - Density | 1,889 /km² (4,890 /sq mi) |
| Miscellaneous | |
| INSEE/Postal code | 50025/ 50300 |
| 1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. | |
| 2 Population sans doubles comptes: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once. | |
Avranches is a commune in the Manche department in the Basse-Normandie region in north-western France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. The inhabitants are called Avranchinais [1].
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History
By the end of the Roman period, the settlement of Ingena, capital of the Abrincatui tribe, had taken the name of the tribe itself. This was the origin of the name Avranches. In 511 the town became the seat of a bishopric (suppressed in 1790).
In 933 Avranches and its territory, the Avranchin, were ceded to the Normans.
In 1172 (September 27-28) a council was held at Avranches apropos of the troubles caused in the English Church by the murder of the Anglo-Norman saint Thomas Becket. Henry II, King of England, after due penance done in Avranches on 21 May 1172, was absolved from the censures incurred by the assassination of the holy prelate, and reached the Compromise of Avranches with the Church, swearing fidelity to Pope Alexander III in the person of the papal legate.
It was forbidden by the same council to confer on children benefice carrying with it the cure of souls, or on the children of priests 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 was damaged in both the Hundred Years War and the Wars of Religion.
The Avranches breakthrough in World War II began on 31 July 1944, and was led by General George S. Patton.
Geography
Avranches is situated at the southern end of the Cotentin Peninsula on the E40 road connecting Saint-Lô with Brittany and on the rail line between Lison (linking to Caen) and Dol (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 the Mont Saint Michel, which was founded by Saint Aubert, Bishop of Avranches in the 8th century.
Culture
A museum 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 area La Plate-Forme overlooking the bay towards Mont Saint Michel displays only a few remnants of the destroyed building.
The major church Notre Dame des Champs was constructed in Gothic Revival style in the 19th century to restore the religious life of the town after the destruction of the cathedral. A smaller church 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 prehistoric trepanned 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.
The Manoir de Brion, an ancient Benedictine priory of Mont Saint Michel, is located in Dragey.
 Church of |
 Notre-Dame-des-Champs, |
 Saint-Gervais Basilica |
 Saint-Gervais Basilica, |
Twin towns
- Template:Flagicn Saint-Gaudens, Haute-Garonne, France, since the autumn of 1944, when the town of Saint-Gaudens fraternally assisted Avranches by addressing clothing and food to it.
Korbach, Germany (Hesse) since 1963
Saint-Hélier, Jersey since 1982
Crediton, Devon, England since 1993
Births
Avranches was the birthplace of:
- General Jean-Marie Valhubert, (1764 - 1805)
- Paul-Armand Challemel-Lacour, (1827 - 1896), statesman
- Jean-Luc Ponty (born 1942), violinist and jazz composer
- Samuel Le Bihan (born 1965), a movie actor.
- Hamon de Massey, Norman lord in the barony of Chester.
References
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Avranches |
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Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Avranches. |
- INSEE commune file
"Council of Avranches". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913. http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Catholic_Encyclopedia_(1913)/Council_of_Avranches.
- ^ Rene Andre, Avranches 2000 ans d' histoire, Publication Municipale
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Learn More
 | Paternus of Avranches |
| Manche (department, France) |
| Aubert of Avranches |
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 | Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/. Read more |
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Mentioned in
- Paternus of Avranches
- Manche (department, France)
- Aubert of Avranches
- compromise of Avranches
- liberation of Paris
- Mont-Saint-Michel (island, France)
- Pierre-Daniel Huet
- Guillaume Postel (parapsychology)
- Normandy campaign (historical event, United States/France)
- Lanfranc (Italian theologian)
- Venantius Fortunatus
- Henry II (king of England)
- Jean-Luc Ponty (Jazz Artist, '60s-2000s)
- Avranches Cathedral
