The Bretons having made a destructive attack upon the mount in the early
years of the thirteenth century and caused much damage to the buildings,
Jourdain the abbot of that time planned out "La Merveille," which comprises
three storeys of the most remarkable Gothic halls. At the bottom are the
cellar and almonry, then comes the Salle des Chevaliers and the dormitory,
and above all are the beautiful cloisters and the refectory. Jourdain,
however, only lived to see one storey completed, but his successors carried
on the work and Raoul de Villedieu finished the splendid cloister in 1228.

Up to this time the island was defenceless, but during the abbatiate of
Toustain the ramparts and fortifications were commenced. In 1256 the
buildings known as Belle-Chaise were constructed. They contained the
entrance to the abbey before the chatelet made its appearance. After
Toustain came Pierre le Roy who built a tower behind Belle-Chaise and also
the imposing-looking chatelet which contains the main entrance to the whole
buildings. The fortifications that stood outside this gateway have to some
extent disappeared, but what remain are shown in the accompanying
illustration.

In the early part of the fifteenth century, the choir of the church
collapsed, but peace having been declared with England, soon afterwards
D'Estouteville was able to construct the wonderful foundations composed of
ponderous round columns called the crypt of les Gros-Piliers, and above it
there afterwards appeared the splendid Gothic choir. The flamboyant tracery
of the windows is filled with plain green leaded glass, and the fact that
the recent restoration has left the church absolutely bare of any
ecclesiastical paraphernalia gives one a splendid opportunity of studying
this splendid work of the fifteenth century. The nave of the church has
still to undergo the process of restoration, for at the present time the