AVRANCHES. - Situated between Brittany and Normandy, near the mouth of the river Sée, in the department of Manche. In Roman times Avranches was part of the second Lugdunensian province; the *Notitia Dignitatum* lists it as the residence of the *praefectus Dalmatorum militum*. Its early Christian origins are obscure. Bishop Nepus attended the Council of Orléans in 511. The life of Bishop St PATERNO was written by the poet Fortunatus. Bishop St AUBERTUS, around the beginning of the 8th century, founded the monastery and church of St Michael on Mont Tombe; later, John of Bayeux (1061–69) wrote the *Liber de officiis ecclesiasticis*.
The cathedral and other churches were sacked in 1562 by Calvinists; when the diocese was suppressed in 1790 it comprised 180 parishes. It is now united with that of Coutances (q.v.). The cathedral, dedicated to St Andrew, an imposing structure with three square towers, was built on a promontory overlooking the bay of Mont St Michel; begun in 1025, it was consecrated in 1221. Restored in the 15th century, it collapsed in 1794. The churches of St Gervasius, St Saturninus and Notre-Dame-des-Champs, though of ancient origin, have all been rebuilt.
Its library is very valuable, containing over 25,000 volumes and rich in 270 manuscripts, almost all from the former abbeys of Mont-St-Michel, Montmuel and Savigny, with splendid Romanesque miniatures. (See also *COUTANCES*).
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