Massiliorum during the Middle Ages. Sometime before the tenth century it became a fief of the powerful Abbey of the Lérins, to which the whole of the adjacent country had gradually become subject. The ecclesiastical suzerain was represented on the mainland by a “chevalier,” who occupied the castle of Cannes, which crowned the rock above referred to, and was surrounded with walls. On the slopes of the castle hill and round the harbour at its base were erected the houses of the ancient town, and in the same position still stand the dwellings of the native population, approached by steep and narrow alleys (Fig. 149). The summit of the hill is crowned with the only buildings in Cannes having any claim to antiquity. These consist of the “Tour du Chevalier,” the ancient Church of St Anne (formerly the chapel of the castle), and the more modern parish church of the seventeenth century, the whole being surrounded with the remains of walls, towers, and bastions of various periods, enclosing open spaces and courtyards, and presenting a very varied and picturesque _ensemble_. The “Tour du Chevalier” (Fig. 150) is a structure of peculiar interest, being the first we have met with of a series of similar towers which, we shall find as we proceed, were erected in the eleventh and twelfth centuries for the defence of the towns and churches of this district. These towers are generally, like that at Cannes, square on plan (Fig. 151), and have walls built with courses of square dressed stones, having the faces left rough. The ground floor is vaulted, and is entered only from the first floor by an aperture in the vault. The entrance doorway to the tower is on the first floor, at a considerable height above the ground; being so placed for security and being only approachable by a moveable ladder. The projecting step [Illustration: FIG. 149. THE OLD TOWN OF CANNES.] [Illustration: FIG. 150. TOUR DU CHEVALIER, CANNES.] [Illustration: FIG. 151. PLAN AND SECTION OF THE “TOUR DU CHEVALIER,” CANNES.]