Under Signed in the Original G. Cant. Jo. Lincoln C. S. La. Winton These Islands were first in the Diocese of Dol in Bretagne and so continued from the time of St. Sampson till the coming of the Danes or Normans into Neustria who falling out with the Bretons about the limits of their Territories and a War ensuing thereupon betwixt them withdrew these Islands from the Obedience of the British Bishop and gave them a Bishop of their own viz. that of Coûtance in Normandy the lofty Towers of whose beautiful Cathedral once our Mother Church are seen from JERSEY To this Bishop these Islands remained subject even after the Defection of Normandy notwithstanding the frequent Wars betwixt the two Crowns untill the Tenth Year of Queen Elizabeth King John indeed having lost Normandy had once in an angry Mood designed to annex them to the See of Exeter in England but did not It was the Change of Religion in these Islands that took away from the Popish Bishop of Coûtance his Jurisdiction over them For then they were by an Order of Council dated March 11th 1568. transferred and united to the Diocese of Winton Robertus Cenalis Bishop of Avranches in Normandy imposes upon himself and his Readers when he says that these Islands were sometime under his Predecessors Bishops of Avranches This certainly is a mistake and must proceed from some Papers which belike he found in the Archives of that Church mentioning some Parcels of Tythes paid here in time past to the Bishops of his See The Bishops of Dol and Coûtance for the Exercise of their Authority had in each Island of JERSEY and Guernezey a Commissary or Surrogate called Decanus the Dean An Office of great Antiquity since I find it mentioned in very old Records and have reason to believe it as ancient as Episcopacy and consequently as ancient as Christianity it self in these Islands To him those Bishops left the Cognizance of all Matters of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction reserving only to themselves Ordinations Institutions and Appeals The same Power is vested in the present Deans with this limitation that they are to govern themselves by the Advice and Opinions of the rest of the Ministers who are to be their constant Assessors much after the manner of those ancient Presbyteries or Councils of Priests who sate with the Bishops in their Consistories and assisted them in giving Judgment in all Causes brought before them An excellent Government and grounded on the Primitive Pattern When the Office of Dean was revived in JERSEY in the Reign of K. James I a Motion was made to give the said Dean the Power of a Bishop Suffragan within the Island Appeals being still reserved to the Right Reverend Father in God the Lord Bishop of Winchester I could never know why that Motion was rejected But we daily see the necessity of such a Power particularly in the want of Confirmation of Children after Baptism That Apostolical Institution being thereby become altogether unpracticable amongst Us. Nor have we any way to supply that Defect but by taking great care as we generally do to have Children brought to publick Catechism where in the presence of God's Church they renew their Baptismal Vow and taking upon themselves the Obligations of Christianity discharge their Sponsors of the Promise made for them at their Baptism Upon which and not before we admit them to the Holy Communion The Patronage of all the Churches here in time of Popery belonged to several Great Abbots in Normandy as to the Abbots of St. Sauveur le Vicomte Cherbourg St. Michael Blanche Lande c. which Patronage at the Reformation was vested in the King who has since made Cession of it to the Governor It is he that presents now to all vacant Benefices in His Majesty's Right But the Deanry continues of Royal Nomination and is held by Patent under the Great Seal These Great Norman Abbots had not only the Nomination but the Tythes also of all the Parishes in this Island A small Proportion as the 3 d 7 th 8 th 9 th or 10 th Sheaf of the said Impropriated Tythes being reserved for those that ministred at the Altar These Impropriations at the Dissolution of Monasteries in England instead of returning to the Church were annexed to the Crown and are become part of the King's Revenue in the Island Much the same Proportion as before being still allotted to the Incumbents together with the Novals or Desarts which are the Tythes of Lands that remained wast and untill'd at the Suppression of those Houses but have been since converted into Arable The following Scheme drawn out of the Black-Book of Coûtance like that in the Exchequer will shew what that Proportion was and what the King enjoys now in right of the dispossessed Abbots Vniversis praesentes Literas inspecturis Officialis Constantiensis Salutem Notum facimus quod nos ad Requestam Religiosorum Virorum Abbatis Conventûs Sancti Salvatoris Vicecomitis visitavimus legimus inspeximus atque visitari legi inspici fecimus quendam Librum in Domo seu Manerio Episcopali Constantiensi existentem vulgariter Librum Nigrum nuncupatum in quo vidimus legimus nonnullas Clausulas Ecclesias Beneficia Insulae JERSEY de eis cum praefato Libro Nigro collationem fecimus diligenter Quarum quidam Clausularum Tenor sequitur de verbo ad verbum est talis Ecclesia Sancti Breverlardi Patronus Abbas S. Salvatoris Vicecomitis percipit duas partes Garbarum Rector sextam Abatissa de Cadomo duodecimam Abbatissa Vilmonasterii duodecimam Rector item habet sex Virgas Eleemosynae Et valet dicta Ecclesia Annis communibus XXX Lib. Turonens Ecclesia Sancti Petri. Patronus Abbas S. Salvatoris Vicecom Et percipit medietatem Garbarum Abbatissa Cadomensis quartam Garbam Abbatissa Vilmonasteriensis aliam quartam exceptâ carucatâ de Nobretez Rector percipit novalia habet VIII Virgas Terrae Eleemosynae valet XXX Lib. Turon Ecclesia de Trinitate Patronus Abbas Caesaris-Burgi Abbas S. Salvatoris percipit sextam Garbam Abbas Caesaris-Burgi tertiam liberam Decimam Episcopus Auritanus medietatem Garbarum Rector percipit novalia habet VIII Virgas Eleemosynae valet communibus Annis XXX Lib. Turon Ecclesia Beatae Mariae Patronus Abbas Caesariensis Abbas S. Salvatoris Vice-com percipit sextam Garbam Abbatissa Cadomensis Monasterii Villers quartam partem Decimae Garbarum Rector percipit tertiam partem Garbarum habet XVI Virgas Eleemosynae valet XXX Lib. Turon Ecclesia Sancti Johannis Patronus Abbas S. Salvatoris Vicecom percipit totam Decimam Ecclesia ibidem Prioratus ejusdem Monasterii Et sunt ibi duae Virgae Eleemosynae valet XXVIII Lib. Turon Ecclesia Sancti Audoeni Patronus Abbas S. Michaelis in periculo Maris percipit ibi duas Garbas IV Lib.
of JERSEY and Garnsey did of ancient time belong to the Dutchy of Normandy but when King Henry I. had overthrown his elder Brother Robert Duke of Normandy he did unite to the Kingdom of England perpetually the Dutchy of Normandy together with these Isles And albeit King John lost the Possession of Normandy and King Henry III. took Money for it yet the Inhabitants of these Isles with great Constancy remained and so to this day do remain true and faithful to the Crown of England AND THE POSSESION OF THESE ISLANDS BEING PARCEL OF THE DVTCHY OF NORMANDY ARE A GOOD SEISIN FOR THE KING OF ENGLAND OF THE WHOLE DVTCHY CHAP. II. Description of the Island THE Island of JERSEY is seated in the Bay of St. Michael betwixt Cap de la Hague and Cap Forhelles the first in Normandy the last in Bretagne both which Promontories may be seen from thence in a clear Day The nearest Shore is that of Normandy to which the Cut is so short that Churches and Houses may be easily discerned from either Coast It lies according to Mr. Samarâ—s his new Survey in 49 Deg. and 25 Min. of Northern Latitude which I take to be right enough But when he gives it but 11 Deg. and 30 Min. of Longitude I cannot conceive where he fixes his first Meridian For to say nothing of the Isles of Azores or those of Cap Verd which are at a much greater Distance if he takes it with Sanson and the French Geographers from the Isle of Feró the most Western of the Canaries it must be a great deal more than he says viz. 18 Deg. at the least Or if he takes it even from Tenarif which according to the best and latest Observations is 18 Deg. from London still the Longitude of JERSEY cannot be less than 15 Deg. 30 Min. It seems to me to have near the same Longitude as Bristol in England In Length it exceeds not 12 Miles The Breadth where it is broadest is betwixt 6 and 7. The Figure resembleth somewhat an Oblong long Parallelogram the longest Sides whereof are the North and South the narrowest are the East and West The North Side is a continued Hill or ridge of Cliffs which are sometimes 50 Fathoms high from the Water and render the Island generally unaccessible on that Side The South side is much lower and in some Places level as it were with the Sea I cannot better compare it than to a Wedge or to a Triangle Right-angle the Basis whereof may be supposed to be the Sea the Cathetus those high and craggy Cliffs which it hath on the North and the Hypothenusa the Surface of the Island which declines and falls gently from North to South according to the following Diagram JERSEY It receives two great Benefits from this Situation The First is that those Rivulets for I cannot call them Rivers with which this Island abounds do by this means run further and receive a greater Increase and Accession of Waters whereby they become strong enough to turn betwixt 30 and 40 Mills that supply the whole Country than they would do should the Island rise in the middle and all the Streams by an equal Course descend on every side to the Sea This Consideration would be of no great Moment to a larger Country but is of unexpressible Use and Advantage to so small an Island The Second Benefit which we receive from this Situation is that by this Declivity of the Land from N to S the Beams of the Sun fall more directly and perpendicularly thereon than if either the Surface was level and Parallel to the Sea or which is worse declined from S to N as it doth in Guernezey For there by an odd opposition to JERSEY the Land is high on the S and low on the N which causes if I may so speak a double Obliquity the one from the Position of the Sun it self especially in time of the Winter Solstice the other from the Situation of the Land and is probably the Reason of the great Difference observed in the Qualities of Soil and Air in both Islands GUERNEZEY This Declivity of JERSEY is not a smooth and even Declivity as some may 't think The Surface is extremely broken and unequal rising and falling almost perpetually For as on the N it is an entire Hill with few and short Vales so on the S SE and SW it is cut into sundry fruitfull Valleys narrow at the Beginning but growing wider as they draw still nearer and nearer to the Sea where they end in several Flats of good Meadows and Pastures Mr. Poingdestre thought that this Unevenness and Inequality of the Surface added much to the Quantity and Proportion of the ground and that the Island was so much the more Capacious and Productive by how much the more the Surface was expanded rising with the Hills and descending with the Valleys But herein I must take the Liberty to depart from so great a Man It being demonstrable that a Country that is exactly level will contain as many Houses and Inhabitants will produce as many Trees Plants c. as another Country whose Surface is as uneven and unequal as can be but whose Basis or Plane is equal to the other Therefore the true Dimension of any Country is not to be taken from those Gibbosities that swell the Surface in one Place or those Profundities that depress it in another but from the true Basis or Plane of that Country The Nature of the Mould and Soil admits great Variety which proceeds from this Difference of higher and lower Grounds The higher Grounds are gritty gravelly and some stony and rocky but others are Excellently good The Lower are deep heavy and rich Those near the Sea are light and sandy yet not equally so in all Places But generally there is little barren Ground in the whole Island almost none that is not capable of receiving some profitable Culture and recompensing one way or other the Pains of the Labouring Husbandman We must except a large Tract of once Excellent Lands in the West of the Island which within these 200 Years have been so over-run with Sands that the Island on that side beareth the Image of a Desart This is said to have happened by Divine Vengeance on the Owners of those Lands for detaining the Goods of Strangers that had been shipwrackt on that Coast though injoyned by the highest Censures of the Church to restore them There must be from time to time such publick Examples of Divine Justice among Men that the Inhabitants of the Earth may learn Righteousness And yet I confess it may 't be also the Effect of a Cause not Preternatural I mean of those high Westerly winds that blow here almost at all Seasons of the Year and which on this side of the Island are daily seen to drive the Sands from the Bottom to the Top of the highest Cliffs The Island produces all Manner of
undergo Purgation upon Oath or otherwise shall be held as if he were convicted 54. In Cases of Adultery at the Instance of either of the Parties the Proceedings shall go on maturely by good Proofs and Informations in order to have Evidence of the Fact objected And the Subject and Proof of the Fact requiring it the Court may proceed to Separation à Thoro Mensâ 55. Upon Proof of Calumny or Defamation the Party guilty shall make acknowledgment of the injury according to the Exigency of the Case provided the Suit be prosecuted before Lapse of Time or that a Year be expired and provided that the Matter of the Suit be of Crimes Ecclesiastical before specified Of Appeals 56. Appeals in Causes Ecclesiastical shall be heard and determined by the Reverend Father in God the Bishop of Winchester in Person or in the Vacancy of that See by the most Reverend Father in God the Archbishop of Canterbury in Person 57. All Appeals shall be entered within fifteen Days after notice of the Sentence and the Party shall be obliged to take out and exhibit the whole Process and Acts of the Register or Rolls of the Court which Acts shall also be delivered to him in Form and Time convenient authenticated under the Seal of the Office And the Appellant shall be bound to prosecute his Appeal within a Year and a Day aut Sententiae latae stare compellitur 58. It shall not be lawful to appeal but after Sentence Definitive of the Cause unless in these two Cases either when the Interlocutory is such as puts an End to the Cause or when the said Interlocutory being obeyed brings such irreparable Damage to the Party that he cannot be relieved by Appeal from the Sentence Definitive Table des Droicts appartenants au Doyen a ses Officiers pour toutes Causes Ecclesiastiques POur l'Approbation des Testaments où les Biens du Deffunct n'excéderont la Valeur de 50 l. Tournois de claro au Doyen o au Greffier pour l'Escriture Enregistrement 5 s. Pour l'Approbation des Testaments au dessus de la Valeur de 50 l. Tournois au Doyen 20 s au Greffier 10 s. Pour Lettres d'Administration où les Biens du Deffunct n'excéderont la Valeur de 50 l. Tournois de claro au Doyen o au Greffier pour l'Escriture de ladite Lettre 5 s. Pour Lettres d'Administration au dessus de ladite Somme au Doyen 30 s au Greffier 10 s. Pour Enregistrement des Inventoires des Biens des Pupilles là où ledit Inventoire ne se montera à 50 l. Tournois au Doyen o au Greffe pour ledit Enregistrement 3 s. Pour Enregistrement des dits Inventoires excédants la Somme de 50 l. Tournois au Doyen 20 s au Greffe 10 s. Pour Copie authentique desdits Testaments Lettres d'Administration ou Inventoires au Doyen pour son Sceau 5 s. au Greffe 5 s. Pour le Compulsoire des Testaments au Doyen Appariteur 10 s. Pour Dispense des Bans de Marriage au Doyen 30 s. Four la Sequestration des Fruicts d'aucun Bénéfice au Doyen 60 s. Pour Induction des Ministres au Doyen 30 s. Pour les Mandats Citations au Doyen 2 s. au Greffe pour l Escriture d'yceux 1 s. à l'Appariteur pour exécuter les Citations ou Mandats 2 s. 6 d. au Cousteur pour les Citations qu'il fera dans sa Paroisse 1 s. Au Doyen pour l'Absolution de la Mineure Excommunication 10 s. au Greffe 2 s. a l'Appariteur 2 s. 6 d. Au Doyen pour l'Absolution de la grande Excommunication 20 s. au Greffier 5 s. a l'Appariteur 5 s. Pour Causes entre Parties litigants la Partie succombante payera les Salaires Droicts des Officiers 3 s. par Acte a la Partie a chasque Tesmoin produit en Court 3 s. Aux Avocats de la Court pour chasque Cause qu'ils plaideront 5 s. Au Greffe pour chasque Acte de Court 1 s. Pour chasque premiere deffaute en Court 1 s. Pour la Contumace 3 s. Suivant ce que dessus est Ordonné que le Doyen ses Successeurs ou aucuns des Officiers qui sont à present seront par cy aprés ne pourront directement ny indirectement lever exiger ou recevoir des Habitants de ladite Isle autres Droicts Salaires que ceux qui sont Specifiés en la Table cy dessus escripte Plus outre est Ordonné que ce qui a esté par cy devant exercé mis en exécution en ladite Isle en quelques Causes que ce soit par Vertu d'aucune Jurisdiction Ecclesiastique demeurerà pour abrogé pour ne pouvoir estre tiré en President par ledit Doyen ou aucuns de ses Successeurs à exercer ou Executer en temps a venir contre ou outre la Teneur desdits Canons à present conceûs Ordonnés Mais que le tout soit rapportê limité au contenu desdits Canons Constitutions Ecclesiastiques Comme aussy ne sera donné aucun empeschement par le Magistrat Civil de ladite Isle audit Doyen ses Successeurs en l'Exécution paisible de ladite Jurisdiction au contenu d'iceux Canons comme n'estans prêjudiciables aux Priviléges Loix Coustumes de ladite Isle auxquelles n'est entendu déroger Donné sous nostre Signet comme devant est dit à nostre Palais de Greenwich le dernier jour de Juin l'An de nostre Regne d'Angleterre France Irelande le XXI me Et d'Escosse le LVI me PUrsuant to what is above said it is ordained that neither the Dean nor his Successors nor any of the Officers which are now or shall hereafter be shall either directly or indirectly raise exact or receive from the Inhabitants of the said Island any other Fees or Salaries than those specified in the Table above-written Moreover it is ordained that what has been heretofore done or put in Execution in the said Isle in any Causes whatsoever by virtue of any Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction shall remain abrogated and shall not be drawn into Precedent by the said Dean or any of his Successors to exercise or execute the same in time to come contrary or beyond the Tenor of the said Canons now conceived and ordained But that all be referred to and limited by the Contents of the said Canons and Constitutions Ecclesiastical As also that there shall be no hindrance given by the Civil Magistrate in the said Island to the said Dean and his Successors in the peaceable Execution of the said Jurisdiction according to the Contents of the said Canons as not being prejudicial to the Priviledges Laws and Customs of the said Isle to which 't is not intended to Derogate Given under Our Signet as before is said at Our Palace at Greenwich the last Day of June in the Year of Our Reign of England France and Ireland the XXI th and of Scotland the LVI th