AN ACCOUNT Of the Isle of JERSEY This may be Printed Novemb. 28. 1693. EDWARD COOKE AN ACCOUNT Of the Isle of JERSEY The Greatest of those Islands that are now the only Remainder of the ENGLISH DOMINIONS IN FRANCE WITH A New and Accurate MAP of the Island By PHILIP FALLE M. A. Rector of St. SAVIOUR in the said Island and Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty At the Parliament holden at Westminster the Wednesday next after the Translation of St. Thomas the Martyr An. 14. Edw. III. Remembrances for the King c. To keep the Sea and to purvey for the Navy and to defend the Isles of JERESEY and Guernezey Sir Robert Cotton's Abridgment of the Records in the Tower of London fol. 29. n. 28. LONDON Printed for John Newton at the Three Pigeons over-against the Inner-Temple-Gate in Fleet-street 1694. TO THE KING SIR THe Design of this Book humbly laid at YOUR MAJESTY's Feet is to give some Account of an Island which tho' subject to Your Royal Predecessors upwards of Six hundred years and seated in the Channel is less known than some other of YOUR MAJESTY's Dominions and Islands that are latter Acquisitions and remov'd to a greater Distance The Knowledge of Us may be of some Use to YOUR MAJESTY's Service and may minister to some of those Great Ends of Providence for which God has rais'd You up and which are one day to be wrought by Your Means Ever since our Ancient DUKES exchang'd their Coronet for that Imperial Crown which YOUR MAJESTY now wears we have been noted for Our Fidelity to Our KINGS We Glory not in the Extent or Riches of Our Country which cannot be brought into Parallel with the meanest of those Provinces that constitute Your Great Empire but we Glory in Our Loyalty which we have kept unblemish'd to this Day What profound Veneration then must we now have for a Matchless Pair of Incomparable Princes whom God has given to these Nations in his Love That Heaven would preserve YOUR MAJESTY from the many Dangers to which You daily expose Your Sacred Person and crown with Success the Justice of Your Arms is the hearty Prayer of May it please YOUR MAJESTY YOUR MAJESTY's Most humble and most faithful Subject and Servant Philip Falle THE PREFACE THE Island of JERSEY with the Others adjacent is of that Importance to England and the Loss of it would be attended with Consequences so prejudicial to this Crown that 't is fit the Nation should understand the Interest it has in the Preservation of that Place which of all other Their Majesties Territories is by its Vicinity to France the most exposed to an Invasion from thence Therefore I presume it will not be so much wondered at that an Account should be given of it now as that none should have been given heretofore The only thing that has appeared in Print concerning this Island besides what is found scattered in Cambden and others is Dr. Heylin's Survey containing the Relation of a Voyage which he made to JERSEY and Guernzey in the Year 1628. We must own the Doctor 's candid and ingenuous dealing in the Report he gives of Vs tho' being a Stranger and sojourning but Six days in JERSEY he could not so throughly acquaint himself with our Constitution The want of a due Knowledge whereof has led him into some Errors not to mention the greater Defects of that Work For having written that Book only for the Vse of Archbishop Laud then Bishop of London and without any design of making it Publick as appears in that it was not Printed till after the Archbishop's Death viz. Anno. 1656 almost Thirty years after it was written 't is evident he aimed not so much at an Account of Vs as we are a Frontiere and a Garrison under which Notion we ought chiefly to be considered now as to lay before that great Prelate the State of Religion in these Islands in Order to bring them to a full Conformity to the Church of England The Presbyterian Government being then established in Three of them Guernzey Alderney and Serck However in the main we have reason to be satisfied with his undertaking and to applaud our selves in the Character he gives of Vs in relation to these great Points viz. Our constant Affection to the English Nation our just aversion to the French our inviolable Fidelity to the Crown to which we are Vnited and the great advantage these Islands are of to England for the security of the Channel These Islands says he are the only remainder of our Rights in Normandy unto which Dukedom they did once belong Ever since they were annexed unto the English Crown they have with great Testimony of Faith and Loyalty continued in that Subjection The Sentence or Arrest of Confiscation given by the Parliament of France against King John nor the surprizal of Normandy by the French Forces could be no perswasion unto them to change their Masters Nay when the French had twice seized on them during the Reign of that unhappy Prince and the State of England was embroyled at home the People valiantly made good their own and faithfully returned unto their first obedience In after-times as any War grew hot betwixt the English and the French these Islands were principally aimed at by the Enemy and sometimes also were attempted by them but with ill Success And certainly it could not but be an Eye-sore to the French to have these Islands within their Sight and not within their Power to see them at the least in possession of their ancient Enemy the English a Nation strong in shipping and likely by the opportunity of these Places to annoy their Trade For if we look upon them in their Situation we shall find them seated purposely for the Command and Empire of the Ocean The Islands lying in the chief Trade of all Shipping from the Eastern Parts unto the West and in the middle way between St. Malo's and the River Seine the only Traffick of the Normans and Parisians At this St. Malo's as at a common Empory do the Merchants of Spain and Paris barter their Commodities the Parisians making both their passage and return by these Isles which if well aided by a small Power from the King's Navy would quickly bring that Inter-course to nothing An opportunity neglected by Our former Kings in their Attempts upon that Nation as not being then so powerfull on the Seas as now they are but likely for the future to be husbanded to the best advantage if the French hereafter stir against Us. Sure I am that my Lord Danby conceived this Course of all others to be the fittest for the impoverishing if not undoing of the French and accordingly made Proposition by his Letters to the Council that a Squadron of Eight ships might be employed about these Islands for that purpose an Advice which had this Summer took effect had not the Peace betwixt both Realms been so suddenly concluded And a
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
used both in ancient and latter Days and upon extraordinary Occasions to send over hither special Commissioners authorized under the Great Seal who have always been Persons of Quality and Learning as Doctors in the Civil Law Masters in Chancery c. whose coming suspends the Ordinary Forms and Procedures of Justice But First they must shew their Commission in Court and have it there Enrolled And then they can in no Case concerning Life Liberty or Estate determine any thing contrary to the Advice and Opinion of the Jurats who are to Sit and Judge and make conjunctive Records of their Proceedings with them My Lord Coke owns that the King's Writ runneth not in these Islands His Commission under the Great Seal doth But the Commissioners must judge according to the Laws and Customs of these Isles The Laws of this Island which are to be the Rule and Measure of the Judgments of the Court differ in many things from those in England The particulars are too many to be instanced in In general our Laws may be reduced under these four Heads 1. The Ancient Custom of Normandy as it stood before the Alienation of that Dutchy in the time of K. John and was contained in an old Book called in the Rolls of the Itinerant Judges La Somme de Mançel or Mançel's Institutes For whatever Changes have since that time been introduced into the said Custom by French Kings or French Parliaments they can be of no force here This is to us what the Statute Law is in England 2. Municipal and Local Usages which are our Unwritten and Traditionary Law like the Common Law in England 3. Constitutions and Ordinances made by our Kings or their Commissioners Royal at their being here with such Regulations and Orders as are from time to time Transmitted hither from the Council-Board 4. Precedents and former Judgments recorded in the Rolls of the Court These last indeed cannot in strict and proper Sense be said to be Laws wanting the Royal Authority without which nothing can be Law Nevertheless great Regard is had to them upon occasion The same may be said of such Political and Provisional Ordinances as are made by the Court or the Assembly of the States like those made by other Bodies Corporate for the good Government of those Societies No Act of Parliament can reach us wherein we are not particularly named It has been often wished that our Laws were collected methodized and digested into a System or Code A work that would be of very great Use in regard that not only all Causes and Suits within the Island whether by the ordinary Judges or extraordinary Commissioners from England but Appeals also before the Council-Board are to be determined secundùm Leges Consuetudines Insulae which Laws and Customs not being so generally known 't is scarce possible but Judgment must sometimes be given contrary to the same Causes are not brought into Court or treated there confusedly For tho' there be but one Tribunal and the Judges always the same Persons yet because matters are of more or less moment or require different Methods of proceeding they have been distinguished into IV Classes or Courts The First is of those that respect the Property of Lands and Inheritance These we decide in a more solemn Assembly call'd La Cour d'Heritage i. e. The Court of Inheritance Which continueth so many days as are necessary to dispatch all Causes of that Nature The first day is kept very Solemnly For then all the Jurats are bound to be present and without seven of them at least the Court cannot be kept that day without absolute necessity which is tied to no Rule The Governor or his Lieutenant useth to assist that day and to answer in the King's Name for such Fiefs as are in His Majesty's hands and owe Suit of Court All Gentlemen holding Fiefs from the Crown by that Service called in Records Secta Curiae are also to answer to their Names or be Fined The Advocates renew their Oaths The Provosts and Sergeants who are inferior Officers belonging to the King's Revenue are to declare all Escheats Forfeitures and other Contingent Profits and Emoluments accrued to his Majesty There also Political Sanctions relating to Order and Government are continued or if need be abrogated and new ones made The Governor in the King's Name or the Receiver by Command of the Governor causeth a solemn Dinner to be prepared where besides the Court those Gentlemen before mentioned holding Fiefs from the Crown have Right to Sit and are therefore said in the Extent and other Records edere cum Rege ter in anno i. e. to eat with the King three times a Year a Custom doubtless older than the Conquest 'T is said Three times a year because we have so many Terms and this Court is the opening of every Term. After the first day the Court is continued every Tuesday and Thursday following till the end of each Term Three Jurats always assisting the XII taking it by turns Matters treated in this Court are Partitions of Inheritance betwixt Coheirs Differences betwixt Neighbours about Bounds new Disseisines and Intrusion upon other Men's Lands Challenges of Propriety Pre-emptions between Kindred which we call Retraict Lignager Retractus Consanguineorum and Jus Protimeseos the Property of Rents due for Lands let out in Fee-farm which we call Rentes Foncieres Reditus Fundiarius and such like The Second Court is that of Catel i. e. Chattels or moveables For tho' at present few Causes purely Mobiliary be determined in this Court as they were before the Extraordinary Court was set up nevertheless as in the Court of Heritage Rents are demanded without Relation to Arrears so in this Court they are demanded principally with reference to those Arrears But the principal Business of this Court is the Adjudication of Decrees Now a Decree with us is this When a man becomes unable to pay his Debts he comes into Court and there publickly makes Cession of his Estate which we call Renoncer i. e. To renounce Whereupon all that have been concern'd with him are by Three Proclamations and a Fourth Peremptory cited to come in and insert into a List or Book made for that purpose their several Demands Which done they are called in Order That is to say the last Creditor first and so on Retrograding The last Creditor is asked whether he will substitute or put himself in the place of the Cessionary and take the Estate paying the Debts that are of an older Date than his Which if he Assents to the Decree is at an end and he is put into Possession of the Estate Such a one we call a Tenant If he says he will rather lose his Debt than take the Estate on condition to satisfie the other Creditors the Judge proceeds to him that stands next in Order of Time and so on Retrograding still and propounding the same Question to all till so many
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.
Daughter of the Queen of Castile who was Sister of Richard I. and K. John that to compound the matter he was forced to quit his Title to Normandy but never made any Cession of these Islands On the contrary he had so tender a regard to their Safety that he issued forth his Royal Mandate to the Barons of the Cinque Ports commanding them when-ever these Islands were attack'd and upon Notice thereof from the Warden or Governor to hasten to their Succour And the reason the King gives for this extraordinary Care of them is very remarkable ità quod Dominus Rex eos viz. Insulanos meritò debet commendare cum gratiarum Actione i. e. for that the King in Justice owes them Commendation and thanks for their Loyalty and good Service In the 2d Year of this King Philip de Aubigny Lord or Governour of these Islands obtained a great Naval Victory over the French who were going over into England with Supplies to Prince Lewis In the time of K. EDWARDI Son of Henry III the French enraged to see themselves Masters of the rest of Normandy and not of these Islands made a fresh Assault on them but with no better Success than before There is still to be seen in Ancient Records the Provision that was made by Order from the King for the Widows and Orphans of such of the Inhabitants as were slain in the Repulse they gave to the Enemy with Gratifications to others that had signalized themselves or sustained any considerable Loss on that Occasion Which Gratifications were among others extended to some of the Clergy who in these Islands have always been Examples to others of Zeal and Affection to the English Government I shall pass over the Reign of EDWARD II and come to that of EDWARD III wherein some things more memorable occurr concerning these Islands in relation to the French No sooner did K. Edward III proclaim his Title to France and thereupon a War ensued betwixt him and Philip de Valois but the French to make a Diversion invaded these Islands again Hugh Queriel Admiral of France made a Descent upon Guernezey An. 1339 laid siege to Castle Cornet took it and held it 3 Years The Loss of that Island did but minister an Occasion to the Inhabitants of JERSEY to shew their Fidelity to the Crown of England They raised a Contribution of 6400 Marks which was a great Summ in those Days for so small an Island for the Recovery of Guernezey and upon the Approach of the English Fleet under command of Reynold of Cobham and Geffrey de Harcourt who were sailing into Normandy with Recruits for the King and in their way were ordered to attempt the Reduction of Guernezey went out joyned the Fleet and assisted the English in retaking both the Island and Castle of Guernezey Many JERSEY-Men of Note losing honourably their Lives upon that Occasion as the Seigneurs de Vinchelez de Matravers des Augrez de Garris de La Hougue Lempriere and other Leaders named for their special Service besides private Adventurers Not long after Alain le Breton a famous Sea rover infested both Islands especially Guernezey though rather in the way of Piracy than of down-right Invasion Of him it is that Guillelmus Brito an Ancient Poet speaks in his Philippidos Et qui rostratis Navibus secat aequor Alanus Piratas secum assumat quibus utitur ipse Cum Grenesim rebus juvat expoliare So many repeated Hostilities of the French against these Islands had awakened the Parliament in England and had produced a Resolution still extant upon Record to move the King to set out his Fleet and provide for the Defence of the Isles of JERSEY and Guernezey Anno 1354 an Interview was agreed on betwixt K. Edward and the King of Navarre who was then fallen off from the French and the Place pitched upon by both Kings for that Interview was the Isle of JERSEY Accordingly K. Edward sets out from the Thames towards JERSEY with a Royal Navy but by contrary Winds was put back to Portsmouth where understanding that the King of Navarre had reconciled himself to the French and declined the Meeting he sailed to Calais and we lost the honour we should have received from the Presence of those two Great Kings and the Splendor of their Courts amongst Us. While the Victorious Edward pursued his Conquests and dyed the Fields of Cressy and Poitiers with the best Blood of France these Islands were safe under the Protection and Shade of his Lawrels But when in the declining time of that great King and after the Death of his Son the Noble Prince Edward commonly called the Black Prince the Fortune of the English in France began to forsake them these Islands were exposed to greater Danger than before In the Year 1372. Evans the pretended Prince of Wales sailing from Barfleur in Normandy with a Fleet of French Ships Landed in Guernezey but finding greater Resistance from the Castle than he expected gave over the Design and departed out of the Island Four Years after the two Admirals of France and Castile attacqued the same Island The French ransomed it for a Summ of Money but the Castillan returning carried away all he could The Strength and brave Defence of the Castle being still the Preservation of the Island and a means to keep it in the Possession of the English Nor was JERSEY less exposed to these Insults than Guernezey Anno 1374 three Years before K. Edward died Bertrand du Guesclin Constable of France famous for his many Victories over the English in that unlucky Turn of their Affairs in France at the Head of an Army of above 10000 Men wherein were the Duke of Bourbon and the Flower of the French Chivalry passed suddenly from Bretagne into JERSEY and encamped before Gouray Castle the same that is now called Mont-Orgueil into which the Principal Persons of the Island had retired upon landing of the French The Siege lasted some Months and was carried on with great Bravery on both Sides That Fortress being as valiantly defended by those within as it was vigorously assaulted by those without After many violent Attacks the Constable withdrew leaving many of his best Men slain under the Walls This was almost the only Place which in that general Defection from the English withstood the Arms of that fortunate and renowned Commander There had been before this a Treaty wherein the King had laid down his Claim to Normandy but being deeply sensible of the Importance of these Islands and much pleased with that constant Fidelity they had always expressed to him he caused an especial Clause to be inserted in the Treaty that those Islands which he possessed on the Coast of France should remain his as before I find little Action relating to these Islands in the time of RICHARD II Son of the Black Prince nor much in that of HENRY IV. This only
sed ibidem omnino terminari IX Insuper constituit quod nullus de libero Tenemento suo quod per Annum diem pacificè Tenuerit sine Brevi Domini Regis de Cancellariâ de Tenente Tenemento faciente mentionem respondere debeat neque Teneatur This was added to protect the Islanders against the Oppressions and Vexations of the then Governors This Article is now grown out of Use X. Item Quod nullus pro Feloniâ Damnatus extrà Insulas praedictas haereditates suas infrà Insulas forisfacere potest quin haeredes sui eas habeant XI Item Si quis forisfecerit abjuraverit Insulam posteà Dominus Rex pacem suam ei concesserit infrà Annum diem abjurationis revertatur ad Insulam de haereditate suâ plenariè debet restitui XII Item Quod nullus debet imprisonari in Castro nisi in casu Criminali vitam vel membrum tangente hoc per Judicium Duodecim Coronatorum Juratorum sed in aliis liberis Prisonis ad hoc Deputatis XIII Item Quod Dominus Rex nullum Praepositum ibidem prohibere debeat nisi per Electionem Patriotarum This Article regards Guernezey only where they have a Provost In JERSEY we have a Viscount but these two Officers are much the same XIV Item Constitutum est quod Insulani non debeant coram Justiciariis ad Assisas capiendas assignatis seu alia Placita tenenda respondere antequà m Transcripta Commissionum eorundem sub Sigillis suis eis liberentur XV. Item Quod Justiciarii per Commissionem Domini Regis ad Assisas capiendas ibidem assignati non debent tenere Placita in quâlibet dictarum Insularum ultrà spatium trium Septimanarum XVI Item Quod ipsi Insulani coram dictis Justiciariis post Tempus praedictum venire non tenentur XVII Item Quod ipsi non tenentur Domino Regi Homagium facere donec ipse Dominus Rex ad partes illas seu infrà Ducatum Normanniae venerit aut aliquem alium per Literas suas assignare voluerit in iisdem partibus ad praedictum Homagium nomine suo ibidem recipiendum XVIII Item Statutum est pro Tuitione Salvatione Insularum Castrorum maximè quia Insulae propè sunt juxtà Potestatem Regis Franciae aliorum inimicorum suorum quod omnes Portus Insularum benè custodirentur Custodes Portuum Dominus Rex constituere praecipit nè Damna sibi suis eveniant There are some other Articles which being also grown out of Use I purposely omit These Constitutions of K. John were afterwards renewed by his Son Henry III in a Letter to Philip de Aubigny Lord or Governor of these Islands Anno Regni 33 â— By these Constitutions We have a Jurisdiction established among our selves and our Properties secured against vexatious Suits and Evocations into England We have next the Charter of Edward III which is only General and Confirmative of former Grants We have Two Charters of Richard II The First General and the same with that of Edward III both contained in an Inspeximus of Henry IV. The Second more Particular exempting Us for ever from all manner of Taxes Imposts and Customs in all Cities Market-Towns and Ports of England Quodque ipsi viz. Insulani Successores sui in perpetuùm sint liberi quieti in omnibus Civitatibus Villis Mercatoriis Portubus infrà Regnum nostrum Angliae de Omnimodis Theloniis Exactionibus Custumis talitèr eodem modo quo fideles Ligei nostri in nostro Regno praedicto extiterunt The Charter of Edward IV extends this Priviledge to all Places within the King's Dominions beyond the Seas Concessimus eidem Genti Communitati quod ipsi Haeredes Successores sui sint liberi quieti in omnibus Civitatibus Burgis Villis Mercatoriis aliis Villis Portubus Locis infrà Regnum nostrum Angliae infrà omnes Terras Insulas nostras citrà vel ultrà Mare sit as vel situatas de omnibus Theloniis Custumis Subsidiis c. There is also a Clause in this Charter that confirms all Our Ancient Rights Liberties and Franchises infrà Insulam i. e. within the Island whereby is meant among other Things an Exemption and Immunity from all Taxes and Subsidies within the same which Exemption is the Ancient Priviledge of this Island and has been peaceably enjoyed by Us to this Day Et etiam quod dicta Gens Communitas ejusdem Insulae de JERESEY Haeredes Successores sui habeant gaudeant omnia Jura Libertates Franchisias sua infrà eandem Insulam c. It were too long to mention the following Charters and Grants of Henry VII Henry VIII Edward VI Q. Mary Q. Elizabeth and so down to our Time In general by them all the foregoing Priviledges are ratified explained and enlarged with ample Additions and We are made equal in point of Commerce with the rest of Their Majesties English Subjects I shall insist somewhat longer on a very singular Priviledge belonging to Us in common with the other Islands of this Tract which is a Freedom and Liberty of Trade in these Islands and the Seas adjacent for Merchants of all Nations in Time of War as well as in Time of Peace I shall first set down this Priviledge in the Words of our Charters and then shall proceed to shew what has been said of it by Writers and what appears thereof upon Practice Cùmque nonnulla alia Privilegia Jurisdictiones Immunitates Libertates Franchisâ—ae per praedictos Progenitores Precedessores nostros quondam Reges Angliae Duces Normanniae ac alios praefatae Insulae indulta donata concessa confirmata fuerunt ac à tempore cujus contrarii Memoria hominum non existit infrà Insulam Loca Maritima praenominata inviolabiliter Vsitata Observata fuerunt de quibus unum est quod tempore Belli omnium Nationum Mercatores alii tà m alienigeni quam indigeni tà m hostes quam amici liberè licitè impunè queant possint dictam Insulam Loca Maritima cum Navibus Mercibus Bonis suis tà m pro evitandis Tempestatibus quà m pro aliis licitis suis Negotiis inibi peragendis adire accedere commeare frequentare libera Commercia Negotiationes ac rem Mercatoriam ibidem exercere ac tutò securè commorari inde recommeare ac redire toties quoties absque damno molestiâ seu hostilitate quácunque in rebus mercibus bonis aut Corporibus suis idque non solùm infrà Insulam Loca maritima praedicta ac praecinctum eorundem verùm etiam infrà Spatia undique ab eisdem distantia usque ad visum Hominis id est quatenùs visus oculi posset assequi Nos eandem Immunitatem Impunitatem Libertatem ac Privilegium ac caetera omnia praemissa ultimò recitata rata grataque habentes
ea pro Nobis Haeredibus Successoribus nostris quantum in nobis est praefatis Ballivo Juratis ac caeteris Incolis Habitatoribus Mercatoribus aliis tà m Hostibus quà m Amicis eorum cuilibet per Praesentes indulgemus elargimur Authoritate nostrâ Regiâ renovamus reiteramus Confirmamus in tà m amplis modo formâ prout praedicti Incolae Habitatores Insulae praedictae ac praedicti Indigeni Alienigeni Mercatores alii per anteà usi vel gavisi fuerunt vel uti aut gaudere debuerunt Vniversis igitur singulis Magistratibus Ministris subditis nostris per Vniversum Regnum nostrum Angliae ac caetera Dominia Locos Ditioni nostroe subjecta ubilibet constitutis per Praesentes denunciamus ac firmiter injungendo praecipimus ne hanc nostram Donationem Concessionem Confirmationem seu aliquod in eisdem expressum aut contentum temerariè infringere seu quovis modo violare praesumant Et siquis ausu temerario contrà fècerit seu attemptaverit Volumus decernimus quantùm in nobis est quod restituat non solùm ablata aut erepta sed quod etiam pro Dampno Interesse expensis ad plenariam recompensam satisfactionem compellatur per quaecunque Juris nostri Remedia severéque puniatur ut Regiae nostrae Potestatis ac Legum nostrarum contemptor temerarius This is such a Priviledge as can hardly be parallell'd in any Age. Add now to this the concurring Testimony of Writers Strangers as well as English who have treated of the Affairs of these Islands and who all own and assert this Priviledge in its full Extent and Latitude The Book Intituled Les Us Coutumes de la Mer i. e. The Uses and Customs of the Sea Published by Authority and Printed at Roûen An. 1671 speaking of Prizes made against Laws agreed on by the Consent of Nations and consequently to be adjudged Null says that such are those that are made in Priviledged Places en lieu d'Azyle ou de Refuge And such Places he adds are the Isles and Seas of GERSAY and Grenezay on the Coast of Normandy where the French and English whatever War may be betwixt the two Crowns are not to insult or prey upon each other so far as the said Islands can be discovered at Sea The Learned Mr. Cambden owns this Priviledge tho' by a mistake he applies it to Guernezey only Veteris etenim Regum Angliae Privilegio says he Perpetuae hîc sunt quasi induciae Gallis aliisque quamvis Bellum exardescat ultrò citróque huc sine periculo venire Commercia securè exercere licet That profound Antiquary Mr. Selden in his Mare Clausum mentions this Priviledge twice and urges it as an Argument to prove his Hypothesis touching the King of England's Dominion over the Narrow Seas Neque enim facilè conjectandum est undenam Originem habuerit Jus illud Induciarum singulare ac perpetuum quo CAESAREAE Sarnâ—ae caeterarumque Insularum Normannico Littori praejacentium Incolae etiam in ipso Mari fruuntur flagrante utcúnque inter Circumvicinas Gentes Bello nisi ab Angliae Regum Dominio hoc Marino derivetur This Learned Man had taken great pains to search and inspect Our Charters among the Records in the Tower and remained satisfied of the Validity of this Priviledge Dr. Heylin speaks thus of it tho' by a Mistake common to him with Mr. Cambden he thought this Priviledge belonged only to Guernezey By an Ancient Priviledge of the Kings of England there is with them in a Manner a continual Truce and lawfull it is both for French-men and for others how hot soever the War be followed in other Parts to repair hither without Danger and here to Trade in all Security A Priviledge founded upon a Bull of Pope Sixtus IV the 10 th Year as I remember of his Popedom Edward IV then Reigning in England and Lewis XI over the French By virtue of which Bull all those stand ipso facto excommunicate which any way molest the Inhabitants of this Isle of Guernzey or any which resort unto their Island either by Piracy or any other Violence whatsoever A Bull first published in the City of Constance unto whose Diocese these Islands once belonged afterwards verified by the Parliament of Paris and confirmed by Our Kings of England till this Day The Copy of this Bull I my self have seen and something also of the Practice of it on Record by which it doth appear that a Man of War of France having taken an English Ship and therein some Passengers and Goods of Guernezey made Prize and Prisoners of the English but restored those of Guernezey to their Liberty and to their Own The Bull of Sixtus IV is not the Ground and Foundation of this Priviledge as the Doctor misunderstandeth it But on the contrary the Priviledge was the Ground and Occasion of the Bull as appears from the Bull it self For K. Edward IV being informed of a great many Infractions made to this Priviledge by Pyrates and others preying upon Merchants as they resorted to these Islands purely on the Account of Trade caused his Ambassadors at Rome to move the Matter to the Pope whose Censures were much regarded in those Days And thus the Bull was procured and is indeed a Terrible One. The King commanded it to be notified and published throughout his Dominions strictly injoyning the Observation of it to all his Subjects And by Order of Lewis XI and Charles VIII Kings of France it was verified by the Parliament of Paris and proclaimed in a very solemn manner in all the Ports of Normandy as it had been before in those of Bretagne à son de Trompe i. e. with Sound of Trumpet by Francis II the last Duke of that Country We have it still extant in an Inspeximus of K. Henry VIII under the Great Seal of England now in my Custody 'T is a Piece of a very extraordinary Nature and that shews better than any thing I have seen the Style of the Court of Rome in those Days But 't is somewhat too long to be inserted here It remains now that we shew something of this Priviledge upon Practice Anno 1523. A Ship of Guernezey being taken by a Privateer of Morlaix during the War betwixt Henry VIII of England and Francis I of France and carried into Morlaix was by Order of the Count de Laval Governor of Bretagne released upon Plea of this Priviledge Anno 1524. A Prize made by one Pointy and brought into JERSEY because made within the Precincts of the Island and therefore contrary to this Priviledge was in an Assembly of the States the Governor and the King's Commissioners present pronounced Tortionary and Illegal and Pointy adjudged to make Restitution Anno ...... Sir Edward Seymour Viscount Beauchamp afterwards Duke of Somerset and Lord Protector being Governor of this Island some English Privateers