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
excepted viz. that Penhouet Admiral of Bretagne having worsted the English in a Sea-sight pursued his advantage and entred the Isles of JERSEY and Guernezey which he plundered but durst not sit down before the Castles This happened An. 1404. HENRY V was no sooner on the Throne but he renewed the Claim to France and with much Glory recovered all that had been lost since the Death of the Black Prince with considerable Accessions That brave and warlike King knowing the advantageous Situation of these Islands made great use of them in the Prosecution of the War He added much to the beauty and strength of Gouray Castle in JERSEY gave it the proud Name of Mont-Orgueil which it bears this day made it a place of Arms and one of his chief Magazines of War and resolved so far as Art could do it to render it impregnable This strong Castle fell nevertheless into the hands of the French in the latter end of the weak Reign of King HENRY VI. which happened thus During the Contestation betwixt that unfortunate Prince and Edward IV for the Crown a French NObleman named Peter de Brezè Count de Maulevrier raised Forces in France and brought them with him into England to support the Title of Henry against that of Edward He had before contracted with Queen Margaret Wife of Henry who was a French Woman and had called in the Count to the Assistance of her Husband that in consideration of so important a Service the Islands of JERSEY Guernezey Alderney and Serk should be made over to him to hold them for himself and his Heirs for ever independently from the Crown of England The Bargain being struck the Count sends one Surdeval to seize upon Mont-Orgueil Castle in JERSEY The French coming in the Night got into the Castle by surprize or as others think by the connivence and Treachery of the English Commander who being a creature of the Queen had secret Orders to deliver it up The Count himself came some time after into this Island and tho' he shewed all imaginable kindness to the Inhabitants inviting them by the offer of many large Grants and Priviledges to acknowledge him and renounce their Allegiance to England he could never prevail on the Inclinations of a People who were inraged to see themselves sold to the French a Nation which they hated insomuch that in about Six years time he could never make himself Master of above half the Island Philip de Carteret Seigneur of S. Oüen maintaining the King of England's Authority in the other half during which time frequent Skirmishes happened betwixt both Parties In this State things remained till the Death of Henry VI. and the quiet Possession of the Throne by EDWARD IV. For then Sir Richard Harliston Vice-Admiral of England coming to Guernezey with a Squadron of the King's Ships Philip de Carteret sent to him for Succour They agreed that while the English Fleet blockt up Mont-Orgueil Castle by Sea the Islanders should besiege it by Land The Castle was reduced by Famine and the French were once more driven quite out of the Island The Islanders got much Honour by this Siege and had thereupon a new Charter granted them with special mention of their good Service on this occasion and the said good Service hath ever since been inserted in all our Charters to this Day in perpetuam rei Memoriam So many ill Successes one after another made the French lay aside for a-while the thoughts of these Islands so that we hear no more of them under the Reigns of EDWARDV RICHARDIII HENRY VII and HENRY VIII But I must not omit to mention the Coming of Henry VII to JERSEY in this Interval He was then only Earl of Richmond and fled from the Cruelty and Tyranny of Richard Whether out of Design or forced by contrary Winds in his Passage into Bretagne he put into this Island where he lay concealed till he found an Opportunity to get over Being a wise and discerning Prince he observed some Defects in our Constitution which he amended when he came to the Crown enlarging our Charter and enacting several Ordinances for the better Government of this Island A War breaking out betwixt our King EDWARD VI and Henry II. of France the French re-assumed their former Thoughts of bringing these Islands under their Subjection flattering themselves with greater hopes of Success than ever from the Minority of that King and the Troubles with which his Government was then perplexed In the Year 1549 they set a Fleet out from St. Malo's a Town the ill effects of whose neighbourhood we have often resented and seized on the little Isle of Sark which was then Un-inhabited where they planted Colonies and built Forts That Island is seated in the Middle and Center of the rest which made the French believe that by securing that they would with continual Alarms and Incursions so harrass the others that they would not long hold out against them They began with Guernezey where they set upon a Fleet of English Ships which were at Anchor in the Road before the Town Most of the Captains and Officers were ashore asleep in their Beds which gave the French some advantage in the beginning of the Fight But the whole Town being awakened with the noise of the Canon and the Ships soon mann'd the Fight was maintained and the French repulsed From thence they sailed to JERSEY and landed at Bouley-Bay in the North of the Island but through the Courage and Bravery of the Islanders were beaten back to their Ships many being kill'd and wounded on both Sides Among the Slain on our side was found a Popish Priest of this Island whose Love to the English Government and the Liberties of his Country prevailing above the Discontents which the Change of Religion that was made in that Reign wrought on Men of his Order made him appear that day in the foremost Ranks An Example to be recommended to those of that Perswasion in England who out of an unjust Aversion to the present Establishment would call in the French and subject their native Country to a Foreign Power The poor JERSEY-Priest was much the honester Man and the better Patriot Queen MARY's Reign has been thought inglorious for the Loss of Calais taken by the French after the English had possessed it above 200 Years It was nevertheless in the Time of this Queen that the Isle of Sark was retaken from the French though I cannot say the Recovery of so small an Island countervails the Loss of a Town that was one of the Keys of France The French Colony in that Island was grown very thin The solitariness of the Place and the want of Necessaries but chiefly the ill Prospect of their Affairs and their Despondency of ever becoming Masters of the other Islands causing many of them to desert and return into France so that few able to bear Arms were left for the Defence of the
ROBERT his elder Brother seized the Crown and kept it while himself lived Normandy with these Islands remaining in the Possession of ROBERT who made a shift to hold them during the Reign of his Brother Rufus There was a Pact of mutual Succession betwixt the two Brothers But Rufus being suddenly killed by the glance of an Arrow as he was hunting in the New Forest while Robert was with Godfrey of Bouillon and other Noble Adventurers fighting against the Sarrazins for the recovery of the Holy Land the Crown was again seized by Henry Beauclerk third Son of the Conqueror and so Robert twice one after the other excluded from the Succession of England by his younger Brothers Still nevertheless he kept possession of Normandy and of these Islands He was a brave but unfortunate Prince He won such Reputation in the Holy War that after the taking of Jerusalem he was by common Consent of all the Princes in the Christian Army chosen King of that newly conquer'd Kingdom But having then the Crown of England in his eye he declined that honourable Offer after which it has been observed that he never prospered For at his return from the Holy Land he found not only that Crown which was his by Right of Primogeniture fast on the head of young Beauclerk but himself reduced to the necessity of defending Normandy against his Brother who plainly now endeavoured to out him of all The War grew hot betwixt them in which the Fortune of Henry prevailing Duke Robert was taken his eyes put out and himself imprisoned in Cardiff Castle where he languished about Twenty six years in great Misery till with the extreme Indignities his Brother continued even then to put upon him his great Heart broke The Body of this injured Prince lies interr'd in the Cathedral Church of Glocester in as mean a Tomb as that of his Father at Caen for I have seen both Were Men allowed to search into the Counsels and Judgments of God one would be very apt to suspect that the misfortune which sometime after befell King Henry in the loss of his Children shipwrack'd in their passage from Normandy to England was an effect of the Divine Vengeance and Indignation for his Cruelty and Injustice to his Brother The young Princes the eldest of whom bore the Title of Duke of Normandy and with it the weight and load of his Father's sin were driven by the storm among these Islands and were cast away upon Casquet a dangerous Rock two Leagues West of Alderney where they miserably perisht After the Reduction of Normandy and of these Islands by HENRY he declared them unalienable from the Crown of England in which State they remained under the succeeding Reigns of STEPHEN of Blois Grandson of the Conqueror by his Daughter Alice HENRY II. Son of Maud the Empress who was Daughter of Henry I. RICHARD I Sirnamed Coeur de Lion Son of Henry II. But under the unfortunate Administration of King JOHN who was Brother of Richard I and succeeded him in the Kingdom the Dukedom of Normandy tho' not these Islands was lost on this occasion Henry II had among other Sons these Three following 1. Richard to whom he left the Kingdom and who died without Legitimate issue 2. Jeffrey who died in his Father's Life-time leaving a Son called Arthur Duke of Bretagne in Right of his Mother And 3. John Count de Mortain in Normandy afterwards King Upon Richard's Death the right of Succession devolved on Arthur his Second Brother's Son But John stept in betwixt him and the Crown whereupon the young Prince applies himself to Philip Augustus King of France for Protection and Succour against his Uncle that had stript him of his Inheritance The French who have always found their advantage in our Civil Distractions and have accordingly always improved and fomented them were glad of the opportunity offered A Quarrel was pickt with King John on the Prince's account but so managed that it soon appeared that persidious Nation pursued their own ends more than the Interest of the Prince whose Title they had undertaken to defend Which the Prince himself seeing reconciled himself once to his Uncle but that held not long To be short the poor Prince fell into the hands of the exasperated King by whom he was shut up close Prisoner in the Castle of Rouen in Normandy and soon after was found dead in the Castle-ditch whether made away by the Jealousie of his Uncle as some suspect or that himself not brooking so severe a Restraint and endeavouring to escape perished in the Attempt as is given out by others is uncertain Upon this Philip Augustus to embroil more and more the King's Affairs chargeth King John with the Murder of the Prince and on pretence that he was his Vassal for what he held in France cites him before the Parliament of Paris to answer the Accusation Where the King not thinking it consistent with his Dignity or Safety to appear was condemned as a Felon and as such declared to have lost and forfeited his Right to Normandy and to all other Estates which he held as Fiefs of that Crown which were seized accordingly an Army being ready to execute the Summary Sentence and the King's hands so full of other business at home that he was forced to sit still and see those fair Provinces torn from him without being able to apply a sutable Remedy to so great an Evil. The French having thus possessed themselves of Normandy invaded these Islands Twice they entred them and twice they were beaten out of them again The Inhabitants had under their Dukes contracted a great Aversion to the French and stood stoutly on their own Defence The King himself looking on them as the last Plank left of so great a Shipwrack and that they would always serve to shew his Right to that Dukedom to which they had once belonged and might perhaps one time or other be a means to recover it resolved to keep them whatever they cost him and accordingly hastned himself over hither and was twice in Person in JERSEY Which he caused to be fortified and gave special Order for the Custody and Safeguard of the Castles and Ports which before lay too open to the Enemy To this King therefore we owe our Preservation From him we have many Excellent Laws and Priviledges which he granted us at his being here and which have been confirmed to us in after-times by his Successors Kings and Queens of England Him for that reason we must consider as our special Benefactor and whatever ill things may be otherwise said of him must in Gratitude have a Veneration and an Esteem for his Memory K. John died An. 1216. His Son HENRY III. was so plagued by his Rebellious Barons who had set up the Title of Prince Lewis of France Son of Philip Augustus against his Father and Him which pretended Title of Lewis was in right of his Wife