the Province of Neustria corruptly so called for Westria Westenrick or West-France because seated on the most Western shore of the great Empire of the Franks which extended from the Sea to the Banks of the Danube as the more Eastern part was called Austria Oostenrick or East-France and with the rest of that great and rich Province was given to Rollo and his Normans Originally Danes and Norwegians who from their own Name called the said Province Normandy Given I say by Charles IV sirnamed the Simple King of France in the Year 912 From which time to this this Island never returned to that Crown as the rest of that Province hath since done tho' it was not added to the Crown of England till the Year 1066 when William sirnamed the Bastard and the sixth Duke of Neustria or Normandy from Rollo invading England and Conquering it transferred that Dukedom and with it this Island to the English Diadem By which account it appears that reckoning from this preset time 1693 it is not less than 781 years since this Island was dismembred from the Crown of France by the Donation of Charles the Simple that it hath been 154 years under the Descendants of Rollo while they continued Dukes of Normandy only and that 't is 627 years since 't is subject to the Kings of England This gives the Inhabitants of this Island the Preference in point of Antiquity to most others of Their Majesties Subjects Ireland not being subdued till the Reign of Henry II nor Wales reduced till that of Edward I nor Scotland united till the beginning of this last Century to say nothing of Foreign Plantations which are yet most of them of a later Date I speak not this to derogate from the Honour of Kingdoms and Principalities which do vastly exceed Us in Expansion of Country and have brought a far greater Addition of Power to the English Empire but to shew Their Majesties ancient and indisputable Right over Us together with that long and faithfull Subjection which our Fathers have paid to that Crown which Their Majesties derive from a Succession of so many Royal Progenitors We find but little in ancient History concerning this Island till the coming of the Normans who struck such Terror in all places where they passed that in the publick Litany after these words From Plague Pestilence and Famine was added and from the fury of the Normans Good Lord deliver us By the advantage of their Shipping they ransackt the Maritime Coasts of France burning and destroying all before them They were Pagans and therefore their Fury fell more remarkably on Churches and Religious Houses Persons and Things consecrated to God No place could be more open and exposed to their Incursions than this Island where they committed the same horrid Outrages they did elsewhere leaving Us among others this Monument of their Cruelty There dwelt at that time in this Island a Devout and Holy man famous amongst Us to this day for the Austerity of his Life whose little solitary Cell hewn out of the hard Rock is yet to be seen in a small Islet close by Elizabeth Castle His name Helerius or Helier mistaken by some for St. Hilary Bishop of Poitiers who was never here Him the Normans slew at their coming into this Island adding thereby to other things which this Island Glories in the honour of having given a Martyr to the Church For under that Name we find him Recorded in the Kalendary or Martyrology of Coûtance in these words XVII Kalend. Aug. Constant in Normannia Festum St. Helerii Martyris à Wandalis in GERSEIO Insulâ occisi And the Author of Neustria Pia speaks thus of him and of the place of his Martyrdom GERSEIUM GERSOIUM seu GRISOGIUM vulgò GERSE Insula est ad Mare oceanum Dioecesis Constantiensis in quam S. Praetextatus Archiâ—piscopus Rothomagensis posteà Martyr relegatus est an 582. Illustrior autem haberi coepit ex quo S. Helerius illic à Wandalis Martyrii palmam accepit Nam in honorem hujusce Inclyti Athletae Christi constructa est infignis Abbatia à Domino Guillelmo Hamonis viro nobili antiqui Stemmatis apud Neustrios Heroe in quâ Canonicos Regulares Ordinis S. Augustini posuit ac tandem ipse excessit è vitâ 21 Novembris cujus sic Meminit Obituarium Caesaris-Burgi XI Calend Decemb. Guillelmus Hamonis qui fundavit Abbatiam S. Helerii in GERSOIO These Wandals from whom St. Helier received the Crown of Martyrdom were no other than Normans those Names being used promiscuously But of this famous Abby erected to his Memory there is not a stone left standing It was built in the same place where is now the lower Ward of Elizabeth Castle So much as was left of that ancient Building was pull'd down An. 1691. to enlarge the Parade From this Holy man the chief Town in the Island is called St. Helier His Martyrdom must fall about the Year 857. After that Rollo and his Normans were peaceably settled in Neustria and in these Islands by Agreement with Charles the Simple that wild Nation mixed it self with the Old Inhabitants grew Civilized and embraced Christianity and this Island enjoyed great Tranquility under the Government of those Dukes that succeeded Rollo and who fill up the whole space betwixt him and William the Conqueror in the Order following ROLLO first Duke of Normandy who at his Baptism took the Name of Robert WILLIAM Sirnamed Longue Espée from his long Sword Son of Rollo RICHARD I. the Son of Longue Espée RICHARD II. Son of Richard I. RICHARD III. Son of Richard II. ROBERT Brother of Richard III. This Duke preserved Edward the Confessor from the Fury of Canute the Dane who had invaded England and slain Edmond Ironside Brother of Edeward He set out a powerfull Fleet to restore him to his Kingdom but being long detained by contrary Winds at Guernezey he was forced to return to Normandy re infectâ WILLIAM II. Bastard Son of Robert Sirnamed the CONQUEROR from his Conquest of England While the Conqueror lived he kept England and Normandy as close linked together as their Situation would permit residing sometime in the one and sometime in the other He died in Normandy and lies buried at Caen where I have seen his Tomb. 'T is but a low plain Altar Tomb that has nothing of Magnificence in it It stands in the middle of the Quire of the great Abby Founded by himself and has two Inscriptions on it one on each side The first expressing the Quality of his Person and the Union of England and Normandy under him The other signifying how that Monument had been defaced by the Huguenots during the heat and rage of the Civil Wars and had been repaired by the Monks An. 1642. After the Death of the Conqueror England and Normandy were parted again England falling to the Lot of William Rufus second Son of the Conqueror who in the absence of
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
CHAP. III. Military Government THE Chief Officer in this Island He that more immediately represents the King's Person and that hath the Precedency of all others is the Governor While this Island was subject to the Kings of France of the First and Second Race the Governors were styled Comites and Duces i. e. Counts and Dukes Thus LOYESCON who commanded here in the time of Clothaire and Charibert an 560 is called Comes a Count as we learn from the Compilers of the Life of St. Magloire the Apostle of this Island And AMWARITH who had the same Command about 200 Years after viz. in the time of Charlemagne is called Dux a Duke as appears from that ancient Fragment mentioned before where 't is said concerning Geroaldus Abbot of Fontenelles that is quadam Legatione fungebatur in Insulam cui nomen est AVGIA JERSEY cui tempore illo praefuit Dux nomine AMWARITH Under the Dukes of Normandy and the first English Kings after the Conquest the Government of all these Islands was generally given to one Man who was called sometimes Dominus sometimes Ballivus sometimes Custos Insularum i. e. Lord Bailly or Warden of the Islands But K. Henry VI. gave them together with the Isle of Wight to Henry de Beauchamp Earl of Warwick with a very extraordinary Title viz. with that of KING as is seen from an ancient MS. Chronicle of the Abby of Tewkesbury mentioned by Mr. Selden where this Passage is found Obiit Dominus Henricus Nobilis Dux Warichiae Primus Comes Angliae Dominus le Dispenser de Abergevenny REX de Insulis Wight Gardsey JARDSEY Dominus quoque Castri Bristoliae cum suis annexis 3 Id. Junii A. D. 1446. Anno Aetatis suae XXII apud Castrum de Hanleyâ et sepultus est in medio Chori Theokesburiae When these Islands were separated and particular Governors assigned to each of them they were styled Captains and at last Governors which Title was fixed by a special Ordinance of Council June 15. 1618. This Office has been anciently held by Persons of very great Note and Eminency and we can reckon among our Governors the Sons and Brothers of some of our Kings As 1 John Earl of Mortain afterwards King who had these Islands given him in the Nature of an Appanage by K. Richard I his Brother 2 Prince Edward afterwards K. Edward I. Son and Successor of Henry III who held them in the same Right in the time of his Father 3. John Duke of Bedford and 4. Humphrey Duke of Glocester Brothers of Henry V. I shall only give an Account of the Governors of JERSEY from the time of Edward IV ever since which time this Island has always been a separate Government Sir RICHARD HARLISTON Vice-Admiral of England who assisted Philip de Carteret in the Reduction of Mont Orgueil Castle which had been seized by the French and had thereupon the Government given him for his good Service He died in Flanders MATTHEW BAKER Esq Groom of the Bed-Chamber to K. Henry VII ejected afterwards for Misdemeanors THOMAS OVERAY lyeth buried in St. George's Chappel in Mont-Orgueil Castle then the Residence of the Governors Sir HUGH VAUGHAN who was also at the same time Lieutenant of the Tower of London Captain of the King's Life-guard c. Resigned the Government to Sir ANTHONY UGHTRED whose Wife was nearly related to Q. Anne Bolein He came in by that interest and lies interred in St. George's Chappel in Mont Orgueil Sr. ARTHVRD ARCY who sold the Government to THOMAS Lord VAVX of Harrowdon and he soon after to Sir EDWARD SEYMOVR Viscount Beauchamp afterwards Duke of Somerset and Lord Protector Sir HVGH PAWLET Treasurer to K. Henry the 8th's Army at the Siege of Bologne Governor of Havre de Grace an 1563. that Town being then in the hands of the English Reputed one of the best and most experienced Captains of his Time A zealous Promoter of the Reformation in this Island of which he was Governor about 24 Years was succeeded by his Eldest Son Sir AMIAS PAWLET Privy Councellor to Q. Elizabeth Ambassador in France an 1576 who had also for Successor Sir ANTHONY PAWLET his Son and he Sir WALTER RALEIGH whose very Name is an honour to this Island But the unfortunate Gentleman held the Government not long it being forfeited together with all his other Great Offices and Preferments by his Attainder in the First year of K. James I. Sir JOHN PEYTON Lieutenant of the Tower c. Sir THOMAS JERMYN who in his Life-time did also obtain the Reversion of the Government after him for his younger Son HENRY JERMYN created first Lord Jermyn then Earl of St. Alban's Knight of the most Noble Order of the Garter c. To whom was afterward joyned in the same Patent and with equal Authority Sir GEORGE DE CARTERET who with so great Valour held the Island for the King against the whole force of the Parliament in the late Civil Wars After the Restoration in 1660 made Vice-Chamberlain and one of the Lords of the Privy-Council and lastly created Baron Carteret of Hains in Bedfordshire After the said Restoration the Earl of St. Alban's remained sole Governor but a War ensuing with France an 1665 the Earl was allowed 1000 l. per annum out of the Exchequer And Sir THOMAS MORGAN that renowned and valiant Commander was sent into this Island and made Governor by special Commission After whose Decease the like Commission was directed to Sir JOHN LANIER recalled upon the Earl of St. Alban's Death to make way for The Right Honourable THOMAS Lord JERMYN Baron of St. Edmund's Bury who claimed the Government by virtue of a Grant to him formerly made by Letters Patent under the Great Seal in case he survived his Uncle the said Earl of St. Alban's He holds it as the Earl did for Life This Office has been held sometimes Quamdiù Domino Regi placuerit sometimes Quamdiù se benè gesserit sometimes for a certain and determinate number of Years sometimes during Life sometimes during Life and five years beyond it and at other times again without Condition or Limitation of time For the support of this Dignity the King allows the Governor his whole Revenue in the Island a small part thereof only deducted for Fees and Salaries to the Officers of the Court. In ancient times this Revenue consisted of seven Mannors which were the Patrimony of the Dukes of Normandy These Mannors were by K. Henry II. let out in Fee-farm to several Tenants at the rate of about 460 Livres Tournois yearly which with many other old Money-Rents expressed in the Extent or Register of the King's Revenue made an 1331. amounted to more than 1000 Livres Tournois per annum A Livre Tournois Libra Turonensis being then worth as much as an English l. Sterling is now This together
countenanced and encouraged by the Governor who whether out of Inclination or Affectation of Popularity or which I rather think the hope of adding to his Government the Revenue of the suppressed Deanry favoured that Party They possessed themselves of the Parish Church of St. Helier where the Sieur de la Ripaudiere a French Minister preached and gave the Sacrament after the manner of Geneva and soon after a solemn Deputation was made to the Queen for leave to have all the other Churches in the Island modell'd after that way This the Queen denied allowing them only that Church of which they were possessed and strictly Commanding that Form and Order of Service which was set forth within her Realm to be continued in the Residue of the Parishes of this Isle as appears from the following Letter sent by the Council to the Bailly and Jurats bearing Date Aug. 7. 1565. After our very hearty Commendations unto you Whereas the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty understandeth that the Isles of JARSEY and Guernezey have anciently depended on the Diocese of Constance and that there be certain Churches in the same Diocese well Reformed agreably throughout in Doctrine as it is set forth in this Realm Knowing therewith that you have a Minister who ever since his Arrival in JARSEY hath used the like Order of Preaching and Administration as in the said Reformed Churches or as it is used in the French Church at London Her Majesty for divers Respects and Considerations moving her Highness is well pleased to admit the same Order of Preaching and Administration to be continued at St. Helier's as hath been hitherto accustomed by the said Minister Provided always that the Residue of the Parishes in the said Isle shall diligently put apart all Superstitions used in the said Diocese and so continue there the Order of Service ordained and set forth within this Realm with the Injunctions necessary for that Purpose wherein you may not fail diligently to give your Aids and Assistance as best may serve for the Advancement of God's Glory And so fare you well From Richmond the 7th Day of August Anno 1565. Signed N. Bacon R. Leicester R. Rogers Will. Northampton Gul. Clynton Fr. Knolls Will. Cecil Notwithstanding this Letter all the other Churches in the Island soon followed the Example of that of St. Helier and the English Liturgy came to be generally disused This gave mighty Encouragement to the Puritans in England who hoped to draw great Advantages from it and indeed grew very insolent upon it To improve the Opportunity Cartwright and Snap those Two great Incendiaries of the English Church were sent into these Islands At whose coming a Synod of the Ministers and Elders of JERSEY Guernezey Serk and Alderney was Convened at the Town of St. Peter-Port in Guernezey June 28 1576. And there in Presence of both Governors a Form of Classical Discipline digested into twenty Chapters and each Chapter into several Articles was agreed on to be used from thenceforth in the four Islands Which Discipline was again confirmed in another Synod held at Guernezey the 11 12 13 14 15 and 17th Days of October 1597. It was a bold Step in the Governors not only to tolerate that unlawful Assembly but to countenance as they did all the Acts of it by their Presence and their Signature I call it an unlawful Assembly because it met and enacted Laws Ecclesiastical binding the Subject without the Royal Authority throwing the Liturgy out of those Churches where by Express Command of the Queen it had been injoyned to be continued to make way for their Model which was only indulged to St. Helier in JERSEY and to St. Peter-Port in Guernezey But the Governors got well by it for by that means the Spoils of the poor Deanries fell into their Hands Timely Application was made by that Party to K. James at his coming to the Crown to whom it was falsly suggested that the Discipline had been permitted and allowed by Q. Elizabeth Whereupon a Letter under the Privy-Seal dated Aug. 8. 1603. was easily obtained confirming that pretended Permission and setling the Discipline in both Islands as it was alledged to have been in the Days of that Queen The Letter was as followeth JAMES R. JAMES by the Grace of God King of England Scotland France and Ireland c. Vnto all those whom these Presents shall concern Greeting Whereas We Our Selves and the Lords of Our Council have been given to understand that it pleased God to put it into the Heart of the Late Queen our most dear Sister to permit and allow unto the Isles of JARSEY and Guernezey parcel of our Dutchy of Normandy the Vse of the Government of the Reformed Churches in the said Dutchy whereof they have stood possessed until our coming to this Crown For this Cause we desiring to follow the Pious Example of our said Sister in this behalf as well for the Advancement of the Glory of Almighty God as for the Edification of his Church do will and ordain that our said Isles shall quietly enjoy their said Liberty in the Vse of the Ecclesiastical Discipline there now Established forbidding any one to give them any trouble or impeachment as long as they contain themselves in our Obedience and attempt not any thing against the Pure and Sacred Word of God Given at our Palace at Hampton-Court the 8th Day of August Anno Dom. 1603 and of our Reign in England the First 'T is plain the Grant in this Letter was void and null from the beginning being founded on an Allegation manifestly untrue viz. that Q. Elizabeth had given way to the Establishment of the Discipline throughout all the Churches in these Islands The contrary whereof appears from the very Words of the Letter written by her Council However matters stood thus till a New Governor coming to JERSEY and clashing with the Colloquy about the Right of collating to vacant Benefices which both Sides layed equally claim to He in the Right of the King as the true Patron They by Virtue of the Discipline which empowered them to confer Orders and fill up vacant Livings with such only as had a Call from themselves the Altercation grew so high that it endangered the publick Peace and many of the Principal Inhabitants became humble Suiters to His Majesty to restore to them the Liturgy and to settle among them a Form of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction suitable to that of the Church of England with regard to their ancient Customs and Priviledges to which they prayed His Majesty at the same time not to derogate The Address was well received at Court The Liturgy was restored and the Office of Dean which had been above 60 Years disused was Revived and conferred on the reverend Mr. David Bandinel one of the Ministers of the Island The New Dean and Ministers were injoyned to draw up a Body of Canons to be approved by the King which after several Corrections and Amendments made therein by
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