i »
y 'Ji
1 ,
I i'i
CHANNEL ISLANDS
could not of course in any way affect these islands.
They formed no part of the conquest; tlieir laws and
customs were Norman, and therefore remained to them;
and the only consequence of William’s acquisition of
another kingdom, was, that Jersey and Guernsey were
protected by a more powerful monarch.
From this period, until the reign of king John, the
Channel Islands possess no separate annals. But now
important events occurred; and the reign of this
monarch, which was on many accounts so disastrous
for England, was that, in which the independence and
prosperity of these islands vt^ere secured.
Any detail of the events which terminated in the
conquest of king John’s Norman possessions, by Philip
of France, would here be misplaced; but in so far
as these disputes affected the future condition of Jersey
and Guernsey, I must not pass them over in silence.
Philip, taking advantage of the weakness of the English
monarch, and finding a pretext for quarrel, invaded
and subdued Normandy; and, as might be expected,
resolved also, to dispossess England of those islands
which had belonged to her kings, as dukes of Normandy
; and which, now that Normandy had passed
from her sceptre, to that of France, ought naturally
to follow the fortunes of the fief to which they had
pertained, and to which they were so nearly contiguous.
In this attempt however, the French king M^as not
equally successful. The particulars of the defence of
the islands have not come down to u s ; but we know,
that although the French twice made good a landing
in Jersey, they were unable to keep their ground
r
in the island, and were twice driven out. It was now,
that king John, of opprobrious memory, suddenly
became the active friend of this little corner of his
dominions. Why and wherefore, he who had in-
gloriously stood aloof, when one of the fairest portions
of his dominions was wrested from him, shook off his
inactivity when these little islands were in danger, it
is difficult to understand. Certain it is, however, that
king John passed over from England, bringing succours
along with him ; and actively employed himself during
some time, in strengthening the military defences of
the islands; and in securing them against the future
descents of the enemy.
Nor was this all.—As if in gratitude for the valiant
defence of the islands, he presented to them, civil
constitutions, containing extensive, and some, valuable
privileges, which have been the basis of all charters
and grants from the British crown, down to the present
day. Although therefore, the laws of Normandy
were still permitted to continue in force, Jersey and
Guernsey were in all other respects freed from their
connexion with Normandy; becoming a separate appendage
of the English crown, to which, all appeals
were now directed to be made, in lieu of those whicli
had up to that separation, been decided by the supreme
court of the duchy of Normandy.
It is stated by historians, and it is probably true,
that while Normandy and the Channel Islands were
under the same dominion, estates in both were held
by the same individual; but it is obvious, that when
Normandy was separated from the crown, Avhile at the
same time, these islands continued under the English