148 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Photograph by E. P. Guiton 



GOLD TORQUE FOUND IN THE SAND AT 

 SAINT HELIER, JERSEY 



This twisted neck chain is one of many re- 

 minders of Roman and Gaulish occupation of 

 the Channel Islands. 



his rights infringed by the action of an- 

 other. 



A PICTURESQUE MEDIEVAL CUSTOM 



The procedure is as follows : 



In the presence of two witnesses, gen- 

 erally the constables of the parish, the 

 plaintiff, while kneeling on the ground, 

 cries: "Haro ! Haro ! Haro ! a l'aide mon 

 Prince ! on me fait tort !" and then he 

 repeats the Lord's Prayer in French. 

 This is considered tantamount to an in- 

 junction to stay proceedings until the 

 case is tried before the Royal Court. 



Antiquaries are divided as to whether 

 "Ha Ro" implies Ha Rollo, Normandy's 

 first duke, and therefore the prince whose 

 aid is invoked, or whether it is a sur- 

 vival of an even older custom which was 

 in common use in Neustria long before 

 the Norman invasion by Rollo and his 

 Northmen. If the latter be the explana- 

 tion, the word "haro" is derived from the 

 Frankish verb haran, to shout, and is 

 thus nearly akin to the English word 

 "'hurrah.'' 



Norman in race, in language, and in 

 laws, it can be imagined what a wrench 



it must have been to the islanders to be 

 forcibly severed from Normandy. Many 

 of the feudal lords, who held land both 

 on the mainland and in the islands, took 

 the side of the French king, and there- 

 fore their lands in the islands escheated 

 to the King of England and formed the 

 Fief le Roi, for which His Majesty still 

 appoints a receiver general in each baili- 

 wick to collect his feudal rents, and these 

 are still paid, either in "quarters" of corn 

 or their equivalent in money, for his 

 "rents," or in fowls for his "poulage." 



But among the Norman nobles the de 

 Carterets, then among the largest land- 

 owners in Jersey, and Pierre de Preaux, 

 governor of all the islands, remained 

 faithful to England. The latter con- 

 trived that these islands, alone of all 

 King John's continental possessions, 

 should remain English, and they were 

 ratified to the Crown of England by the 

 Treaty of Westminster of 1259, which 

 was again confirmed by the Treaty of 

 Bretigny of 1360. 



THE CHANNEL ISLANDS HAVE NEVER BEEN 

 UNDER THE FRENCH CROWN 



So the Channel Islands have never 

 passed under the Crown of France, but 

 have been inherited continuously by the 

 kings of England as successors of the 

 dukes of Normandy, in spite of continual 

 invasions by the French. 



The islanders from time to time se- 

 cured charters exempting them from tax- 

 ation without their consent, and which 

 granted them the privilege of free trade 

 with England, of local jurisdiction in all 

 matters civil and criminal, and security 

 from the encroachments of English law. 



In spite of the political separation of 

 the islands from Normandy in 1204, 

 ecclesiastically they still remained in the 

 Norman See of Coutances until the 

 Reformation. It was not until 1568 that 

 they were legally transferred to the dio- 

 cese of Winchester. 



But the Protestantism of the islanders 

 was founded on Calvinism and was quite 

 unconnected with the Church of Eng- 

 land. It was not until 1620 in Jersey 

 and 1660 in Guernsey that Episcopa- 

 lianism was, with great difficulty, estab- 

 lished and the Book of Common Prayer 

 officially came into use. 



