1920.] SOCIAL LIFE IN GUERNSEY. 257 



As we have seen, up to this time no mutterings of the 

 storm which was raging on the Continent had hitherto 

 penetrated into our Island. The people were still devoutly 

 Roman Catholic, and the Bishop of Coutances still held 

 ecclesiastical jurisdiction over us, a jurisdiction which was 

 indeed officially recognised by the protestant Edward VI. in 

 April 1550, and by the Lords in Council as late as 1565. In 

 fact it was not until 1568, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, 

 that the islands were transferred to the diocese of Winchester. 



Jersey, being nearer the Continent, was the first to feel 

 the influence of Luther's repudiation of Romish doctrine and 

 Calvin's reconstruction of Catholic worship. The printing 

 press allowed the hitherto inaccessible Scriptures to circulate 

 in the vulgar tongue, and the Secession of Henry VIII. and 

 consequent confiscation of all the insular Ecclesiastical 

 properties, as well as the expulsion in 1537 of the franciscan 

 monks on their refusal to take the oath of allegiance, W brought 

 home to Guernsey people the tremendous religious upheaval 

 known as the Reformation. Also from 1541 to 1546 we had 

 as our Governor, Sir Richard Long, a special protege of 

 Henry VIII. 



The one protestant evangeliser whose name has come 

 down to us is Denis le Vair, a converted priest and colporteur, 

 of whom Calvin subsequently wrote that in Guernsey, in the 

 reign of Edward VI., was " une Eglise reformee franchise, dont 

 le Ministre, Denis le Vairfut martyrisee a Rouen" in 1556. 



The religious wars and persecutions of the Huguenots in 

 France drove many of them to take refuge in the Islands, and 

 French being then the language universally spoken, it was by 

 French Ministers, imbued with Calvinistic doctrine, that our 

 Roman Catholic priests were replaced and the work of 

 Reformation carried on. But it was undoubtedly the Church 

 of England and not the Reformed Church of France that 

 Edward VI. wished to establish here. Not content with 

 abolishing the mass, at the instance of Sir Hugh Paulet, 

 Governor of Calais and then of Jersey, he caused, in 3 553, 

 the Anglican Service Book to be translated into French by 

 Francoys Philippe and printed by Thomas Gaulthier " Im- 

 primeur du Roy pour les Isles de Sa Majeste." But unfor- 

 tunately Edward died that same year, and all Protestant 

 services were speedily suppressed by orders of his Roman 

 Catholic Successor Queen Mary, and the old religion, which 

 had been scotched but not killed sprang up with renewed 

 vigour. 



(1) Ellis' " Original Letters ii. Series ii. p. 91. 



