7^ ENGLISH GARRISOX OF GUERNSEY. 



concerned. They must certainly have been considered of very 

 little importance in the scheme of defence of Edward HI., 

 and were probably used simply as places of refuge, defended 

 by the trained bands of the people, the militia. This is some- 

 what confirmed by the fact that the king never seems to have 

 contributed to their maintenance, for their repairs are never 

 mentioned. Even in 1615 we find it was the States who repaired 

 the Vale Castle and other defences of the island proper, and 

 the Crown, Castle Cornet.* 



As it would take too long to detail all the other documents 

 of the reign of Edward III. proving the existence of a garrison 

 in Castle Cornet, the following summary will be sufficient : — 



1352. — Accounts of the Warden, John Maltravers. Roll of " Les 

 Homes d'armes et arbalisters estauntz ovesque Monsr. 

 William de Asthorp sur la sauve garde des chastel 

 Cornet et Tour de Beauregard, "f 



1368. — French Rolls. Mention of 20 men-at-arms, 20 archers 

 and 20 horses, being sent with various stores, " for the 

 defence of our castles in the Isles."J 



1374. — Exchequer Accounts. Pay list of William De Asthorp, 

 Captain of the Castle of Guernsey, wages of his men-at- 

 arms, archers, &c.§ 



1374. — Exchequer Accounts. Another roll giving names of the 

 men-at-arms and archers in Castle Cornet.§ 



1376-7. — Exchequer Accounts. Two similar pay lists of the 

 men in garrison in the Castle of Guernsey. § 



Now follows one of the least know-n periods of our history, 

 extending from the reign of Richard II. to that of Henry 

 VIII. This is probably due in great measure to the fact that 

 it is only of recent years that the Calendars of Rolls, covering 

 this period, have been commenced to be published, consequently 

 our historians were dependent entirely on their own researches 

 in the original Rolls, which they had not leisure to examine 

 exhaustively. As a result little is so far known of our garri- 

 son during the 15th century. We find in the Issue Rolls of 

 30 Henry VI., 1453, an order to pay to John Nanfan, 

 Governor of the islands of .Jersey and Guernsey, the sum of 

 £295 15s. for six months' pay of the 130 archers that he was 

 required to keep in the king's service in the castle of the Isles. || 

 The necessity for such a garrison was as great after the loss of 

 England's French possessions as in the days of Edward III. 

 This is evident from the record of two invasions of Guernsey, 



* Actes des Etats, p. 37. 



t Bulletin X., Soc. Jersiaise, p. 47. 



t Tupper, Hist. Guernsey, 2nd Ed., p. 120. 



§ Exchequer Accounts, Military, Nos. 74, 76 in the Record Office. 



II Payn's Armorial of Jersey, p. 233. 



