ENGLISH GARRISON OF GUERNSEY. 73 



which have escaped notice until recently. The first is referred 

 to by Miss Carey in her " Channel Islands,"* and is to be found 

 in the " Paston Letters." On the 8th June, 1454, Botoner 

 writes to John Paston, " The Frenshmen hafe be afore the 

 Isles of Gersey and (lernessey, nnd a grete nevy of hem, and 

 TC (500) be taken and slayn of hem by men of the seyd trew 

 Isles." The second invasion, which took place a few years 

 later, is mentioned in the Calendar of Patent Rolls of Edward 

 IV., May loth, 1461. "Commission to John de Audsley, 

 William Bourghier of Fitz Warren Knight, and John Stour- 

 ton of Stourton, to urge the king's subjects in the counties of 

 Southampton, Wilts, Somerset, Dorset, Cornwall and Devon 

 to resist the king's enemies of France, who have entered the 

 island of Guernsey and besieged the Castle of Cornet there." 

 These last invaders must have been part of the French force 

 under Surdeval, who invaded Jersey the same year and cap- 

 tured Mont Orgueil Castle, Avith tlie Governor, John Nanfan. 



A few years later our islands were declared neutral to 

 belligerents by agreement between the kings of France and 

 England, afterwards confirmed by Bull of Pope Sixtus IV. in 

 1483. This neutrality must have led to a considerable reduc- 

 tion in the number of men needed for the defence of the 

 islands. However, it is evident from a ])ay list of the men in 

 garrison in Castle Cornet under Henry VIII. , for the year 

 lol3,t that a small force was still retained to guard it. 



Little of interest is known at present concerning the 

 means adopted for the defence of the island under Henry 

 VII. and Henry VIII. With the death of the latter our 

 neutrality virtually came to an end, although in theory 

 it existed up to the reign of William III., who abolished 

 it in 1689. In the reign of EdAvard VI., however, Guernsey 

 experienced its last attack from a foreign enemy, for the 

 French having captured Serk in the year 1547, attempted 

 also the invasion of our island, but being perceived by some 

 ships lying near the castle, an alarm was given to the islanders, 

 who mustered their forces and drove ofi* the landing parties 

 of the enemy. The English government had previously sent 

 over 800 men under Captain Winter to reinforce the islands, 

 and shortly after this attack some additional works were 

 raised at Castle Cornet by the Governor, Sir Leonard 

 Chamberlayne.t The defence of the Channel Islands seems 

 to have much occupied the attention of the Council of 

 Edward VI., and the Acts of the Privy Council contain 



* The Channel Islands, p. 174. 



+ Stowe MSS., British Museum, Vol I., pp. 113-146 (6), also p. 117 (65), fol. 108. 



t Tupper, Chronicles of Castle Cornet., p. 27. 



