342 CASTLE COTCNET. 



a fortress called Gyrbourg, commenced in your said 



island, for the preservation of your land and people, for 



in time of war and fear your people cannot take their 



goods into the ancient castle, enclosed by the sea, 



suitable and ordained for the port, to defend and guard 



the port from the enemies."* 



This petition dwells on the importance of our islands as 



a place of refuge for ships going and coming from England 



and Gascony, and the desire of the King of France to possess 



them and thus cut the communications between England and 



her last remaining French province. John de Roches in his 



report uses almost identical words. He says our islands were 



" the particular part of the world which they (the French) 



covet most the dominion, for if they had them they intend to be 



lords of the sea." Is it not to this value as a port of refuge 



lying between Gascony and England, that we owe in great 



measure the favours granted us by the Kings of England and 



the preservation of our privileges in the 13th, 14th and 15th 



centuries ? 



The above-mentioned report of John de Roches is a most 

 interesting account of the state of our islands at the beginning 

 of the 14th century. He informs the king that the inhabitants 

 were humble and well disposed towards the Crown, but they 

 required aid from England, in other words, an English 

 garrison, as the majority were by blood, alliance and relation- 

 ship, of the people of Normandy, whence great danger might 

 ensue if they were not well governed (bien menetz). The 

 year before his arrival the people had suffered greatly at 

 the hands of both the Normans and English, who carried off 

 their ships and plundered their goods, Alderney being nearly 

 destroyed. In fact, unless the castles were strongly garrisoned 

 it was impossible to hold the islands, as they were constantly 

 exposed to invasion, in peace, as well as in time of war, the 

 danger being greater in time of peace, for there was no peace 

 on the sea. To illustrate these dangers he relates, how, since 

 his arrival, a fleet of Norman ships was seen by the watch at 

 Castle Cornet at daybreak one morning approaching the 

 island, taking with him part of the castle's garrison and 

 the trained men of the island, he went to the place where the 

 enemy usually landed ; on finding a force ready to resist them 

 the Norman ships went about and sailed away. In like 

 manner came and went four galleys of the King of France, f 

 The garrison of Castle Cornet under de Roches consisted 

 of six men at arms and 50 archers. This would appear from 



* Societe Jersiaise, Ancient Petitions, pp. 47. 48, 49. 

 t Bulletin XIX., Societe Jersiaise, p. 289. 



