CASTLE CORNET. 349 



1337, to the time of its capture by the French, when he 

 escaped to Jersey. After the invasion of the latter island by 

 Robert Bertran, in March, 1339, he was sent, with other 

 envoys from the islands, to the king to petition for succour. 

 The ship in which they sailed was attacked by the French at 

 sea and partly burnt, and they received from the Exchequer 

 on the 17th October, 1339, £20 as compensation for their loss.* 

 One of the other Guernsey envoys, Henry Power, or 

 Poer, was probably wounded on this occasion, for on 

 the 18th April, 1339, the king requests the Prior of 

 Totness to admit into his Priory " Henry Poer of the 

 island of Gerneseye who has lost his goods and chattels 

 there by the king's alien enemies, and was wounded in the 

 king's service, and to provide him with a suitable maintenance 

 there until the king's return." f This appointment of a Bailiff 

 of Guernsey of itself might lead us to imagine that the French 

 had been expelled from the island by this date. But we have 

 proof that it was not in the custody of Thomas de Ferrers on 

 the 2nd June, 1340, when " having taken upon himself the 

 custody of the castle of Jereseye, and the islands of Jereseye, 

 Serk and Aureneye until the Purification, the king in consider- 

 ation of that, and of the charge which he has had before in 

 the islands, has pardoned him all accounts, and other actions 

 and trespasses for the time in which he held the custody of the 

 said islands, and also of the island of Gerneseye ?\ hence in 

 the absence of any record, either in the Accounts of his Lieu- 

 tenant, Walter de Weston, or elsewhere, of the expulsion of 

 the French from Guernsey subsequent to the 1st February, 

 1340, or of their recapture of the island between the 23rd 

 April and the 2nd June of the same year, we can therefore 

 only suppose that this appointment was made whilst the island 

 was still occupied by the French as a preliminary to its 

 reconquest later in the year. 



On the 20th June, 1340, the famous battle of Sluys was 

 fought, when England absolutely crushed for the time the 

 naval power of France. The king now determined to attempt 

 the reconquest of Guernsey, and on the 3rd August we find 

 letters referring to the force about to be sent to the Isles for 

 this purpose under Thomas de Ferrers. § Another letter of 

 the 6th of the same month gives fuller details of the object of 

 the expedition. By it the king orders Beymund Seguyn, the 

 king's butler, to deliver ten tuns of wine to " Thomas de 



* Bull., Societe Jersiaise, XVI., pp. 18-19. 

 t Calendar, Close Rolls, 1339, p. 107. 



t Calendar, Patent Rolls, 1340. 

 § Calendar, Patent Rolls, 1340, p. 20. 



