356 CASTLE CORNET. 



investigate the truth of the charges brought against the 

 Governor and his Lieutenant. At the same time they were 

 directed to report on the state of the king's castles and 

 fortresses in all the islands, and particularly on the strength 

 of their garrisons, which the king was informed were too 

 large for a time of truce. These Commissioners left England 

 on the 31st March, and took 68 days to investigate the various 

 charges of their commission, returning to England on the 

 6th June.* As a result of their report Thomas de Hampton 

 was dismissed and Walter de Weston appointed Warden in 

 his place on the 25th June.f It is doubtful whether de 

 Weston ever took over the governorship of the Isles, as 

 he was replaced by Thomas de Ferrers on the 14th July 

 following,^: who was then appointed Warden for the second 

 time for a term of five years. 



Early in the spring of this year (1343), shortly after the 

 proclamation of truce between England and France, a ship 

 called La Katherine, belonging to Richard de Port (du Port ?), 

 John Fevere and other merchants of Guernsey, went to 

 Bordeaux and was there laden with wine.§ On her return 

 voyage to Guernsey she was attacked off the town of Olonne 

 in La Vendee, by ships of Saint Malo and captured. The 

 Guernsey merchants laid complaint to the king and prayed 

 for redress. Edward III. wrote on the 8th June to the 

 Bishop of Saint Malo, setting forth the complaint made to 

 him of the doings of the latter's subjects, and demanding 

 restitution of both ship and cargo. || The Guernsey merchants 

 then sued in the Bishop's Courts for restitution, but obtained 

 no redress. Thereupon " John Estur supplying the place 

 of John de la Launde, Bailiff of Gernereye," in other words 

 the Lieutenant-Bailiff, wrote to the king setting forth the 

 position of affairs. On this report the king ordered the 

 Warden, Thomas de Ferrers, on the 8th August, "to arrest 

 all goods and merchandise of men and merchants of the Bishop 

 of Saint Malo, in the islands, to the value of £250 and costs."! 

 This matter, though otherwise of small interest, proves the 

 island to have been in the possession of England at this time. 



But in proof of the French occupation of Castle Cornet 

 at the same period we find that on the 29th June in the same 

 year,** Adam de Routichan, the Governor of the castle, under 

 the Marshal Bertran, dispatched Adam Charles, Sergeant 



* Calendar of Close Rolls, 1343, p. 161. 



t Calendar of Patent Rolls, 1343. p. 104. % Do., p. 107. 



§ Societe Jersiaise, Ancient Petitions, p. 72. 



II Calendar of Close Rolls, 1343, p. 116. 



1 Calendar of Close Rolls, 1343, p. 159. 



** Dupont, II., p. 296. Act. Norm. II., pp. 164 and 165. 



