FEUDALISM IN GUEKNSEY. 



59 



Some writers have supposed that Nigel never recovered 

 possession of his lands in Guernsey, but this is not correct, 

 as we find another Nigel, his son or grandson, confirming, 

 about 1090, certain gifts made by his tenants in Guernsey to 

 the Abbey of St. Sauveur-le-Vicomte, Normandy, which had 

 been founded by the Yicomtes du Cotentin under the shadow 

 of their great castle. It is therefore probable that the 

 Vicomtes du Cotentin continued in peaceful possession of 

 their Guernsey manors until the commencement of the reign 

 of Stephen. 



The Vicomtes du Bessin also remained in possession of 

 their portion of the island down to the same period, for a Bull 

 of Pope Alexander, dated 1178, mentions the churches, lands, 

 etc., belonging to the Abbey of Mont St. Michel, in Guernsey, 

 including certain dues (called melagia) on the lands of Earl 

 Ranulph (" terra comitis Ranulphi"} showing that Ranulph II., 

 Vicomte du Bessin, was still possessed of them after he had 

 been created Earl of Chester by Henry I. in 1120, and though 

 in 1178 he had long been dead, and his Guernsey lands had 

 been in other hands for two generations, yet the name " terra 

 comitis Ranulphi " still clung to his fief, and still clings to 

 that portion of it known to us as "le fief du Comte." 



Up to the end of the reign of Henry I. we find only two 

 great lay fiefs existing in Guernsey, out of which two eccle- 

 siastical fiefs had been dismembered by William the Conqueror, 

 those of the Abbeys of Mont St. Michel, and Marmoutier. 



We may here glance at the condition of the island at 

 this period. The population must have been small and chiefly 

 engaged in fishing, the chief industry and wealth of the 

 people during the next two centuries. The town, if it yet 

 existed, can only have consisted of a few houses straggling 

 along the sea shore. Our parishes known by their present 

 names already existed early in the century. The Duke of 

 Normandy owned no lands in the island, which was divided, 

 as we have seen, into two great fiefs, but these were already 

 subdivided into arrear fiefs held by persons of sufficient wealth 

 to make considerable gifts to religious establishments in 

 Normandy. Some of these seigneurs may have been resident 

 in the island, but the bulk of them were owners of property, 

 and lived in Normandy. 



Our two viscounts were the representatives of a class of 

 hereditary officials possessed of great powers. When the 

 Normans overran Neustria in the tenth century, they con- 

 formed to the Frankish administration they found already in 

 existence, and mapped out their new domain into counties 



