66 



FEUDALISM IN GUERNSEY. 



have been too small to carry on the business of the court, and 

 probably was one of the reasons leading to King John's 

 alterations in our constitution by the institution of a bench of 

 twelve jurats, elected by the magnates of the island, under 

 the presidency of the Governor of the Isles, or his lieutenant, 

 to replace the feudal judges holding their lands by service of 

 suit of court. Another factor leading to this cha ge was 

 undoubtedly the danger of leaving the administration of 

 justice entirely in the hands of the remaining chief feudal 

 tenants, many of whom had probably lost their lands in 

 Normandy, and who were connected by family ties with that 

 province. 



Guernsey had also become of increased political value on 

 the loss of Normandy, from the importance of our roadstead 

 as a place of safety for vessels trading between England and 

 Gascony, for we must remember that the ships of those days 

 were very small, without compasses, steered by the sun by day 

 or the stars by night ; they rarely sailed far out to sea, 

 but coasted along from one port to another, making for the 

 nearest harbour of shelter on the approach of bad weather. 

 After the loss of Normandy had closed its ports to English 

 shipping, we became the first harbour of refuge after leaving 

 England on the trade route to Gascony. 



It has been suggested by some writers that we were in 

 possession of special privileges before the reign of King John, 

 and in proof they have been pointed to the existence of 

 similar customs to ours, such as the privilege of electing their 

 magistrates, possessed by several towns of Normandy in the 

 time of Henry II., and perhaps earlier. But they forget an 

 all-important difference. The towns possessing communes in 

 the twelfth century were the principal centres of trade in the 

 duchy, towns which may have had particular privileges of 

 jurisdiction, even from Frankish days, which only obtained 

 formal recognition at a later period ; while we were only 

 a small rural district of no importance, until the loss of 

 Normandy brought into prominence the value of our roadstead 

 as a place of shelter on the trade route to Gascony. In 

 granting us the privilege of electing our judges, King John 

 was following a policy already initiated by Henry II. in 

 Normandy and Gascony, which he and his successors 

 developed most largely in the latter province. The granting 

 of communal privileges to localities situated, as we were, near 

 hostile frontiers, had for its object the creation of centres 

 bound to the king by these privileges of self-government, 

 centres whose interests formed a counterpoise to the power of 



