108 



GUERNSEY HISTORY. 



requesting among other things, the preservation of their 

 privileges.* This was the first reference made to our 

 privileges for some years, and it was a preliminary to an 

 order of the 2nd June, 1341, to the Treasurers and Chamber- 

 lains to inspect the rolls of Robert de Scardeburg, and report 

 to the king on the proceedings at the assizes in the Isles 

 of 1331. Then quickly followed the charter of the 10th 

 July, 1341, confirming to the people of Guernsey and Jersey 

 the whole of their privileges and customs, without enumerating 

 them, but leaving this for a future occasion, which fortunately 

 for us never arrived. 



What were the reasons leading Edward III. to at last 

 consent to ratify our cherished customs ? There were several. 

 The principal one was, without doubt, the sudden alteration in 

 the political situation in our immediate neighbourhood on the 

 death of John III., Duke of Brittany, in April, 1341, without 

 children. His succession was claimed by Charles of Blois, 

 nephew of Philip of Valois, the husband of Joan de Penthieve, 

 daughter of Guy, full brother of John III., and by John de 

 Montfort, the latter's half brother. Brittany had, with rare- 

 exceptions, been on friendly terms with England ever since 

 the loss of Normandy, and her ports were safe shelter for 

 English ships trading to Gascony. Brittany, in the hands of 

 Charles of Blois, meant virtually absorption with France and 

 the closing of her ports to England. Edward III. determined 

 to support the claims of John de Montfort at all hazards, and 

 soon joined in the war of succession. The great county 

 of Penthieve-Treguier, the nearest part of Brittany to us, 

 adhered to Charles of Blois, while Leon, Cornuailles and 

 Vannes were the strongholds of John de Montfort. We lay 

 off the hostile coast of Penthieve-Treguier as a link connecting 

 England with Leon (now the department of Finistere). We 

 thus see at a glance that it was good policy to keep the 

 islanders contented and firmly attached to England, espe- 

 cially at a moment when the French still held Castle Cornet, 

 and had a firm footing near our island. The attempt to 

 deprive the islanders of their privileges had failed, it had 

 caused great discontent, discontent which had even led to 

 treason in Jersey involving Guillaume Payn, one of the 

 jurats,! Guille de St. Hellier, Seigneur of Saumarez, one 

 of the principal men in the island,! and had even touched 

 the great house of de Carteret, renowned for its faithfulness 

 to the English kings ; Philip, second son of Sir Reginald de 



* Cal. Close Rolls, 1341, p. 117, 23 March, 1341. 

 t Cal. Patent Rolls, 1341-1343, p. 95. 20 May, 1341. 

 t Cal. Patent Rolls, 1350-1354, p. 123. 



