222 



HERIDITARY GOVERNORS. 



and Sudeley in the Isles." We were therefore in the posses- 

 sion of no less than three Governors, but unfortunately 

 we have no means of ascertaining how they settled their 

 conflicting claims. Lady Anne de Beauchamp's tenure of the 

 Isles was brief, as she died in July 1449. Her heirs were her 

 four aunts, the daughters of Richard, Earl of Warwick, 

 namely : Margaret, wife of John, Earl of Shrewsbury, 

 Eleanor, wife of Edmund, Duke of Somerset, Elizabeth, wife 

 of George Neville, Lord Latimer, and Anne, wife of Richard 

 Neville. To these the king granted the livery of the lordship 

 of the Isles of Jersey and Guernsey on the 12th July, 1449. 

 The youngest, Anne de Beauchamp, wife of Sir Richard 

 Neville, was however sister of the whole blood to Henry, 

 Duke of Warwick, being the only other child of: Richard, 

 Earl of Warwick, by his second wife Isabel, Countess of 

 Worcester, daughter and heir of Thomas le Despencer, Earl of 

 Gloucester. As such she was by English law nearest of kin 

 to the Duke and inherited the bulk of his honours and estates. 

 On the 23rd July, 1449, a few days after the death of the 

 Duke's only daughter, Richard Neville were created Earl of 

 Warwick, but this patent was revoked, and on the 2nd March, 

 1450, he and Anne de Beauchamp, his wife, were created con- 

 jointly Earl and Countess of Warwick, with remainder to her 

 heirs, and at the same time they were granted all the honours 

 and possessions of Henry, Duke of Warwick, with the excep- 

 tion of his Marquisate and Dukedom. These Letters Patent 

 which have recently been published in the Calendar of Patent 

 Rolls of Henry VI. explain a point which puzzled Havet 

 when writing his list of " Seigneurs et Gardiens des lies 

 Normandes, 1 ' why no Letters Patent could be discovered 

 creating Richard, Earl of Warwick, Lord of the Isles. As 

 we now see he became possessed of them in right of his wife 

 as heir of the Duke of Warwick. He is mentioned as Lord 

 of the Isles of Guernsey and Jersey in Letters Patent of the 

 18th July, 1451 ; but a few months after, on the 24th Sep- 

 tember, 1452, we find the king appointing a royal Governor 

 for the Isles, John Nanfan. It has been supposed that the 

 Earl of Warwick had already fallen into disgrace for his 

 adherence to the Yorkist party ; but this cannot have been 

 the reason as we find him appointed to various offices by the 

 King 'after this date. Further, there have recently come to 

 light two letters styling him Lord of the Isles of Guernsey 

 and Jersey during the time of John Nanfan's governorship, 

 showing that though the latter was Governor, appointed pro- 

 bably for the defence of the Islands against the French, still 



