Norman, not French

IT IS EVIDENT that some people in Guernsey think we are either French or half French. In both cases they are wrong – and that is the reason for this article.

To give some authentication for my writing this short piece for the Guernsey Press, my mother was of a very old Guernsey family and my grandfather commanded the 2 Royal Guernsey Light Infantry in the First World War and my father served the island as a jurat.

I was born here and have returned to Guernsey after serving in the British Army and in theory and in practice defending Guernsey. The current Guernsey housing authority does not recognise that the children of servicemen are unable to be in Guernsey for the required number of years because they have had to follow the flag with their parents. This is a sadness and a severe penalty for serving in her majesty’s forces. It must be wrong that Guernseymen who serve their Queen and country are not exempt from the island housing conditions in this specific case.

The people of Guernsey before 1066, some of whom were in William the Conquerer’s army and fought in the Battle of Hastings and later conquered England, were not of French extraction. They were Norman. Normandy is part of France now, but then it was not. It was an independent dukedom and the Normans fought the French well before they conquered England.

William was a Viking, not French, being an offspring of Rollo. His real name was Gongu Hrolfr from the land of the Norsemen. Some of the oldest families in Guernsey came from Normandy and can therefore be considered Vikings, not French.

It is an interesting fact that the Queen of England is not the Queen of Guernsey. She is the Duke of Normandy. Guernsey has no queen and the many governors or lieutenant governors of Guernsey are named the Queen’s representatives, but rightfully they should be the Duke’s representative in the island, the Bailiff being the senior Guernseyman.

A further point of interest is that Guernsey is not in the United Kingdom, but is British. Queen Elizabeth I by Order in Council transferred the Channel Islands from the see of Coutances to the see of Winchester. This has been changed after many centuries to Salisbury recently.

In 1801 the Channel Islands were formally recognised as crown dependencies, not colonies. This meant that the British Crown became responsible for the defence of the Channel Islands and for foreign affairs. Guernseymen are able to join the British services without any restrictions, being British.

The French have often tried to attack the Channel Islands and force the Channel Islands into France. Over the years they have attacked Jersey and almost captured St Helier. Fortunately, not all those on Jersey were happy to surrender like the governor and my own regiment, the Seaforth Highlanders, assured that Jersey remained British.

Castle Cornet was once held by the French and many of the defences around Guernsey were constructed to prevent any invasion of Guernsey by French forces, especially during Napoleanic times.

The Germans during the Second World War added to these defences, so some are hardly recognisable today.

King John of England became Duke of Normandy in 1199 and this was recognised by King Philippe of France in a treaty between the two in 1200. The treaty did not last long and King John had lost his territories in France by 1204 but retained the Channel Islands.

France recognised that the Channel Islands were under Henry III after King John had died. This was confirmed in 1217 between King Henry III and King Philippe of France.

This treaty did not prevent the French from trying to restore the Channel Islands to French rule.

The building of Castle Cornet was started after 1204 to defend St Peter Port. It did not deter the French, who attacked the Channel Islands on numerous occasions and Castle Cornet fell into French hands in 1338 until in 1345 the castle was returned to English command.

Guernsey was attacked by the French again in 1372 but without success.

Castle Cornet was reinforced in the late 16th century and during the English Civil War remained loyal to King Charles I while Guernsey was for the English parliament and Cromwell.

Three jurats endeavoured to get the royalist in the castle to surrender but they failed in their quest and they were imprisoned. The three jurats, including a Carey of my mother’s family, were incarcerated in one of the towers in the castle. The tower, which subsequently was named after Jurat Carey, has since been renamed with a historical name but with no reference to the three jurats who eventually escaped from the castle by cutting their way out of the Carey Tower and escaping across Havelet Bay at low tide under fire from the royalists.

Perhaps the tower should be renamed Carey Tower to commemorate this daring feat. The current name is historically correct, but does not reflect the history of Guernsey.

Eventually the royalists surrendered Castle Cornet in December 1651. The castle had been supplied during this time by Jersey. Jersey remaining loyal to the king of England, Charles I. The sustaining of the royalist garrison was possible from Jersey because Castle Cornet was still an island off St Peter Port.

One achievement of the French was the capture of Sark in 1549. This act prompted the English to fortify Alderney. Sark was restored to the English Crown in 1553.

Guernsey was not attacked again until the War Cabinet decided that the Channel Islands were to be undefended in the Second World War, which allowed the Germans to occupy Guernsey from 1940 until 1945.

It was thought that Hitler would use the Channel Islands as a rest and recreational area for the German forces if he had won the war.

The Channel Islands have remained dependencies of the Crown ever since and hopefully in peace for ever more.