The Feudal Age
From 1204 onwards the Channel Islands ceased to be a peaceful backwater and were thrown into the spotlight as a potential flashpoint on the international stage between England and France.
In the Treaty of Paris (1259) the King of France gave up claim to the Channel Islands. The claim was based upon his position as feudal overlord of the Duke of Normandy. The King of England gave up claim to mainland Normandy and appointed a Warden, a position now termed Lieutenant-Governor and a Bailiff to govern in his stead. The Channel Islands were never formally absorbed into the Kingdom of England, however.
Mont Orgueil castle was built at this time to serve as a Royal fortress and military base. During the Hundred Years' War the island was attacked many times and was even occupied for a couple of years in the 1380s. Because of the island's strategic importance to the English Crown the islanders were able to negotiate a number of benefits for themselves from the king. During the Wars of the Roses the island was occupied by the French for seven years (1461–68) before Sir Richard Harliston arrived in the island to claim it back for the English king.
Read more about this topic: History Of Jersey
Famous quotes containing the words feudal and/or age:
“It was evident that, both on account of the feudal system and the aristocratic government, a private man was not worth so much in Canada as in the United States; and, if your wealth in any measure consists in manliness, in originality and independence, you had better stay here. How could a peaceable, freethinking man live neighbor to the Forty-ninth Regiment? A New-Englander would naturally be a bad citizen, probably a rebel, there,—certainly if he were already a rebel at home.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“We accumulate our opinions at an age when our understanding is at its weakest.”
—G.C. (Georg Christoph)