nental neighbours, it was more from the poverty of their inhabitants than from their means of resistance. In one of these descents, the Normans murdered St. Helier, a venerable anchoret, whose cell still remains on a rock near Elizabeth Castle. A Norman nobleman, who was present when the horrid act was committed, after the establishment of the Duchy of Normandy, being converted to Christianity, founded an Abbey in St. Helier, in order to atone for the crime. Their incursions continued nearly eighty years at length Charles the Fourth, surnamed The Simple, concluded a treaty with Rollo, the chieftain of that restless band, A. D. 912. By this agreement he married the king's daughter, and had Normandy, together with these Islands, ceded to him, as a fief of the crown of France.

The character of Rollo, as handed down by historians, and as seemingly corroborated by circumstances, does not accord with his being the leader of a banditti; he is said to have been remarkable for the strictness and impartiality with which he administered justice. Whether originating in his own appointment, or from a veneration for his name, is uncertain; but a singular custom prevailed, during his lifetime, of appealing to him, however distant he might be, in cases of oppression or encroachment. Ah! or ha! is supposed to be the exclamation of a person suffering. Ro! is an abbreviation of Rollo; so that, on Ha-Ro being pronounced aloud by the aggrieved party, the oppressor was obliged, at his peril, to forbear: in Jersey the cry is Ha-Ro, à l'aide, mon prince !

It is reported that the Clameur de Haro was employed at the funeral of William the Conqueror at Caen, where he was buried. A Norman, who had not been compensated for a part of the ground on which the

monastery stood in which William was to be buried, uttered the word as the royal corpse was brought into it: such was the regard paid to the appeal that the man was compensated ere it was interred.*

Rollo died in 917; he has been compared to his great contemporary, King Alfred. The Icelandic Chronicles described him as one of the most renowned chiefs of the Normans. The French historians mention him as the greatest politician, the most humane prince of his time, religious, wise, liberal, eloquent, and indefatigable; of a noble figure, and majestic mien. William the Conqueror was descended from him in the seventh degree.

During the time that England was ravaged by the Danes, these Islands did not escape their incursions: according to some insular MSS. in Guernsey, they landed on that Island and plundered the inhabitants, carrying off their corn and cattle. It was at this time that Vale Castle was built for their protection and security, and when finished was large enough to contain all the inhabitants with their cattle and effects; it was then called St. Michael's Castle, or the Castle of the Archangel. Little more than the

* This Clameur d' Haro still subsists, in practice; but the complai nant must make the appeal before two witnesses; and should it be made without a substantial reason, the appellant may be fined by the court. "De Haro."

"Notre vieille chronique nous en fournit un exemple memorable, en la

personne d'un pauvre homme, de la ville de Caën. Il arrêta, en "vertu d'un Haro, la pompe funèbre de Guillaume le conquerant, qui "lui avoit ôté un champ de terre, jusqu'à ce qu'on lui eût fait raison "de cette usurpation. Et en l'année 1418, la ville de Roûen étant assiegée par Henri, Roi d'Angleterre, un prêtre fut deputé pour lui "faire cette harangue, et au Duc de Bourgogne: Tres excellent prince, et seigneur, il m'est enjoint de crier contre vous le grand "Haro, qui signifie l'oppression qu'ils ont des Anglois; comme ra

porte Monstrelet."

Coutumes de Normandie, par Basnage.

outer wall of the original building now remains, and it has of late years been converted into barracks.

Duke Robert, who succeeded to the Dukedom of Normandy in 1028, greatly enlarged its defences. He had prepared a considerable force to invade England, during the reign of Canute, to support the claims of his cousins. to the crown of that kingdom: he had embarked his forces Feschamp, intending a descent on the Sussex coast, but the day after he set sail he was driven by a storm into Guernsey, and would have been cast on the rocks of that dangerous coast, had not the fishermen ventured out in their boats to his relief, and brought them into a bay on the north side of the Castle, where they rode in safety. The Abbot of St. Michael received him with all the respect due to a sovereign; on which account he added to the domains of the abbey, and granted it many immunities, as will be hereafter noticed. He also left engineers on the Island, and skilful men, who added two other castles, which are now gone to decay.

The immunities granted to the Abbey of St. Michael proved of great service to the Island. The Abbot by Robert's grant being confirmed proprietor of a considerable portion of land within and round the vale, portioned it out to such of the inhabitants as would clear it, and thus prepare it for tillage, and he encouraged the inhabitants of Normandy to emigrate for the same purpose. The Abbot had also the power to establish a feudal Court, to decide all cases in the Island, whether civil or criminal. This seems to have been the first regular jurisdiction of any kind established in Guernsey. Duke Robert died in 1035.

William, an illegitimate son of Robert, succeeded to the dukedom, and the improved state of the Island tempted.

pirates from the coast of France to invade and commit their ravages on it: they must for a time have had military possession, for they built a castle near the centre of the Island; but application having been made to William for assistance, he sent a body of troops under Sampson D'Anneville, who relieved the inhabitants and put the pirates to the sword: to reward this service William granted to D'Anneville a large portion of land—one half of the Island being divided between him and the Abbot of St. Michael: he at the same time granted other portions to some of his nobles, and reserved the remainder to himself, which he let out in fiefs or manors, and appointed a person to manage and receive the rents. Thus was Guernsey brought into general cultivation in the eleventh century, and about this time divided into parishes as it is at present.

On the conquest of England, by William, Duke of Normandy, these Islands came under her dominion, and have remained so since that period, notwithstanding the many efforts that have been made by the French to wrest them from it: they have, as Mr. Falle the historian of Jersey has observed, "the preference in point of antiquity to most others of their Majesties** subjects, Ireland not being subdued till the reign of Henry II.; nor Wales till that of Edward I.; nor Scotland till the begining of this last century, to say nothing of foreign plantations, which are yet most of them of a later date."

Though, in England, the laws, customs, manners, and even the language, underwent a material alteration at the Conquest, no change occurred in Jersey, or neighbouring islands, in any of the foregoing respects. Under Henry

* Falle wrote during the reign of William and Mary,

the First all of them were finally annexed to the kingdom of England as a part of Normandy.

The intestine troubles by which England was agitated, during the reign of King John, enabled the French to invade and subdue Normandy. Twice also they attempted these Islands, but were repulsed. The king himself came over, and encouraged his loyal subjects to defend his and their patrimony.* He added to the defences on the island, and strengthened the existing fortifications at Grosnez and Mont Orgueil. He gave to Jersey† a body of constitutions: this code is the foundation of all its franchises and immunities; and has been the basis of all subsequent charters, down to the present time: these are very numerous, and have been granted by different English monarchs, from Henry the Third to Charles the Second. Since the latter reign no new charter has been given; but orders from the sovereign in council, have, at sundry times, been issued to a similar effect. This code may, with strict propriety, be called the Magna Charta of Jersey; and was granted prior to the charter extorted from him by the barons.

John having freed the Islands from their dependence on Normandy, determined that all matters of appeal, hitherto carried before the Duke's Exchequer in Normandy, should be referred to himself and council in England: this is at present the last appeal that the inhabitants have fro.. their

* It has been a matter of surprise to some historians, that John suffered his Norman possessions to be wrested from him with so little opposition, and exerted himself so strenuously on behalf of these islands; but they must have overlooked the circumstance, that he had them granted to him when Earl of Mortaigne, by his brother Richard I., which readily accounts for his partiality; and it is related that he several times visited the islands, after he became seated on the throne of England.

+ Called in the deed Gerese.