WINCHESTER AND THE CHANNEL ISLANDS.

BY S. W. KERSHAW, ESQ., F.S.A.

(Read August 1893.)

THE study of the territorial changes of the different dio ceses is one of the most interesting phases of Church antiquarian history, and we cannot but examine any old map, or read some monkish chronicler, without noticing this alteration from early years downwards. The diocese of Lincoln formerly extended from that county as far as a remote parish in Buckinghamshire, near the Middlesex border, while that of Salisbury stretched into Berkshire, including Reading, Newbury, and Windsor, now under Oxford.

In Sarum diocese was once a bishopric called Ramsbury (a town near Marlborough), and the Bishops were called "Episcopi Sunningensis", and had an estate at Sonning in Berks (whence the name), and quite recently the Prelates of Salisbury had a residence there. This little see of Ramsbury (within the larger one of Sarum) included, in the tenth century, such portions of Wilts and Berks as were at that time in the territory of the West Saxons; and during the one hundred and sixty years' existence of this unique Wiltshire episcopate, it numbered among its Bishops three who afterwards became Archbishops of Canterbury, viz., Odo, Siric, and Elfric.

The fact that parts of Sarum diocese, once in Hampshire, are now in that of Winchester, brings the interest very close home to us; and as we consider the varying fortunes of the Channel Isles, their further relations with an ancient French and English diocese is fully illustrated. From having formed part of Normandy, which was united to England under Henry I, these Islands have had an independent history, maintaining their own peculiar local rights and privileges under whatever see they were placed. When the Islands were removed from the diocese of Doll (the metropolis of all Bretagne), they were

1 Instances of the changed boundaries of the sees might be quoted all exemplifying the relations of Church property.

placed under Coutances, where they remained for several hundred years, and the consecration of many Island churches was performed by the Bishops of Coutances in the presence of of many dignitaries, whose names were registered in a document called Le Livre Noir.

From 1496-99, during the episcopate of Bishop Blyth (Sarum), they were in that diocese, as shown by a Bull of Alexander VI, dated 1496, a copy of which is preserved among the Lambeth MSS. (No. 585). The Register of Bishop Langton' of Winchester also contains this Bull (a transcript), from which it appears that at the same time Calais was annexed to the see of Canterbury.

The present notes do not claim research among the Winchester archives, which are so rich in ecclesiastical lore, but are taken from other and hitherto unexamined sources, viz., the documents at the Bodleian, Cambridge, and Lambeth Libraries, affording a fresh insight into the ecclesiastical government of the Islands, and adding another link to that chain of history which recognises the ancient see of Winchester as its fountain-head.

In 1568 the union of the Channel Isles to Winchester took place; those Isles so graphically described by the late Victor Hugo as "ces morceaux de la France, tombés dans la mer, et ramassés par l'Angleterre"; and from the above period their chief interest develops. The copy of the instrument of union, dated 11 March 1568, recites, among other things, that the "Bishop of Winchester, being constituted Ordinary' in the said Isles, and his successors, shall from time to time execute that charge, and upon presentment from the Queen's Majestie shall institute, induct, and authorise to deans, ministers, and curates, and schoolmasters, such as of his good discretion may be thought fit to execute those charges according to the language, country, quality, and disposition of the people there." Ecclesiastical causes were to be deter

1 "Historia quæ lain de Statu ecclesiastico Insularum Guernsey et Jersey." ("Bulla Alexandri VI subjiciens dictas Insulas sedi episcopali Sarisburiensi.")

2 Bishop Langton will be remembered as Bishop of St. David's, then of Salisbury, next Master of St. Julian's Hospital, Southampton, hereafter noticed. He was a supporter of the "new learning", and was appointed to succeed Archbishop Morton of Canterbury, but died before his clevation.

mined by commission, and not to be sent to England, according to the ancient usage of the Isles.

The long connection of Jersey and Guernsey with France had naturally tended to make their constitution more Norman than English, and peculiar customs of law and tenure exist and still linger, and have been exhaustively treated in an able work entitled L'Ancien Coutume de Normandie, edited by W. L de Gruchy (published in 1881).

The ecclesiastical annals of the Islands begin to be more extended after their union with the see of Winchester, both as regards the Anglican and the "French Reformed Church", which latter has a long history of its own, requiring an individual and lengthened dissertation.

In Elizabeth's reign" La Reforme" may be said to have taken firm ground by initiating a "Discipline" and Consistory of its own. The Queen permitted to the strangers the use of St. Helier's Church, though she did not approve of the services elsewhere. During her reign the islanders were prosperous. The noble Castle of Elizabeth (named after the Queen) was then erected, and Sark was given to Philip de Carteret as a reward for his meritorious services. James I ordered the re-establishment of "Forms of Prayer" after the English Church, with certain qualifications that might suit the popular feeling. This action seems to have been taken in consequence of the growing spread of the Reformed doctrines, which were naturally at variance with the too rigid exaction of established usage and precedents.

With both communities the Bishops of Winchester have played a prominent part, acting as referees in conjunction with the Governors, Bailiffs, and Jurats of the Islands; and among those who claimed such distinction may be named Bishops Montague, Mews, Trelawney, Hoadly, and others.

The Deans of Jersey exercised spiritual jurisdiction and held ecclesiastical courts, and the right of appeal, after judgment, was reserved to the Bishops of Winchester; and in the case of vacancy, to the Archbishops of Canterbury. Among the Deans (after the Reformation) have been the well-known names of Bandinel, Le Breton, Dupré, and others. Under Dean Bandinel the ecclesiastical jurisdiction, which had lapsed, was restored to the spiri

tual courts, and the "Canons of Conformity" ratified by James I.1

These Canons had not been re-enacted without trouble in ecclesiastical quarters. Archbishop Abbot, to palliate the grievances, revived the office and authority of the Dean, and ordered that the Book of Common Prayer should be printed in French, and used in the foreign churches. The first Dean under this new scheme, Dr. Bandinel, was authorised to exercise this jurisdiction.

Bishop Horne was instrumental, with Lord Burleigh, in gaining for the Walloons the "Domus Dei" at Southampton, which to this day retains its French service, and carries us back to the time when it was known as "The

Chapel of St. Julian". It was in this edifice that Philip of Spain, on his landing at Southampton, offered up thanksgiving for his safe voyage to England, and afterwards proceeded to Winchester for the royal marriage. The Registers of this French church (published by the Huguenot Society of London (1890), and edited by the late Mr. Marett Godfray), are replete with genealogical lore, and include many Jersey or Guernsey names in the lists of baptisms, marriages, and several occurrences of local importance.2

The Governors of the Islands have also had much influence on its Church affairs. At the instigation of the Duke of Somerset, one of the earliest, the French translation of the Book of Common Prayer was made in 1553, and the phrase," pour les iles de sa mageste", appeared on the title-page. The work is very rare, and was issued by order of Edward VI.

Sir Amias Paulet and Sir Walter Raleigh held the post in Elizabeth's reign, and Lord Carew in the time of James I; and though their rule was generally impartial, that of a succeeding Governor, Sir John Peyton, was marked by severe measures on those who would not conform to the "Canons and Constitutions".3

The Deans of the Islands have at times harshly exer

1 Lambeth MS. 744, "Government of the Churches in the Isles of Jersey and Guernsey" (in French).

2 There are also valuable papers in the Transactions of the Huguenot Society, referring to this church and settlement.

3" Letters against the New Canons for the Island of Guernsey", etc. (Lambeth MS. 929, fo. 19-33.)

cised their rule, especially Jean de Saumarez in 1673; and in some cases appeals were rightfully made to the Bishops of Winchester, and occasionally to the Archbishops of Canterbury. The existence of the two separate religions in the Isles could not fail at times to cause tension, which was overcome according to the temper and thought of those both in clerical and civil authority.

The framework of the ecclesiastical government centred in what was called "The Canons and Constitutions", which were revised and adopted from those used in the English Church, for the special wants of the Islands. Those of 1603 were arranged by Archbishop Abbot of Canterbury and Bishop Montague of Winchester. They were printed in French in 1624, and reprinted in 1661, on the accession of Charles II. After the English tenure of the Islands several circumstances contributed to give them a closer association with our country, one of which was that Charles I arranged that three endowments, in Exeter, Jesus, and Pembroke Colleges, Oxford, be made for scholars from Jersey and Guernsey. The munificent Bishop Morley, of Winchester, also gave three scholarships in Pembroke College for islanders.

Charles II sent forth a declaration of loyalty for Jersey, and also authorised the use of the revised "Canons and Constitutions".

The interval of the Civil War had caused a reactionary feeling in the Islands. The Liturgy was discontinued, and less desire to be governed by too stringent measures, which were naturally alien to the members of the Reformed Church of France. This feeling was intensified by the subsequent arrival of hundreds, who, driven from the cruel persecutions under Louis XIV in 1685, naturally sought those shores which were nearest their native land.

The effect of "The New Canons", designed in the year 1700 by Bishop Mews of Winchester, for Guernsey, which had always retained more of the Calvinistic sentiment than the other Islands, brought down disapproval, and letters directed against them are preserved among the Lambeth MSS. So far had this feeling reached that one Monsieur Picot, Minister of Torteval in Guernsey, addressed William III on the subject, and was followed by