of which
are still extant, as the chapel of Rozel in Jersey.

In the reign of John of England the future of the islands was decided by
their attachment to the English crown, in spite of the separation of the
duchy of Normandy. To John it has been usual to ascribe a document, at
one time regarded by the islanders as their Magna Carta; but modern
criticism leaves little doubt that it is not genuine. An unauthenticated
"copy" of uncertain origin alone has been discovered, and there is
little proof of there ever having been an original. The reign of Edward
I. was full of disturbance; and in 1279 Jersey and Guernsey received
from the king, by letters patent, a public seal as a remedy for the
dangers and losses which they had incurred by lack of such a
certificate. Edward II. found it necessary to instruct his collectors
not to treat the islanders as foreigners: his successor, Edward III.,
fully confirmed their privileges, immunities and customs in 1341; and
his charter was recognized by Richard II. in 1378. In 1343 there was a
descent of the French on Guernsey; the governor was defeated, and Castle
Cornet besieged. In 1372 there was another attack on Guernsey, and in
1374 and 1404 the French descended on Jersey. None of these attempts,
however, resulted in permanent settlement. Henry V. confiscated the
alien priories which had kept up the same connexion with Normandy as
before the conquest, and conferred them along with the regalities of the
islands on his brother, the duke of Bedford. During the Wars of the
Roses, Queen Margaret, the consort of Henry VI., made an agreement with
Pierre de Breze, comte de Maulevrier, the seneschal of Normandy, that if
he afforded assistance to the king he should hold the islands
independently of the crown. A force was accordingly sent to take
possession of Mont Orgueil. It was captured and a small part of the
island subjugated, and here Maulevrier remained as governor from 1460 to
1465; but the rest held out under Sir Philip de Carteret, seigneur of St
Ouen, and in 1467 the vice-admiral of England, Sir Richard Harliston,
recaptured the castle and brought the foreign occupation to an end. In
1482-1483 Pope Sixtus IV., at the instance of King Edward IV., issued a
bull of anathema against all who molested the islands; it was formally
registered in Brittany in 1484, and in France in 1486; and in this way
the islands acquired the right of neutrality, which they retained till
1689. In the same rei