Editing History of Jersey (section)

== 17th century ==

=== Governorship of John Peyton (1603–1620) ===
[[James VI and I|James VI]] of Scotland became King of England, and hence of Jersey, after the death of Elizabeth I in 1603. The Governor of the time, Walter Ralegh, was tried and imprisoned for conspiring against the King after the death of Elizabeth and replaced with Sir [[John Peyton (soldier)|John Peyton]]. Peyton strongly disliked Presbyterianism, including Calvinism, and attempted to abolish the religion in Jersey. The king initially allowed the island's to continue under their present faith system. However, Calvinism was increasingly unpopular among islanders, which aided Peyton's caused. When St Peter's rectory became vacant in 1613, Peyton appointed Elie Messervy to the position. The [[Colloquy (law)|Colloquy]] called a Synod to meet to discuss, however Peyton banned the meeting. Both sides sent parties to Westminster – the Colloquy sending George Poulet, the Bailiff – however a compromise was found locally, with Messervy agreeing to continue using the Huguenot prayer book.<ref name="BHJ" />{{Rp|93–4}}[[File:Sir Philip Bailhache Bailiff of Jersey.jpg|thumb|209x209px|To this day, the tradition that the Bailiff wears red robes remains.]]Peyton was also against democracy in the form of the States and the freedoms of the Courts in Jersey. In 1615, Jean Hérault was appointed [[Bailiff of Jersey|Bailiff]] by the King, having been promised the role by [[letters patent]] in 1611. Peyton disputed this appointment, claiming it was the Governor's jurisdiction to appoint the Bailiff. Hérault asserted it was the King's jurisdiction to directly appoint the Bailiff. An Order in Council (dated 9 August 1615) sided with Hérault, which Hérault took to claim the Bailiff was the real head of government and the Governor was simply a military officer. Hérault took steps to assert the precedence of the Bailiff over Governor: he ordered his name to be placed before the Governor's in church prayers and was the first Bailiff to wear red robes (in the style of English judges). To back his claims, he cited that in the Norman administrative tradition, the Bailiffs had "noone above them except the Duke".<ref name="BHJ" />{{Rp|96–7}} He frequently reported neglect of duty by Peyton, such as the reduction in the guard at Elizabeth Castle.<ref name="BHJ" />{{Rp|96–7}}<ref name=":22">Bailhache, Philip (n.d.). [https://www.jerseylaw.je/publications/jglr/PDF%20Documents/JLR9910_cry_for_constitutional_reform.pdf The Cry for Constitutional Reform – A perspective from the Office of Bailiff]. Jersey Law (jerseylaw.je). Retrieved 3 June 2022.</ref>

This dispute led to one of the most major turning points in Jersey's constitutional history, as the division of powers between the Governor and Bailiff were clearly demarcated. Though the Privy Council did not agree with Hérault's extreme position on the precedence of the Bailiff, on 18 February 1617 it declared that the "charge of military forces be wholly in the Governor, and the care of justice and civil affairs in the Bailiff." This secured for both the Bailiff and the States precedence over the Governor on justice and civil affairs, the constitutional precedent which limits the involvement of the Lieutenant-Governor in domestic affairs today.<ref name=":22" />

In 1617, the Royal Commissioners Sir Edward Conway and Sir William Bird visited the island. This led to the recommendation that the island should have a [[Dean (church)|Dean]]. The appointment was [[David Bandinel]], the Italian Rector of St Brelade's, taking office in 1620. This was not popular with the States, with some Rectors stating they would not recognise the position of the Dean. He took office nonetheless and, by order of the King, [[Anglicanism]] was hence effectively established as the state religion of the island. The Book of Discipline lost its validity and the prayer book was changed to a translated version of the [[Book of Common Prayer]], and all future Ministers had to be appointed from then on by a Bishop. Bandinel enforced these changes, including removing the Rector of [[Saint Mary, Jersey|St Mary]] from office for speaking against the prayer book, however the order that Communion should be taken kneeling was not.<ref name="BHJ" />{{Rp|94–5
}}

Aside from religion, the Commissioners also ordered that the island's garrisons be increased and for better training for the militia. They did not recognise the Bailiff as being the island's true Governor, ordering that the States must receive permission from the Governor before being permitted to meet, however did also affirm the precedence of the Bailiff in the civil administrative spheres.<ref name="BHJ" />

=== Wars of the Three Kingdoms (1646–1651) ===
{{see also|Channel Islands in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms}}
During the 1640s, England, Ireland and Scotland were embroiled in the [[War of the Three Kingdoms]]. The civil war also divided Jersey, and while the sympathy of islanders lay with Parliament, the de Carterets (particularly Sir [[George Carteret]] and Sir [[Philippe de Carteret II]]) held the island for the king. The Prince of Wales, the future [[Charles II of England|Charles II]] visited the island in 1646 and again in October 1649 following the [[High Court of Justice for the trial of Charles I|trial]] and [[execution of Charles I|execution]] of his father, [[Charles I of England|Charles I]]. In the Royal Square in [[Saint Helier|St. Helier]] on 17 February 1649, Charles was publicly proclaimed king after his father's death (following the first public proclamation in Edinburgh on 5 February 1649).<ref>{{cite book |first=Maija |last=Jansso |title=Art and Diplomacy: Seventeenth-Century English Decorated Royal Letters to Russia and the Far East |date=10 September 2015 |publisher=BRILL, 2015 |isbn=9789004300453 |page=204}}</ref> Parliamentarian forces eventually captured the island in 1651 and Elizabeth Castle seven weeks later.

=== Commonwealth and Restoration (1651-1689) ===
The Puritan Col. James Heane was appointed Governor of Jersey in 1651. There were complaints from islanders about the new resident soldiers. Despite the fact that Heane had prohibited looting, many soldiers stole things from islanders and secularised a number of holy buildings, for example burning all the pews in [[Saint Helier|St Helier]]'s church. Many soldiers attending services at the island's churches disrespected services because they could not understand them, as Jersey services were in the local French language. Printed slips were brought from England which Jerseymen were required to sign, swearing allegiance to the 'Republic of England ... without King or House of Lords'.<ref name="BHJ" />{{Rp|139–40}}

The Royalist landowners could redeem their land by paying between one and two years' income. However Jersey's system of ''rentes'' were complicated from an English perspective and the process of extracting the value of incomes from the landlords was laborious. The Receiver-General stormed because he could not get enough funds for his department, leading to him affronting the Bailiff and being imprisoned in Mont Orgeuil.<ref name=":8" />{{Rp|page=140}}

There was concern over the new republican Government's powers to reform Jersey's system of governance. At the time, all but one Jurat had been deposed of office and Parliament had prevented any election in the island until it had control of the situation. The Council recommended that the island's government be fully restored, but that all entrusted with public office should be freely elected and not to enjoy continuance for life. However, before the reforms could be implemented, the English Lord Protector [[Oliver Cromwell]] dissolved the Long Parliament in 1653. As such, the replacement Parliament recommended that year that ten new Jurats be elected, provided they were loyal to Parliament and to hold office for two years only. However, this new Parliament was also dissolved, so only one Jurat remained. Attempts were also made to incorporate Jersey into England. In 1652, Parliament had treated it as an English county, appointing a county committee, and in 1653, an Instrument decreed that Jersey should send one member to the House of Commons. In the end, the States never met during the nine years of the Commonwealth as the Bailiff, Lemprière, refused to call on the Rectors.

Instead the island was governed by the Royal Court (called ''L'État'' or the Court of the Lord Protector). Cromwell directly appointed – as opposed to the islanders electing – eleven Jurats to serve on the Court, however many of these were absent and neither able to govern nor administer justice.<ref name=":8" />{{Rp|page=141–2}}

While Charles was proclaimed King in London on 8 May 1660, it was not until 2 June that that news reached the island, and Charles II was proclaimed King for the second time in the Royal Square.<ref name=":8" />{{Rp|page=146}} In recognition for all the help given to him during his exile, Charles II gave [[George Carteret]], Bailiff and governor, a large grant of land in the American colonies, which he promptly named [[New Jersey]], now part of the United States of America.<ref>{{cite book |last=Weeks |first=Daniel J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FM_BrMaXR2kC&pg=PA45 |title=Not for Filthy Lucre's Sake |date=1 May 2001 |publisher=[[Lehigh University|Lehigh University Press]] |isbn=0-934223-66-1 |page=45}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Cochrane |first=Willard W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gnqxb5vuTEMC&pg=PA18 |title=The Development of American Agriculture |date=30 September 1993 |publisher=[[University of Minnesota Press]] |isbn=0-8166-2283-3 |page=18}}</ref> Furthermore, Charles II presented to the island a royal mace as a 'perpetual remembrance of [the Bailiffs'] fiedelity'; since then, it has always been carried before the Bailiff at sittings of the Royal Court and the States (even during the Occupation).<ref name=":3" />{{Rp|28–9}}

Another reward given to the island by Charles was the perquages. These are a series of routes that offered sanctuary to malefactors to leave the island. All except St Ouen and St Martin lead to the south coast. For example, St Mary, St John and St Lawrence leave via St Peter's Valley and Beaumont (today a cycle track leading to the south coast). Where a case did not amount to felony, wrongdoers could request to ''vider le pays'', being entitled to nine days of sanctuary in any of the parish churches and then having to leave the island using a perquage route. This theory of the perquages as being routes of sanctuary is disputed. However, it is likely the clergy used these ancient ways to convey outlaws to the sea and records show sanctions for blocking the perquage way.<ref name=":8" />{{Rp|page=147}}

In 1666, it was reported by English spies in Paris that Louis XIV intended to invade Jersey after his declaration of war with England. The Governor rallied the militia, intent on dying to defend the island, but peace was agreed before any invasion could happen.<ref name=":8" />{{Rp|page=150–1}}

In 1673, there were concerns over the growing number of houses on the island. The construction of houses on arable land was putting the island's self-sustenance and food security at risk. Therefore, the States declared that new houses should only be built in St Aubin and Gorey, or where surrounded by 20 vergées of land.<ref name=":8" />{{Rp|page=154}}

In 1680, the States voted in favour of requesting the island's first dedicated prison be constructed in town in order to be nearer the Royal Court (previously prisoners had been held at Mont Orgueil, the King's tenants in the east being required to guard them). The building arching over Charing Cross (at the time the entrance to town from the west) was completed by 1699, where the prison would remain until its 1811 relocation to the present site of the General Hospital (on Gloucester Street, not at Westmount).<ref name="BHJ" />{{Rp|166}}

=== Reign of William of Orange (1689–1699) ===
In 1689, [[William III of England|William of Orange]] became the King of England; and England, as a Dutch ally, went to war against the French. Although due to the scale of the war, the island did not come into much focus, it was at this time the Privilege of Neutrality which had long been enjoyed by the islands was lost. William had banned all trade with France, a proclamation which applied to Jersey as well, however due to corruption in the higher levels of Jersey's government, namely the Lieutenant-Governor himself Edward Harris, a large smuggling trade thrived, operating from the bailiwick. Smugglers would be alerted by a fire set by French merchants on the [[Écréhous|Écrehous]] reef, a part of Jersey's bailiwick, to which Jersey boats, under the approval of the Lieutenant-Governor, would travel to conduct illegal trade. Despite attempts from parish authorities to stop the boats, the fact that the reef was part of Jersey and that these boats had permission from the government to travel to the islets, no action could be taken.<ref name="BHJ" />{{Rp|164–5}}

During William's wars with France, Jersey was on the whole at peace, with the notable exception of 1692, when Louis XIV permitted an army to gather at La Hougue on the [[Cotentin]]. James II himself also went to the Cotentin, however Jersey's allegiance was now against the Stuarts. However, in a naval battle in 1692, the French fleet at La Hougue were destroyed. Although the threat of foreign powers was numb during this period, on island tensions were high. The Governors and Bailiffs were generally absent – the Governor Henry Lumley never visited the island at all during his time in office and after the death of Sir Edouard de Carteret, no bailiff was appointed for five years. The eventual successor Charles de Carteret faced large opposition, especially from his own tenants in [[Saint Ouen, Jersey|St. Ouen]]. A group of jurats complained to the [[Privy Council of the United Kingdom|Privy Council]] that de Carteret was absent and not well accustomed to the law and culture of the island. Charles attempted to oppose this by blocking sittings of the Jurats in court, claiming they could not sit since they were related to the plaintiff or defendant (which they most often were since everyone in Jersey was somehow related to one another). With Charles ended the male line of de Carteret seigneurs.<ref name="BHJ" />{{Rp|164–5}}

Towards the end of the 17th century, Jersey strengthened its links with the Americas when many islanders emigrated to New England and north east Canada. The Jersey merchants built up a thriving business empire in the Newfoundland and [[Gaspé Peninsula|Gaspé]] fisheries. Companies such as Robins and the Le Boutilliers set up thriving businesses.