Feudal court sits to meet ancient customs

Sunday 17 November 2019

Guernsey's Bailiff and others have travelled to France to conduct the business of the ancient fief de Blanchelande, which sees money shared between needy people living within the fief and other local charities.

The fief de Blanchelande is nothing to do with the private school, which is now based at Les Vauxbelet in St Andrews, but is linked with the site of the former college in St Martin which is now a retirement and nursing home complex.

Pictured: The former Blanchelande Convent on the fief de Blanchelande. Image from Blanchelande College's website. 

The fief de Blanchelande is essentially an estate (fief), which includes various land parcels in St Martin, stretching from Jerbourg to Petit Bot including parts of the cliffs.

In the Middle Ages it was owned by the-then Abbey of Blanchelande, which is near La Haye du Puits in Normandy. The Abbey leant its name to the fief and the land, and part of the fief in Guernsey is still called Blanchelande today.

There are also two other visible signs of the fief in St Martin's.

A granite stone, set in the roadside wall of La Barbarie Hotel on Saints Bay Road, commemorates the site of the original cell of monks from the Abbey and was also the location of the former fief court house. 

There is also an obelisk at Saints Harbour in memory of Charles Lefebvre who administered the fief for his brother, Admiral Nicolas Lefebvre in the mid-nineteenth century. It was blasted into the sea by the Germans during the Occupation but was later recovered. 

Pictured: Part of the fief de Blanchelande as it looks today, as a nursing/retirement home complex called Blanchelande Park. 

The Abbey only owned the St Martin’s fief until the early 15th century, when it was taken and re-granted by successive Kings of England to men who served them. It was then bought by the Carey family in 1563.  After that it passed by inheritance or purchase through private owners until 1981. 

At that time, the last private owner of the fief, Gerard Gosselin, granted his wife life enjoyment and then bequeathed it in perpetuity to whoever is the Bailiff.  The present Seigneur of the fief is therefore Sir Richard Collas.  

Seigneur Gerard Gosselin’s will also stipulated that the income of the fief goes into a trust created in memory of his brother, and that part of the income from that trust is distributed by the fief’s officers to needy inhabitants of the fief. The remainder goes to another Guernsey charity.  

It is also stipulated in Seigneur Gosselin's will that the court of the fief meet at least once a year, observing its ancient rights and customs, to transact the business of the fief.  

Pictured: The fief de Blanchelande covers land between Jerbourg and Petit Bot. 

Recently the members of the feudal court of the fief de Blanchelande in St Martin travelled to France and visited the site of the former Abbey of Blanchelande near la Haye du Puits in Normandy. By kind permission of the present owner of the Abbey, members and officers of the Guernsey court, at their own expense, went to the site in Normandy.  A short sitting of the court was held in the old Abbey complex which was followed by a talk by Professor Mari Jones, Professor of French linguistics and language change at Cambridge University.  

Professor Jones spoke about Thomas Martin who lived on the St Martin’s fief in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries and was a scholar of Guernsey French.  Mr Martin translated the entire Bible and all of Shakespeare’s plays and other plays by famous French playwrights into Guernesiaise.    

The Court later had a tour of the grounds including a former Abbey chapel.  

As Sir Richard is due to retire as Bailiff next year, this will likely be his last duty as the Seigneur of the fief de Blanchelande, before it is inherited by his successor as Bailiff, Richard McMahon - the current deputy Bailiff. 

Pictured top: The Seigneur, members and officers of the court and Professor Jones in front of the 12^th century gatehouse of the old Abbey.