The Channel Islands, 1370-1640: Between England and Normandy

This book surveys the history of the bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey in the late medieval and early modern periods, focusing on political, social and religious history. It argues that the islands' regular tangential appearance in the mainstream historiography of England and the British Isles demonstrates the need for a more systematic history. The islands were at the forefront of the attempts by the English kings in the fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries to maintain and extend their dominions in France. During the Wars of the Roses and the early Tudor period they were frequently the refuge for claimants and plotters. During the Reformation period they were a leading centre of Presbyterianism and, later, were strategically important during the continental wars of Elizabeth's reign. In addition, Thornton shows how the islands' relationship with central power in England kept changing in interesting ways, how they maintained links with Normandy, Brittany and France more widely, and how politics, religion, society and culture developed in the islands themselves.