Jersey 1204: The Forging of an Island Community

Contemporary Review, Nov, 2004

Jersey 1204: The Forging of an Island Community. J.A. Everard and Sir James Holt. Thames & Hudson. [pounds sterling]19.95. 208 pages. ISBN 0-500-51163-2. This book celebrates the 800th anniversary of Jersey's link to the British Crown. It seeks to explain why this Norman island remained loyal after the rest of Normandy had been lost to Philip of France.

The authors look at the Plantagenet empire, at life in Jersey before 1204, at the military struggles over the island, at the life of the islanders, at the difficulties faced by the church and at the role of government and the law from 1204 to 1259 when Henry III formally accepted the loss. The authors argue that Jerseymen, or at least landowners, chose English allegiance because they 'owed their newly elevated social, political and legal status to the separation of their community from the duchy of Normandy' and the 'disappearance of their Norman overlords' who sided with Philip. Self-interest was the basis of self-government, as good a foundation as any.