Funds secured for historic feudal system research

Funding has been secured for a research project into Jersey's historic feudal system.

The £250,000 needed for the research was raised through individuals and support from Jersey Heritage, the Société Jersiaise and the Government of Jersey.

A team from Swansea University is set to deliver the two-year project under the title The Fiefs and Seigneurs of Jersey: History and Significance.

Professor of medieval history Daniel Power will lead the project and said: "Rich archival evidence offers huge potential for research into Jersey's system of fiefs and seigneurs."

Prof Power said: "The history of law and landholding in Jersey and the other Channel Islands provides a fascinating link between the medieval and early modern past and today.

"The islands were culturally Norman yet separated politically from mainland Normandy from 1204 onwards, a context that allowed their institutions and legal culture to evolve in a unique way."

Jersey Heritage said the feudal system had revolved around a hierarchical system between the Crown, landowners and tenants.

It explained seigneurial rights - from which financial advantage had been accrued - were abolished in 1966 but the obligations, customs and language attached to various titles remained.

For example, the island has properties described as manors and seigneurs of landholdings known as fiefs, that attend an annual hearing before the Royal Court known as Assise d'Heritage.

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