[2772] P. Ferrarius, Lexicon geogr., 1670, i, 370.
[2773] ‘The fact,’ says a writer in the Edinburgh Review (Oct., 1900, p. 442), ‘that it was in mediaeval times a “frequented port” is, strictly speaking, not a fact at all ... the contemporary references to it which have been collected by French scholars show that it was neither a town nor a harbour, but an open beach, which travellers in a hurry could use with a favourable wind.’ These remarks are inaccurate: see p. 580, infra. The mediaeval port, or portlet, if local tradition is to be trusted, was, however, simply the mouth of the rivulet, variously called the Rieu de Sombre, Rieu d’Herlan, and Ruisseau du Moulin, which flows through the modern town of Wissant, enlarged and deepened (F. A. F. Mariette, Lettre à M. Bouillet, &c., p. 30, n. 20; D. Haigneré, Étude sur le Portus Itius, p. 91); and the tradition has been confirmed by the explorations of M. Rigaux (Annales de la Soc. géol. du Nord, xxviii, 1899, p. 88). In the dunes which border on the creek formed by the rivulet there have been found certain old balks of oak, mentioned by Haigneré (op. cit.) and C. de Saulcy (Les campagnes de Jules César dans les Gaules, p. 172), which may have belonged to the quays of the mediaeval harbour.
According to Le Quien, the inhabitants of Wissant in his time (early in the eighteenth century) affirmed that the entrance of the harbour had been at the mouth of the Rieu de Ghibelen,—the rivulet nearest to Cape Grisnez (Mém. de litt. tiréz des registres de l’Acad. Roy. des Inscr. et Belles-Lettres, xiii, 1734-7 [1741], p. 417). I agree with Haigneré that the harbour, such as it was, was at the mouth of the Rieu d’Herlan. As he says (Étude, &c., p. 91),‘Pour s’assurer de l’endroit où était le port, il n’y avait qu’à se demander où était le village. Or, le village a toujours occupé l’emplacement sur lequel il est encore bâti de nos jours, savoir: partie à l’est du ruisseau d’Herlan ... où les maisons se reconstruisent avec les débris des précédentes,’ &c. See also Bull. de la Soc. de géogr. de Lille, xix, 1893, p. 199.
[2774] C. de Saulcy, in an article in which he endeavours to prove that the Portus Itius was Wissant (Les campagnes de Jules César dans les Gaules, p. 161), frankly admits that not one of the natives of Wissant whom he interrogated had ever heard that there was such a name as ‘Esseu’, or that the Flemings called Wissant ‘Itzen’ (or ‘Isten’). A. Wauters, indeed, referring to B. E. C. Guérard’s Cartulaire de Folcuin, p. 161, a work which I have failed to procure, affirms (Bull. de l’Acad. Roy ... de Belgique, 2e sér., xlvii, 1879, p. 114) that in a charter of the ninth century property in a place called Istem was granted to the abbey of St. Bertin: but he fails to prove the identity of Istem with Wissant; and even if that identity could be established, no competent etymologist would admit that it supplied an argument for identifying Wissant with the Portus Itius.
[2775] This derivation, which is now generally accepted, is mentioned by Lambert of Ardres, a chronicler of the thirteenth century, who speaks of Britannicum secus portum, qui ab albedine arenae vulgari nomine appellatur Witsant (J. P. von Ludewig, Reliquiae manuscriptorum, &c., viii, 1728, p. 383. Cf. J. F. Pommeraye, Hist. de l’abbaye royale de S. Ouen de Rouen, 1662, p. 457), but is disputed by Le Quien (Dissertation sur le Port Iccius, pp. 342-3, printed in Mém. de litt. et d’hist., viii, 1749, by P. Desmolets). Remarking that Flodoard, a writer of the tenth century, calls Wissant Guicsum, he maintains that Guicsum is identical with Vvicsum, which would mean ‘the port of Sum’, just as Quantovic (Étaples) means ‘the port of the river Canche’. I agree, however, with Desjardins (Géogr. de la Gaule rom., i, 352, note) that it is not certain that by Guicsum Flodoard meant Wissant.
[2776] Essai ... sur l’arrondissement communal de Boulogne-sur-mer, p. 83.
[2777] J. Malbrancq, De Morinis, i, 1639, p. 27; Mém. de la Soc. des ant. de Picardie, iii, 1856, pp. 469-70; A. E. E. Desjardins, Géogr. de la Gaule rom., i. 356-7, note.
[2778] Origines Celticae, ii, 362-4.
[2779] Origines Celticae, ii, 363. Guest apparently forgot that if Wissant was the Portus Itius, Caesar’s ships, when they returned from the second expedition, must have been hauled up on the beach (B. G., v. 24, § 1).
[2780] The Reader, Oct. 10, 1863, p. 414.