HISTORICAL NOTES.
The chief authorities for the history and antiquities of Guernsey are:—
- Du Moulin: "History of Normandy." [1631].
- Thomas Dicey: "Historical Account of Guernsey."
- William Berry: "History of the Island of Guernsey."
- F.B. Tupper: "History of Guernsey."
Extracts bearing on the foregoing pages are quoted in these notes from the above, but Du Moulin seems to be the writer on whom the later authors have depended.
NOTE A.
Archbishop Maugher.—"William succeeded Robert A.D. 1035. One of his most powerful opponents was his uncle Maugher, Archbishop of Rouen, who, after William was settled in his Duchy of Normandy, excommunicated him on pretence that his wife Matilda was too nearly related. William, in 1055, deposed and banished Maugher in consequence to the Isle of Guernsey.... Insular tradition has fixed his residence near Saints Bay.
"Du Moulin says: 'Maugher, thus justly deposed, was banished to the island of Guernsey, near Coutances, where, says Walsingham, he fell into a state of madness, and had a miserable end. Others affirm that during his exile he gave his mind to the black arts (sciences noires) and that he had a familiar spirit, which warned him of his death, while he was taking his recreation in a boat, on which he said to the boatman: "Let us land, for a certainty one of us two will be drownèd to-day," which happened, for as they embarked at the port of Winchant he fell into the sea and was drowned, and his body being found a few days afterwards was interred in the church of Cherbourg'" (F.B. Tupper, "History of Guernsey," p. 40).
NOTE B.
Vale Abbey.—"The Abbey of Mont St. Michael was reduced in its revenues by Duke Richard of Normandy. The number of Benedictines was reduced in proportion to the reduction of the revenue, and those who were driven from thence, retiring to Guernsey, founded in the year 962 an abbey in that part of the island now called the Close of the Vale. This they called the Abbey of St. Michael" (Wm. Berry, "History of Guernsey," p. 52).