Papal Bull of Neutrality for Guernsey and Channel Islands
As part of the peace between England and France, Pope Sixtus IV issued in 1481 a Papal bull granting the Privilege of Neutrality, by
which the Islands, their harbours and seas, as far as the eye can see, were considered neutral territory.
Anyone molesting a Seigneur or Islanders would be excommunicated. A Royal Charter in 1548 confirmed the
neutrality.
The Legal Papal Bull was and still is a good-faith right of the Islanders and
Lords conferred from the Vatican and the Pope.
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