Vicomte de Contentin owned 1/2 of Guernsey known as the Fief of Guernsey
Technically, Guernsey and the Fiefs were part of the Manche, Normandy, France.
All titles of nobility were abolished in mainland France, but those titular titles may still exist in
Guernsey.
The Cotentin Peninsula (US: /ˌkoʊtɒ̃ˈtæ̃/,[1] French: [kɔtɑ̃tɛ̃]; Norman: Cotentîn [kotɑ̃ˈtẽ] (About this
soundlisten)), also known as the Cherbourg Peninsula, is a peninsula in Normandy that forms part of the northwest
coast of France. It extends north-westward into the English Channel, towards Great Britain. To its west lie the
Channel Islands and to the southwest lies the peninsula of Brittany.
1204 AD - Fief Blondel and other Fiefs are Forfeited to the Crown with separation from Normandy and given
to loyal Seigneurs and Dames.
The evolution of the lands in the parish of Torteval is complicated, because although initially in the Fief of
the Cotentin, many of its fiefs cover St. Pierre-du-Bois, which is part of the Fief of Bessin. Then the
Southwest side of Guernsey was composed of the Fief Canelly which was divided in 1205 into parts with the Fief
Blondel becoming independent at that time.
Fief Blondel is part of the former large Fief of Canelly, once held by William de Chesney (1284) and before him
by the Le Canellys until the separation of Guernsey from Normandy in 1204.
-Tupper in his history of Guernsey also proves the existence of this church in 1028, quoting the list of Fiefs
existing at the accession of Robert I. (Duke of Normandy in 1028), at which time Guernsey was divided into two
great fiefs: the fief of Néel, vicomte de St. Sauveur (Cotentin), comprised the six parishes of St. Samson, St.
Peter-Port, St. Andrew, St. Martin, the Forest and Torteval, including the Château d'Orgueil.
Néel was also known as: (Niel, Nigel) II (III) de Saint-Saveur, Vicomte de Cotentin born in 1016 and died around
1073.
The remaining four parishes: the Vale, Câtel, St. Sauveur and St. Peter-in-the-Wood, formed the fief of
Ansquetil.
The
Viscount of the Cotentin's title was abandoned but the feudal rigths maintained themselves within the
property. However, following the Battle of Val-ès-Dunes in 1047, where Néel de
Saint-Sauveur (also known as Nigel III) rebelled against Duke William of Normandy and was subsequently defeated, he
fled to Brittany, resulting in the forfeiture of his fief in Guernsey The last
Viscount of Cotentin after Nigel de Saint-Sauveur was Eudes de Saint-Sauveur. He was the son of
Néel II and maybe the last Vicomte, de Saint-Sauveur, de Cotentin of that line until the land rights were aquired
by a lawyer who registered the feudal rights directly with the Queen's courts and paid conge feudal fees. After the
death of the Viscounts, the inheritance of the title Viscount of Saint-Sauveur seems to have faded.
Similarly, there is no evidence that the title of Viscount of Cotentin continuing either. Thus, both
titles seem attached to the soil and land of the Fief Blondel.
Guernsey in 1020 AD is 2 Major Fiefs Below of Bessin and Contenin
The Cotentin, conquered by Quintus Titurius Sabinus in
56 BC,
[33] was divided between
the
pagus constantiensis ("County of Coutances") and the
pagus coriovallensis ("County of Coriallo"), within Gallia Lugdunensis. Coriallo housed a small garrison
and a castrum was built on the left bank of the
Divette as an element of the
Litus saxonicum, after Saxon raids at the beginning of the fourth
century.
[28]
In 497, the village was sold with all of Armorica to Clovis. It was evangelised by Saint
Éreptiole
[fr] in 432, then
by Saint
Exuperat, Saint
Leonicien, and finally Saint
Scubilion in 555.
[34] In
870, Saint
Clair
[fr], landing in Kent, was ordained priest of Cherbourg and established a hermitage
in the surrounding forest.
[35]
After several Norman raids in the ninth century, Cherbourg
was attached to the Duchy of Normandy along with
the Cotentin, in 933, by William Longsword. The Danish King Harold moved
there in 946.
In the face of English threats, Richard III of
Normandy strengthened the fortifications of the castle at the same time as
those of the other major strongholds of Cotentin. In 1053, the city was one of the four main cities of the duchy
of William the Conqueror to
receive an annuity in perpetuity for the maintenance of one hundred needy.
[36]
In 1139, during the struggle for succession to the Anglo-Norman Crown, Cherbourg fell after two months of siege to
the troops of Stephen of England before
being retaken in 1142 by Geoffrey of Anjou, whose
wife, Empress Matilda, three years later founded
the Abbaye
Notre-Dame du Vœu
[fr].
[35]
During the conquest of Normandy by Philip II of France, Cherbourg fell without a fight
in 1204. The city was sacked in 1284 and 1293, the abbey and the Hôtel-Dieu looted and burned, but the castle,
where the population was entrenched, resisted. Following these ravages, Philip IV of France fortified the
city in 1300.
[35]
Its strategic position, a key to the kingdom along with Calais as a bridgehead for invasion by the English and
French, the town was much disputed during the Hundred Years' War. Having one of the strongest
castles in the world according to Froissart, it changed ownership six times as a result of
transactions or seats, never by force of arms. The fortress resisted the soldiers of Edward III in 1346.
In February 1354, Cherbourg was transferred by John II of
France to Charles II of Navarre with the
bulk of the Cotentin.
[37] The city was of
Navarre from 1354 to 1378, and Charles II stayed in Cherbourg on several occasions. In 1378, the city was
besieged by Charles V of France as the rest
of the Norman possessions of the King of Navarre, but in vain. Navarre troops who had dropped the County of
Évreux and the Cotentin were entrenched in Cherbourg, already a difficult taking, and defended it against French
attacks.
[38] In June 1378,
having lost ground in Normandy, Charles II of Navarre rented Cherbourg in 1378 to Richard II of England for a
period of three years. Bertrand du Guesclin besieged it
for six months using many machines of war, but abandoned the siege in December 1378.
[39] The King of England
then refused to return the city to the Navarrese, despite the efforts of Charles II. It was only his
son Charles III of Navarre who
recovered it in 1393. In 1404, it was returned to Charles VI of France, in exchange for the Duchy
of Nemours.
[40]
Fallen in 1418 to the hands of the English, Cherbourg, the last English possession of the Duchy of Normandy after
the Battle of Formigny, was released on 12 August 1450.
[35]
On 28 April 1532, Cherbourg was visited with great fanfare by Francis I and the dauphin.
[35] At that
time, Cherbourg was described by Gilles de Gouberville as a
fortified town of 4,000 residents, protected by drawbridges at the three main gates which were permanently
guarded and closed from sunset until dawn. Inside the city walls, the castle, itself protected by wide moats and
equipped with a keep and twelve towers, was south-east of the city. Outside and to the south of the city walls,
the suburb along the Divette was frequented by sailors.
[41]
Cherbourg was not affected by the wind of the Reformation that divided
Normandy, consolidated and heavily guarded by Matignon
[fr], Henry III thanked his defence
against the troops of Montgomery, as lieutenant-general of
Normandy and Governor of Cherbourg in 1578, and then marshal the following year. The bourgeois also remained
loyal to Henry III and Henry IV, when Normandy was mostly held by
the Catholic League.
[35]
Cherbourg - Wikipedia
Roman Armorica
[edit
]
The peninsula formed part of the Roman geographical area of Armorica. The town known today as Coutances, capital of the Unelli, a Gaulish tribe, acquired the name
of
Constantia in 298 during the reign of Roman emperor Constantius Chlorus. The base of the peninsula,
called in Latin the
pagus Constantinus, joined together with the
pagus Coriovallensis centred upon Cherbourg to the north, subsequently became known as the
Cotentin. Under the Carolingians it was administered
by viscounts drawn successively from members of
the Saint-Sauveur family, at their seat Saint-Sauveur on
the Douve.
[6]
Cotentin Peninsula - Wikipedia
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