THE ANCIENT NORMAN FIEF DE BLONDEL OF THE CHANNEL ISLANDS -
BAILIWICK OF GUERNSEY (A CROWN DEPENDENCY) - THE SEIGNEURS
OF THE NORMAN FIEF BLONDEL - Est. 1179
Greetings from the Ancient Lords, Dames and Seigneurs of Private Fief
Blondel Est. 1179 - "Le Seigneurs de la Fief Thomas Blondel & Fief de
L'Eperons -
The Fief of Blondel is One of the Last Private Fiefs in the World that is registered
directly with the Crown in Her Majesty's Crown Dependencies. It is a Feudal Fief of
the original Normandy and one of the last Norman and French Fiefs in the world
to legally exist.
Fiefdom. In feudalism, a fiefdom (also called a fief, feud, feoff, or fee) was a
property or right that an overlord, seigneur or Lehnsherr (sometimes granted
directly from a King or Queen) gave a vassal in exchange for fealty or service. This
property, of whatever size, could be inherited by the man's heirs.
Some Fiefs are Free Fiefs registered directly from the Sovereign such as this ancient
Norman Fief. The Lords of the Guernsey fiefs were originally all: " liberi homines "
and " franc-tenans ", free men, or free tenants. In other parts of Scandanivia,
Frankonia, Germania, the name is Free Lord, Free Tenant, or Feudal Lord.
Friherre af Fief Blondel, Kanaløyer Est. 1179
History of the Viking Norman Seigneur & Fiefdoms
911AD - The Norse Channel Islands were conquered by the
Vikings before 911AD. As a concession to the invaders, Fiefs
of the Channel Islands begin with the Grants by King Charles the Simple. In 912,
Charles the Simple, King of France, ceded to Rollo, the great Norwegian Chieftain,
the province of Neustria, now called Normandy, and Rollo became the first duke of
that province. On his baptism and marriage with Gisele, daughter of Charles, he
also received Brittany, for which Juhael Berengier, Earl of Rennes, did him homage.
911AD. The Great Viking Chief Rollo Göngu-Hrólfr or Gaange Rolf.
Chief Rollo was a Viking Warrior who became the first ruler of Normandy, a region
of France. He is sometimes called the 1st Duke of Normandy and speculations
point to Denmark as Rollo's birth place. Guernsey, second largest of the Channel
Islands. It is 30 miles (48 km) west of Normandy, France, and roughly triangular in
shape. With Alderney, Sark, Herm, Jethou, and associated islets, it forms the
Bailiwick of Guernsey.
1020AD - The Fiefdom of Thomas Blondel came about through the medieval
fragmentation of Fief Au Canelly and consequently, of the initial half of
Guernésiais or Guernsey given by Duke Richard II in 1020 to Neel, Vicomte of the
Cotentin. AD 1179 - We find Legal Reference of Lord Seigneur of Thomas Blondel, a
noble fief, in a charter of 1179AD when he is witnessing a grant to St. Michael's
Mount. He is Robert Malmarchie (Thomas Blondel).
1204 AD - Fief Blondel and other Fiefs are Forfeited to the Crown with separation
of Guernsey from French Normandy and fiefs of Guernsey were given to loyal
Seigneurs and Dames of the English Crown.
1200's AD - The Parish of St. Andrew in which Thomas Blondel lies contained a
group of four late 12 century ecclesiastical Fiefs, one held by the Bishop of
Countances, the second held by the Abbot of Cormery, Tours, the third held by the
Abbot of La Croix St. Lewfroy, Evreux, and the fourth held by the Abbess of Trinity,
Caen. The Fief Thomas Blondel derives its name, as we have already observed from
the family of Malmarcher or Malmarchy who are recorded in the charters as
existing in Guernsey in the 12th Century. Today, The region of The Fief de Thomas
Blondel lies in both St Pierre du Bois (St. Peter of the Wood) and of the Parish of
Notre Dame de Torteval along with the Blondel Dependency Fief de l'Eperon of
Torteval Parish of the Island of Guernsey.
In 1270, on the death of Sir Henry Le Canelly, the Large Guernsey fief of Canelly
with many fiefs inside of it was officially shared between his daughters. Guilemette,
the wife of Henry de Saint Martin obtained a considerable part of the island
originating later the Fiefs of Janin Besnard, Jean du Gaillard, Guillot Justice and
Thomas Blondel. This was confirmed by the tenants and officers of the Fief in
letters patent issued by Guernsey's Royal Court under the Bailiwick Seal in 1463.
The original noble, Thomas Blondel was a jurat of Guernsey’s Royal Court from
1421-45. The Blondel family has given several jurats to the island. Later the
Columbines and Fiotts were the holders of the title. For a time, the rights over the
Fief were divided in two.
In 12th Century Kingdom of France, the term baronnie or Baron was generally
applied to all lords or seigneurs possessing an important fief, but later in the 13th
century the title of Baron meant that the holder held his Fief directly from the
Crown and was thus more important than a count since counts were typically
vassals.
The islands were invaded by the French in 1338, who held some territory until
1345.
Edward III of England granted a Charter in July 1341 to Jersey, Guernsey, Sark and
Alderney, confirming their customs and laws to secure allegiance to the English
Crown. The young King Richard II of England reconfirmed in 1378 the Charter rights
granted by his grandfather, followed in 1394 with a second Charter granting,
because of great loyalty shown to the Crown, exemption for ever, from English
tolls, customs and duties
A 1440 Record of the Fiefdom Deed of the Fief of Thomas Blondel which the deed
is still located at the University Leeds, shows the parishes of St Peter of the Wood
and Torteval, Guernsey, made by Janet Blondel to Thomas de la Court. attested by
Jean Bonamy and Jacques Guille, jurats. According to the Deed, the Fief Blondel
further includes the: Fief Blondel territory in the parishes of St Pierre du Bois (St.
Peter of the Wood) and of Notre Dame de Torteval along with the Fief de l'Eperon
of Torteval, the Bouvée Phlipot Pain, lying in the said parish of St Pierre duBois, and
the Bouvée Torquetil and Bouvée Bourgeon lying in the said parish of Torteval.
A few of these Guernsey fiefs are still registered directly with the Crown where a
treizième or conge was paid in Royal Court to Her Majesty. A lawyer must be hired
to register the fief in French. Conge is part of the feudal past when a due
(representing one thirteenth of the property price) was charged on the property
changing hands and was paid to the Seigneur of the fief upon which the property
sat. It remains due and payable to the Receiver General in respect of the
conveyance of fiefs. The owners of Fiefs maintain the legal right to be styled with
the ancient title of: Seigneur or Dame.
In the case of the Fief Blondel, the fee was paid by the Seigneur of Fief Blondel
directly to the Crown of the United Kingdom. There may be only a few legally
recognized feudal fiefs in the world left at this time which are legally allowed or
directly registered with a Sovereign King or Queen.
The Noble Fief of Blondel is one of the island's few feudal titles not held by the
Queen.
The Feudal Lord's of Blondel - Approx. Chronology of FreeLords who Held the
Norman Title.
1st Count of Normandy -The Viking Seigneur Duke Rollo 1179AD ( comes
Normanniae ) - Feudal Duke & Lord - Great Viking Chief Rollo Göngu-Hrólfr or
Gaange Rolf - Le Seigneur of the Noble Fief including Fief Blondel 1179 a Norman
Freeholder Lord of property, region, and land rights over small palatinates. Also
known in Northern, Viking, & Scandanavian Countries as: Free Lord - Friherre - The
Fief Thomas Blondel
2nd Duke Seigneur and Duke - William, Duke of Normandy 1066 (Viscount or
comes Normanniae )
3rd Seigneur or Count - Vicomte de Cotentin - Néel de Saint-Sauveur was also
known as: (Niel, Nigel) II (III) de Saint-Saveur, Vicomte de Cotentin born in
1016 and died around 1073.
4thSeigneur - King John Duke of Normandy - 1204-5AD - Separation of Guernsey
from Normandy, The loss of Normandy by King John in 1204 isolated the Channel
Islands from mainland Europe where up to today, Guernsey is an independent
crown dependency. Self governing but loyal to the Crown of England
5th Seigneur - King Henry 1254 AD -
6th Seigneur - King Edward I - In 1254 Henry granted the Islands to his son, the
future Edward I, but at the same time stipulated that the Islands were never to be
separated from the English Crown.
7th Seigneur of the Fief Blondel or Feudal-Free-Lord) The Le Canellys until
1270 - Fief Blondel and other Fiefs are Forfeited to the Crown with separation from
Normandy and given to loyal Seigneurs and Dames.
8th Seigneur or Dames - In 1270AD , on the death of Sir Henry Le Canelly, the large
Guernsey fief "Fief Au Canelly" was divided between his daughters. Guilemette, the
wife of Henry de Saint Martin obtained a considerable part of the island which
originated the fiefs of Janin Besnard, Jean du Gaillard, Guillot Justice and Thomas
Blondel.
9th Seigneur of Fief Blondel - Sir William De Chesney 1284 - Sir William De
Chesney is named as the Seigneur of the Fief Thomas Blondel in 1284 AD
which is over 735 years ago that this noble feudal fief has existed under the
direct relationship with the Crown of England.
10th Lord Seigneur - Le Dame Janet Blondel and Blondel Family until 1440
11th 1440 - Seigneur of Fief Blondel - Sieur Thomas De La Court under the
protection of Prince & Duke of Gloucester, Lord of the Islands at the time.
1481 - Papal Bull in 1481 directed against attacks on the islanders that had the
effect, beneficial to trade, of making Guernsey protected by the Vatican .
12th Seigneur of Fief Blondel - Freeholder-Feudal-Lord & Friherre/Freiherr)
George S. Le Couteur, Seigneur of Fief Thomas Blondel
13th Lord Seigneurs or Freeholder-Feudal-Lord & Friherre or Freiherr)
Seigneur Daniel Hardy & Le Dame Marie Guille in the 1700's.
14th Lord) Seigneur Pierre Robillard of Maison de Pleinmont, Torteval, was the
Seigneur of Fief de Thomas Blondel. The rights over the Fief again joined during
the XIX century as shown in documents of 11/10/1800 (Reg Tome 26, p 420) and
19/05/1798 - Pierre Robilliard obtained the Fief from Daniel Hardy & Marie Guille.
1800 "Monsieur Pierre Robilliard, Seigneur des fiefs Thomas Blondel, Guillot
Justice, Bouvee du Quemin, et fief La Cour Ricard, Decede au Seigneur.
15th Seigneur - Mr. George S. Le Couteur bought and became Seigneur of fief
Thomas Blondel. The other three fiefs remained to Dame Mary Robilliard, wife of
M. Le P. Coquierre, and so passed to their daughter, Miss Le Coquierre.
16th Seigneurs/Dames of the Fief Blondel - Seigeur George S. Le Couteur -Back
to The Le Couteur Family
Fief Blondel, Guernsey, occupied by Germany, 1940-1945.
17th Seigneur ( Count Marcov, Seigneur of Fief Blondel) The rights of Fief
Thomas Blondel acquired by (Count & Seigneur Dr. Marcov of Spain) from Sept.
2000 until December of 2017.
18th Free Lord & Seigneur - Commissioner & Counselor George Mentz JD MBA,
Seigneur of Fief of Blondel et L'Eperons ) on the
island of (Dgèrnésiais - Guernsey French) in Dec.
2017, the rights of the Private Fief of Thomas
Blondel were acquired by George Mentz, Esq of the
United States. Acquired by conveyance and
payment of: Duty, Treizième & Congé, and Jurats
fee, and Fief Permission Fees to the HM/Crown and
Receiver General, HM Clerk Greffier and Courts **
Mentz is an international lawyer who studied
Common, Civil and French/Latin Law who has a
keen interest in maintaining the Feudal Courts of
the Fief Blondel because it is one of the oldest
feudal courts in the world. Mentz is also the titular
feudal Lord Baron of Ancient Longford-Westmeath
in Ireland through acquisition from the original sale
from Earl and Lord Westmeath. The Seigneur of the
Fief of Thomas Blondel also holds the ancient Fief of
Spurs or The Fief à Eperon as a dependency. George Mentz, Seigneur of Fief de
Blondel (A Norman Fief) is a direct descendant of William the Conqueror and Rollo
the Viking, 1st Duke of Normandy. Mentz traces his roots from the McConnells to
the Flemings, Ker, Drummond Campbell and Stewart Families. From there up to
the Kings and Queens of England to the Plantagenets. George Mentz is also a
direct descendent of Henry V The Blondell (1216 – 24 December 1281) The Count
of Luxembourg - The Counts of Luxembourg are descendents of the Count of
Arlon and Dukes of Limburg which was a dynasty in present day Belgium and
Luxembourg.
Mentz is an international lawyer who studied Common, Civil and French/Latin Law
who has a keen interest in maintaining the Feudal Courts of the Fief Blondel
because it is one of the oldest feudal courts in the world. Mentz is also the titular
feudal Lord Baron of Ancient Longford-Westmeath in Ireland through acquisition
from the original sale from Earl and Lord Westmeath. The Fief of Thomas Blondel
also includes the Fief à Eperon as a dependency.
In consultation with experts affiliated with the Nobility Law Committee, Counselor
George Mentz requested the proper use of the Fief Title & Designation in central
Europe. The response was that Mentz should use the following in central Europe
formal events. Commissioner (Kommissar) Prof. Dr. George Mentz, Herr auf
Blondel und L’Eperons. 2022’
http://www.adelsrecht.de/Nichtbeanstandung/nichtbeanstandung.html
Court of Chief Pleas & The Ancient Feudal Court of Fief Blondel
2017 to Present Day - The Goverment's Court of Chief Pleas is an ancient Court and
is constituted in the same way as a Full Court. Nowadays it will typically sit only
once per year. It is attended by the Full Court, the Law Officers of the Crown,
Advocates and the Fief Seigneurs and Bordiers owing suit to the Court. The Feudal
Lords of the Fief are recognized directly by registration with the crown and royal
courts. Many esteemed lawyers and officers are in attendance each year at
Michaelmas which is a Christian festival observed in some Western liturgical
calendars on 29 September. In some denominations a reference to a fourth angel,
usually Uriel, is also added. Michaelmas has been one of the four quarter days of
the financial, judicial, and academic year. Michaelmas annual Court in Guernsey is
usually on the first Monday of October accompained by government meetings, roll
calls, traditional march parade, and dinner of legal, governmental, and feudal
dignitaries.
The Chief Pleas of the Seignorial court of Seigneurial court of Fief Thomas Blondel
were originally held annually at the mounting block or steps (perron) of the Church
of St. Pierre-du-Bois. (St. Peter in the Wood) Now the Cheif Pleas Annual Court is
held at the Old Government House and is led by the Government of Guernsey
where all of the Seigneurs and Bordiers attend and make procession in the streets
of Guernsey as they have done for over hundreds of years.
Feif Territory - The Seigneury of the Fief of Blondel historically over the last 700
years contains about three bouvées of land called the Bouvée Phlipot Pain, lying in
the said parish of St Pierre duBois, and the bouvées Torquetil and Bourgeon along
with the Fief de l'Eperon lying in the said parish of Torteval and likewise all and
such seigneuries, dignities, liberties, graces and franchises as to the aforesaid fiefs
and each of them attach and belong with a certain dinner annually supplied by the
fief of the Prior of Lihou.
The Fief territory itself is spread over areas in the parishes of St. Pierre-du-Bois and
Torteval and contains within it ancient buildings, beachfront, ocean access, & port
lands of the island. The private Fief Blondel may be one of the few Legal Fiefs in the
World that does not require or demand annual or periodic fealty or oaths to and
from the Crown. Thus, it is an independent and free fiefdom and one of the oldest
surviving fiefs and lordships in the world. The Lord of a Channel Island Fief would
be called a Seigneur or Dame or in other languages a Feudal Lord, Lehnsherr
(Germanic), Friherre (Viking/Danish), or føydalherren (Norwegian). As this free
lordship direct from the Crown is Norman and predates typical baronial titles, it is
one of the most ancient fief titles in continuous use in the world.
The Chief Pleas of the Seignorial court of Seigneurial court of Fief Thomas Blondel
were held annually at the mounting block or steps (perron) of the Church of St.
Pierre-du-Bois.
The Fief Blondel is a private fief dating back to 1179 in the Crown Holding Island of
Guernsey where the owners of a fief directly from the Crown are called a Seigneur
according to present law.
A Fief of Fiefdom – is a feudal area of land for which residents once paid fees or
rendered services to the Lord Baron or Seigneur in return for the right to use the
land in commerce. The Free Fief Blondel is in two parishes or counties of Torteval
and St. Peter of the Wood. The Fief sits on the Eastern part of the island and
includes areas in the North, Central and South East Sections of the Island including:
beach, woods, buildings, common areas, sacred lands, and other commercial
buildings and farm land along with potentially including small islands offshore of
the fiefs beach and foreshore.
Historically, fiefs and small baronnies of land, were granted as a form of over-
lordship, giving the Free-Lord or Seigneurs the rights over the people and property
on that land under the ancient Northman/Norman feudal system.
Style of Seigneur - As per the The Feudal Dues (Guernsey) Law, 1980 Style of
Seigneur of a fief etc. Section 4. The foregoing provisions of this Law shall be
without prejudice –
(a) to the right of any person to use, in the case of a male person, the style of
Seigneur and, in the case of a female person, the style of Dame, of a fief,
(b) to the feudal relationship between Her Majesty and any person holding an
interest in a private fief on or at any time after the commencement of this Law, or
to the feudal relationship between any person holding an interest in any fief and
any person holding an interest in a dependency of that fief, and
(c) to the right or obligation of any person by virtue of that person holding an
interest in any fief which is not a right to which those provisions apply or any
obligation correlative thereto.
www.guernseylegalresources.gg/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=71301&p=0
Most of the legal rights formerly enjoyed by the Seigneurs of fiefs having been
abolished by law in 1966 but international law and custom still pertains to the
rights of beaches, airwaves, underground, common areas, foreshore, and other
rights such as hunting and fishing.
A fief owner does register the title in an act of legal title conveyance with Her
Majesty's Receiver General much like the transfer of land rights, mineral rights or
water rights and the fief buyer pays special consideration of Treizième & Congé
fees to the CROWN for the transfer and rights. The Fief holder can be styled
Seigneur (or Dame) du Fief de la .....
Generally speaking, the title is not normally used except in formal settings. A fief, in
legal theory, is held directly from the Crown. However, this fief does not owe
homage or any other services but does maintain rights to conduct customs and
formalities such as creating honorific Fief Officers and Courts or possibly
representing the Fief in any unclaimed area of law such as foreshore, airwaves,
water rights, hunting and fishing rights etc.
The International Court of Justice Addresses many issues of Normandy, The English
Crown, and ownership of the Channel Island Fiefs in various cases.
One of the Oldest Legal Fiefs in the World
Style of Seigneur - As per the The Feudal Dues (Guernsey) Law, 1980 Style of Seigneur of a fief etc.
Section 4. The foregoing provisions of this Law shall be without prejudice –
(a) to the right of any person to use, in the case of a male person, the style of Seigneur and, in the
case of a female person, the style of Dame, of a fie
THE FIEF DE BLONDEL OF THE CHANNEL ISLANDS -
BAILIWICK OF GUERNSEY (A CROWN DEPENDENCY)