Archivists unearth local history from the 1400s

Thursday 28 January 2016

Do you ever struggle to read someone’s writing? Well spare a thought for the staff at Jersey Archive who have been working to decipher some very old documents.

They’ve been given six local contracts dating back to the days before Christopher Columbus discovered America when then French were raiding the Island.

Head of Archives and Collections at Jersey Heritage Linda Romeril said: “The contracts date from 1401 – 1462 with five covering the first 15 years of the 15^th century. To place this in a national context the majority of these contracts date from the time of the Hundred Years War between England and France and from before the Battle of Agincourt which took place 601 years ago.

“Jersey, as ever, was on the front line of the English and French conflict and the period which these documents date from saw a number of raids on the Island.

“The contracts concern the property and sales of Guilleaume Bauche and his wife Johane. Probably the most significant in terms of the history of properties in the Island is the sale to Guilleaume of a house and land in St Peter which took place in 1402. The individual selling the property was Colin Regnault.

“Records show that members of the Bauche family were still living in the parish in the 18^th and 19^th centuries.”