‘The King's Other Islands of the Sea’: The Channel Islands in the Plantagenet Realm, 1254–1341

This article examines the relationship between the Plantagenet kings of England and the Channel Islands from 1254–1341. Notwithstanding a rich volume of accessible record material to consult, the history of the Channel Islands has been omitted from studies of the Plantagenet kings of England and in comparative studies of their wider ‘dominions’ on account of the Islands complex political status and cultural differences. It is argued here that the Islands, rather than being dismissed as political anomalies, were viewed by the kings of England as an integral entity and make an important contribution to understanding the larger construct of the Plantagenet realm. The first half of this article explores the maintenance of Plantagenet control in the Islands following the loss of Normandy and the significance of their inclusion in Henry III’s 1254 appanage to his eldest son Edward. The second half of the article surveys the position of the Islands in the context of the Anglo‐French relations between the Treaty of Paris and the Hundred Years’ War. Paradoxically, strategic location was the key reason for the rights and privileges granted to the Islands which went well beyond what otherwise insignificant territories could have reasonably achieved but was also the cause of its long‐term militarisation and subjection to periodic attacks and counter attacks by the kingdom of France.