Fief d'Anneville

Note: We are speaking here of the lordship and fief of d'Anneville in Guernsey, whose seigneur (actual Lord is dr. Marco Paret ) is also a member of the Royal Court of Chief Pleas of Guernsey. There is another homonymous fief of d'Anneville in Jersey which has partly the same origin but has been separate since at least 1205 and has a different history and development

The Seigneury and Fief of Anneville is a historic Norman feudal lordship still in existence in the Bailiwick of Guernsey. According to tradition, its feudal charter was to extend over a quarter of the island of Guernsey. In fact, it covers a significant area within the parish of Saint Sampson, as can be seen on the online mapping tool of the ArcGIS platform. Historically, the Seigneurie of Anneville consisted between 1248 and 1770 of a much larger territory, encompassing nearly half of the island of Guernsey. The Seigneurie of Anneville encompasses actually a collection of feudal estates, including the Fief of Anneville, the Franc Fief de la Rozière, the Fief de la Croute Bouilleuse, and historically, the Fiefs of Fauville and Mautalent.

1061 Sampson d’Anneville

The Fief et Seigneurie d’Anneville has a greater legendary tradition than any other Guernsey fief, especially so regarding its foundation. The often-repeated story is that William the Conqueror in 1061 granted a fief amounting to a quarter of the island to his esquire Sampson d'Anneville, in recognition of his leading a band that, with the assistance of William’s almoner the Abbot of Mont St Michel, expelled pirates from Guernsey and fortified its castles. A extract of a cronique of the abbaye de Caen mentions the Seigneur of Anneville as one of the Seigneurs that should rule Normandy during the conquest of England and in specific he should rule on Val-de-Saire [[1]]. It is therefore sure that in 1066 a seigneur d'Ansneville was governor of the Val-de-Saire. Samson had issue first, Guillaume d'Anneville, who was probably the "sire Val-de-Saire" referred to by Wace (l. 13604) as being present at the conquest and who was an under-tenant of Roger de Montgomery in Hampshire, and a second son, Humphrey, who was a sub-tenant of Eudo Dapifer in Hertfordshire. The family of d'Anneville had some connections with the Knights Templars. In the reign of King John, we find Jordan d'Anneville, whose wife, Beatrice de Lacy, granted land to the Knights Templars. A branch remained in Guernsey, pronounced to be one of the oldest families in the island by some commissioners that Queen Elizabeth had appointed to enquire into the nature of the feudal tenures there [[2]]

The first Settlements

Sampson drew after him a number of emigrants from Normandy to settle upon his Fief, and Duke William gave to other Norman squires tracts of land in Guernsey, such as the Manors of Sausmarez, Les Bruniaux de St. Martin, Mauxmarquis, Rohais, etc., and to the Abbot of St. Michael were accorded droits de haute justice or the privilege of judging, condemning, and executing criminals while the Seigneur d'Anneville had the prison. All this was comfortably arranged and settled before the Conquest.

1061-1248

Several versions exist concerning the early history of the Fief d’Anneville, shaped by differing levels of access to continental sources and by political circumstances during the Anarchy (1135–1153).

According to a first version—widely circulated in Guernsey due to the absence of documentation from mainland France—the Fief d’Anneville remained in the hands of Sampson d’Anneville’s descendants for approximately 80 years. This line is said to have ended with the death of its lord during the civil war between Stephen and Matilda. After Matilda’s husband, Geoffrey Plantagenet, secured control over Normandy in 1144, the fief was considered escheated to the Crown. Henry II is reported to have granted it to his brother, William, Earl of Montaigu, though his tenure was brief, and the fief soon reverted to the royal demesne. It remained under royal control until 1190, when Richard I granted it to his brother John, then Count of Mortain. Upon becoming king in 1199, John is said to have transferred the fief to Robert de Vere—ancestor of the Earls of Oxford—under a term-limited grant. This version concludes with Henry III selling the fief to Guillaume de Chesney in 1248.

A second, more source-based version suggests that the d’Anneville family retained the fief through at least four generations and only relinquished it in 1205, when John and Sampson d’Anneville forfeited their Norman lands by siding with the French king. Under this scenario, their earlier loyalty to Geoffrey Plantagenet would explain why they retained their holdings in Guernsey during his control of the island. It is also plausible that they acquired jurisdiction over, or direct tenancy in, parts of the former du Bessin territory—specifically the Fief Le Comte—during the major redistribution of lands following Geoffrey’s ascendancy. The existence of the Fief Mautalent, a vassal fief of Anneville located in Catel (on territory formerly part of the Fief du Bessin), supports this hypothesis. Since du Bessin reverted to the Crown around 1135–1144, such subinfeudation can only have occurred between that period and 1165.. After 1144, Geoffrey of Anjou gained effective control over the Channel Islands and was in a position to redistribute fiefs according to his own political priorities. It is therefore likely that, around 1150, a substantial reorganization of landholding took place across the islands. Surviving charters indicate that not only the ownership but also the territorial boundaries of several fiefs were significantly altered during this period.

One hypothesis holds that, during this redistribution, the d’Anneville family received overlordship over the entire Fief Le Comte and possibly even feudal jurisdiction over a quarter of the island—an idea echoed in later traditions. This would explain several anomalies: Le Comte’s lack of a manor house; the 13th-century declarations by Anneville’s successors asserting superiority over Le Comte; and Le Comte’s absence from the Royal Court’s roll, which traditionally listed only those fiefs held directly from the Crown. Notably, Sir William de Chesney—already Seigneur of Anneville—was entrusted with the custody of Le Comte during the minority of Baldwin de Vere, the then holder. According to Norman feudal law, such garde noble responsibilities could only be exercised by an overlord or by one acting on the overlord’s behalf, reinforcing the likelihood of Anneville’s suzerainty.

While 19th-century historians such as Tupper and Ewen laid important groundwork for understanding Guernsey’s feudal structure, their interpretations were sometimes shaped by local bias and limited access to continental legal sources. More recent scholarship, based on primary documents such as the Coutume de Normandie, the 1253 charter, and the partage of 1350, confirms that by the mid-13th century, the Fief Le Comte was no longer a tenure en chef. Its procedural bypassing of the Royal Court, its later legal subordination to Anneville, and Anneville’s recognized droit de réversion all point to a formal hierarchy that earlier accounts did not fully acknowledge.

Following the loss of the d’Anneville family’s possessions in 1205, the Fief of Anneville was formally re-granted to Sir William de Chesney by King Henry III in 1248.

1248-1509 The grant to de Cheney

The Chesney or Cheney family were residents of the channel islands and remained there as Lords of the Fief. They subsequently played a prominent role in the government of both Guernsey and Jersey. Edmund de Cheney was governor of both islands from 1357 to 1367; he had inherited Fief D’Anneville on the death of his father, Sir William in 1348.

It is of this period the Garenne d'Anneville by a charter granted by Prince Edward (later King Edward I) on 9 June 1261

1509-1660 The Fachin family

The Fief d'Anneville changed bands several times during succeeding centuries till, in 1509, it came into the possession of Nicolas Fachin, Gentleman Usher to Henry VIII. Anneville's estate then included the branch of Le Comte , which, in 1630, George Fachin, sold to Peter Priaulx. From the Priaulxs the fief Le Comte passed, in 1722, to the Le Marchants, and subsequently through a female brancher into the possession of the Hutchesson family and successors.

1660-1964 The Andros - Fachin Family

The original Anneville Fief, with dependencies, came to the Andros family in 1660 by the marriage of Alice Fachin, sole heiress of the Fief, with Charles Andros, Captain of the St Martin's Regiment, and brother of Amias Andros, Bailiff of Guernsey from 1661 to 1674. Amias Andros was bailiff of Guernsey under Charles II, and was succeeded by his son, Sir Edmund, that became also governor of New York and Virginia. Before his service in North America, Sir Edmund served as Bailiff of Guernsey and apparently mantained this position even after being in America (so he was in leading position in Guernsey from 1674–1713). Andros was recalled to England from Virginia in 1698, and resumed the title of Bailiff of Guernsey. Although he no longer resided entirely on Guernsey, he was appointed lieutenant governor of the island, and served in this position for four years. Edmund Andros died in 1714.

The Fief remained in the Andros family and their descendants until 1964.

1964-2022 From Cyril Northcote Parkinson to Marco Paret

The fief was sold by Relph Andros to Cyril Northcote Parkinson, who was living in the island at the time. Parkinson is known worldwide for "Parkinson's Law". He restored the feudal court and was very attentive to the feudal tradition of Anneville. He wrote also several romans revolving around the former Seigneurs d'Anneville (The Guernseyman and others). He sold the fief to Donald Wilson. From there, the fief passed to the present Seigneur, Marco Paret, international coach, author of various books and researcher of Norman and chivalric traditions.[[3]]

Seigneurie d'Anneville

The Seigneurie d'Anneville comprises various fiefs, including the fief d'Anneville.

Historical Dependancies:

Franc Fief de la Rosière

Fief de la Croute Bouilleuse

Fief de Mautalent

Fief de Fauville

The seigneur of the fief d'Anneville was also granted that the "Landes du Marchè" belonged to his fief in a court decision of 1309

Participation in the Royal Court of Chief Pleas

The Seigneur of Anneville (actually dr. Marco Paret) is one of the 10 private Seigneurs required by law to attend the Royal Court of Chief Pleas and owe suit of court. This tradition dates back to the founding of the court in 1270 and the court served as the primary self-governing body of Guernsey until the late 19th century.

Probably, the court existed even before 1270. In the Great Roll of the Norman Exchequer of 1180, the first glimpse of such a court in Guernsey, under the presidency of a royal officer, is seen. The court would have executed justice by the judgment of the chief tenants, the suitors of the duke's court. Today, the suitors of the court are still summoned three times a year at the Court of Chief Pleas (Ewen). King John altered the constitution by instituting a bench of twelve jurats elected by the magnates of the island, under the presidency of the Governor of the Isles or his lieutenant, to replace the feudal judges who held their lands by service of suit of court. However, the main feudatories continued to participate in the court and still owe suit of court today. This change was likely due to the danger of leaving the administration of justice entirely in the hands of the remaining chief feudal tenants, many of whom had probably lost their lands in Normandy and were connected by family ties to that province. Despite the abolition of feudal duties, the recognition of fiefs remains legally and morally significant in Guernsey, which has a distinct Norman tradition and legal system separate from the United Kingdom. The Land Registry, through the States of Guernsey Cadastre online platform, maintains a map of feudal estates, including the Fief of Anneville.