Royal Charters of Guernsey

The Royal Charters, a sequence of nineteen issued by eight English monarchs from Edward III in 1341, through to the Restoration period of Charles II in the late 1600s, grant and confirm the rights and privileges centring on the islanders' customs and laws, and various commercial and fiscal dispensations. More than any other documents they define the crucial relationship between Guernsey and the Crown, and set out the basis on which the island's people conducted their lives. In many ways they are the central documents in the history of Guernsey from the 14th to the 17th century.

Text above from 'The Charters of Guernsey' Tim Thornton, 2004

The images below look at the detail and the beautiful illuminations which adorn some of the Royal Charters