May 1661: Cromwell is erased from memory
An order of the Royal Court, May, 1661.
Le XVe jour de May, et an sus dit [1661] par devant le dit Sr. Bailly ; [AMICE ANDROS, Ecr.] présents Messieurs Jan Brehault, Pierre Careye, James Le Marchant, Charles Andros, Guillaume de Beauvoir, Jan de Sausmarés, Jan de Quetteville, Daniel de Beauvoir, Elizée de Sausmarés, et James Careye, Jurés.
As it has pleased the Sacred Majesty of our Sovereign Lord the King, on the recommendation of his most honourable Privy Council, to order that the names of Oliver and Richard Cromwell, and of other tyrants and usurpers, written within the public records of this island, should be crossed out and erased,—THE COURT, in humble obedience to this order, commands that the names of these said tyrants and usurpers should be erased from the said records, and from any contracts and documents whatsoever in which they might have been named, so that no trace of them remains. And in addition the said Court orders that the names of those Bailiffs and Jurats elected under the said tyrants and usurpers should not be used in any type of contract whatsoever, made since the death of his Sacred Majesty Charles I, of happy memory, to which the seal of this island is officially appended: and that all such contracts must be renewed within a year from next St Michael’s Day, on pain of these said contracts being rendered null and void at the end of this period.
This is a translation of the original French (see below) as written in MacCulloch, Robert, (ed.), Recueil d'ordonnances de la cour royale de l'isle de Guernesey, Vol. I, 1533-1800: Guernsey, Rue des Forges, Barbet, 1852, under the auspices of the Royal Court. It is interesting to compare this decree with their attitude towards Richard Cromwell three years earlier.
15 August 1660: Petition of Amice Andros de Sausmares and Nathaniel Darell, deputies of the Island of Guernsey; they were empowered by the inhabitants of the Island to address themselves by petition to His Majesty, and humbly to beg his pardon, which he has been graciously pleased to grant; pray their Lordships, 'to let them enjoy the benefit of His Majesty's said particular act of grace and mercy, they relying wholly thereupon according to their immediate relation to the Crown only as remains of the ancient Dukedom of Normandy.' [XI 129]. [7th Rep. Hist MSS Com.]
The original French: Sur ce qu’il a pleu à la Sacrée Majesté de nostre Souverain Sire le Roy, par l’advis de son très-honorable Conseil Privé, d’ordonner et faire commandement que les noms d’Olivier et Richard Cromwel, et autres tirans et usurpateurs, inserrés dans les registres publics de ceste isle, soyent rayés at cancelés,—LA COUR, en rendant humble obeissance au dit commandement, a ordonné et ordonne que les noms des dits tirans et usurpateurs seront rayés hors des dits registres, et de tous contracts et ecrits quelquonques où ils peuvent estre denommez, afin que memoire n’en soit laissée. Et d’abondant ordonne la dite Cour que les noms de ceux qualifiés Baillifs et Jurés soubs les dits tirans et usurpateurs ne seront employez dans aucuns contracts, de quelque nature qu’ils soyent, faits depuis la mort de la Sacrée Majesté du Roy Charles premier, d’heureuse memoire, auquels le sceau de ceste isle doit estre apendu : et feront toutes personnes renouveller tous tels contracts dans un an venant après la St Michel prochaine, à peine que les dits contracts seront reputez nuls après le dit temps expiré.