'LE GRAND SARAZIN' AND 'LES SARAGOUZAIS.'

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a Grand Saracen in Guernsey? What did the men of Saragossa do there? The ordinary notion concerning the latter is that, in either the expedition of Ivan de Galles, or the fleet which fought off the island in the reign of Edward III., there was something from Saragossa, perhaps men, perhaps ships. Yet Saragossa is in Aragon; and, as Aragon lies inland, vessels and sailors from Aragon are very like shipwrecks on the coast of Bohemia. To a mere etymologist, the most remarkable thing connected with these names is the fact of their both beginning with something very like the preposition sur-above, and the likelihood of their meaning some place above some other place. On the other hand, it is a question upon which a mere etymologist can only venture a suggestion.

Such, however, is the etymological view. The historical one is based on one fact only; and it applies only to the term Saragouzais. This is the fact of the popular opinion connecting it with the events which took place, either in or off the island, during the reign of Edward III.; in one of which Spaniards and Italians are mixed up; Spain being a country which gives the name Saragossa. This belief, tradition, legend, or whatever we may choose to call it, is our primary datum; and, although it is by no means sufficient for historical evidence, is just strong enough to raise a presumption in favour of its being founded on fact. That Sarazin is Saracen can scarcely be called a tradition. It is simply an etymology.

Can the two names be connected? What is now laid before the reader is little more than the suggestion of a suggestion. Still, there is one history, at least, in which the names Sarazen and Saragouzais come together; and that in a manner which may possibly have repeated itself in Guernsey. In Guernsey, the soldiers connected with the name Saragouzais, are Spaniards and Genoese, the time being the latter half of the fourteenth century. In the history of Greece, during the same portion of the same century, there are political relations between certain

military adventurers from Catalonia and Arragon (of which Saragossa is a city), and certain Italians; certainly Florentines, but not improbably Genoese as well. The relations, however, in the quarter, are hostile. On the other hand, they had originally been friendly.

Such the generalities: viz. the existence of political relations between soldiers of the same date, in different parts of the world, in the Spanish portion of which the name Saragossa is a likely, and in the Italian portion of which the name Sarrazin is a real, fact. If Spaniards and Italians in Greece give the same names, at the same time, in such a way that they can be attributed to Spaniards and Italians in Guernsey, a presumption in favour of the common origin is, to say the least, suggested.

Now, in 1311, the formidable band of free lances, which is known in the history of Greece and the Crusades, as the Grand Catalan Company, consisting of Spaniards (chiefly but not exclusively from Catalonia), after having made themselves masters of the dukedom of Athens (founded by the Crusaders after the sack of Constantinople), finding themselves in a state of anarchy, put themselves under the suzerainty of their legitimate kings of the House of Arragon, of which they continued to be appanage, real or nominal, from 1326, until the union of crowns of Arragon and Castile. This gives us the name Saragousse as a probability; since, from that city many a name or title of these liegemen of Aragon may reasonably be presumed to have been taken.

On the other hand, about 1386, between these Catalans, and the Franks under Nerio Acciaiouli, a powerful Florentine, and Governor of Corinth, a war broke out concerning the disposal of a wealthy heiress, the daughter of Louis, Count of Salona. Nerio won, and he bestowed her hand on a relation of his own, Peter Sarrasin.

Such the small piece of outlying history which brings these two names together in Greece. It is not difficult to see how

the similar combinations might have brought them together in Guernsey. The time is the same for both, and the elements in way of geography and nationality are nearly the same.

Of purely popular legend there is, probably, more than has been either published or collected; purely popular legend meaning, not any indefinite superstition (of which there is more than enough), but special narratives connected with certain places, days, or objects. The Lives of the Saints, in a Roman Catholic country, would have given origin to several. The only one, however, in print, is the following from a Latin extract in Falle's History of Jersey. We may call it the Tale of Hambey. The legend is partly given in a former chapter.

In the island of Jersey lies a moor, or fen, which takes its name from that holy man St. Lawrence, and in this fen lay a huge serpent, which did great mischief to flocks and herds, and even to the men of the island. No one dared to attack, save only the Seigneur of Hambey. That brave knight undertook to rid the island of the pest; so he set forth in quest of the snake and took with him a single servant.

The knight of Hambey slew the serpent, and cut off its head. After that he undid his harness, and fell asleep. The wicked servant seeing this, thought that if he killed his master, and vaunted himself as the slayer of the dragon, he might woo the widow. All which he did. He murdered his master in his sleep, and then told his lady that the terrible serpent had destroyed her lord, but that he, the faithful servant, had killed the dragon. The knight, he added, had, with his last words, praised the valour and fidelity of his servant, and sent by him a message to his lady, enjoining her, as she loved his memory, to become the wife of so true a follower.

and they went together.

So the wife gave hand to the knave;

As the varlet was sleeping he was disturbed by a dream, and he cried out in his sleep, Oh! wretch that I am; I have killed mymaster.

This he did, night after night, till the lady suspected his crime and took him to trial, where he was condemned. Then, on the spot where her true husband was killed, she had him buried, and over his remains raised a stone, in loco conspicuo, quem nunc Hogam Hambeyam alias Hagam Byam vocitant. Hoga est pyramis obtusa e terrâ cujus modi Galli vocant mont joyes. The mound is now called the Hougue Bie. It is described, and the legend is alluded to in a previous chapter. (See page 120). NOTE.

The statement found in more places than one, to the effect that there is cotemporary evidence to the outline of the Channel Island coast having been different to what it is at present has already been alluded to. It has yet to be produced; and, as far as it is safe to venture on a negative statement, it is nonexistent.

What, however, is really curious, is the history of the physical condition of the islands in the following letter from Adam de Marisco, a Minorite, to Grostete, Bishop of Lincoln, concerning a volcano.

DOMINO LINCOLNIE FRATER.

Littera quam nostri gratia mihi misistis solatium plurimum præstitit, licet sicut scripsistis quædam contineret inconsolabili digna fletu. * Verum fateor quod cum præsentia conficerem quibus verbis conceptum spiritum vasti horroris exprimerem, penitus ignoravi. Quid sibi velit inauditum retro sæculis portentum his diebus famæ violentia vulgatum, quis conjectorum pensare valebit ? videlicet quod apud insulam de Gerneshey, [quod] utrique regnorum Franciæ et Angliæ quasi conterminam, flammarum globi de gurgite marino frequentius in terrarum eminentias exilire cernunter, etiam moles saxeas cum cæteris materiis irrepressibili conflagratione devorantes, et abactis habitatoribus, post finitas incinerationes, loco incendii armatorum cuneos congressibus bellicis atrocius confligentes et cessante conflictu ad ignotos secessus sese conferentes. Numquid igitur aliud agendum esse putabimus, nisi ut dum insaniunt reprobi electi lugeant, orantes hæc et alia sæculo insueta per superni clementem Domini sæculorum providentiam monstrata in bonum convertantur. Non hujus tam miranda novitatis me auctorem exhibeo sed recito quod me audiente retulit exceptione magna majus testimonium, &c.— Monumenta Franciscana, p. 151.

END OF PART THE THIRD.