The Jersey Norman Story: 1,000 years

Today Jersey is British, neither English nor French. It is our Norman heritage that provides Jersey’s unique identity, so it is surprising how little this is perhaps understood.

When the Normandy Region made the decision to use 2027, the Millennium of the birth of William the Conqueror, to celebrate 1,000 years of Norman heritage, this provided the opportunity Jersey needed to delve into that heritage and share it with the other Norman regions.

This new publication uses both English and Jèrriais, Jersey’s Norman language, to explain how that story evolved from 933 to the present day and investigate the evidence.

Jean Treleven is a former teacher and keen historian. She is a Blue Badge Guide and likes nothing more than sharing her enthusiasm for Jersey’s history, geology, language ‘and cows’ with both locals and visitors alike.

The early medieval period has always held a fascination for Jean so the opportunity to work with Geraint Jennings to share this story using both English and Jèrriais has been a real delight.

Geraint Jennings is a Jèrriais writer and translator. He has shared the ‘art of translation’ at previous festivals, discussing amongst others, his Jèrriais versions of Le Petit Prince, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Shakespeare’s Sonnets and The Tempest plus some of the Tintin stories. Geraint taught Jèrriais for many years in Jersey schools and now works with Jèrriais for Jersey Heritage.