Jean Briard

Jean Briard (Floruit 1594-1616)
Guernsey’s first Privateer
Jean Briard and his wife bought the house in High Street which is now the JT phone shop. It is the oldest building with a  (more or less) original facade above the ground floor. The decorative wooden strip above the shopfront is actually fibreglass; the original has been removed to the stairway of the Guille-Alles library for safekeeping. There are decorative corbels on each side (which I missed in this pic) showing the Merchant Marks of Brian’s and his wife.
Briard conducted a lucrative trade in his ship La Colombe; his main cargoes being fish and oil. In 1598 his trade was suffering when opportunity called. In May 1598 Henri IV of France concluded peace with Philip of Spain thereby leaving Elizabeth I to continue the struggle against Spain in the Netherlands bereft of French help. Thus betrayed, the Queen issued Letters of Marque to several Mariners, among whom was Briard, to employ their vessels in attacking French shipping. Jean Briard consequently emerged as Guernsey’s first privateer; his forays anticipating by a hundred years the great privateering era of the 18th century.