Life Imitates Terry Pratchett

[saavedra77]

Casting aside four centuries of tradition, inhabitants of the island of Sark have decided to abandon feudalism.

The sparsely-populated, two square-mile Channel Island had long been considered the last feudal state in Europe. Settled by forty families during the reign of Elizabeth the 1st, Sark's feudal government consisted of a Seignor and a parliament of landowners.

Sark's bold new experiment with universal adult suffrage will begin with elections this December for a new island parliament.

The last time that Sark achieved this kind of notoriety was in 1991, when the island was subjected to a one-man invasion attempt by a unemployed French nuclear physicist. Fortunately, the island's constable disarmed the would-be conqueror while the latter was sitting on a bench loading his semi-automatic.

I'm not making this up, people!

Comments

[waysofseeing.livejournal.com]

That's amazing.

For a local comparison, the math says that Orcas Island is about four times the size of Sark. It's as if somebody took one of the smaller islands in the San Juan chain -- say, Shaw or Waldron -- and made it into a quasi-independent state. (And I've met a few people who'd like to do just that.)

[saavedra77.livejournal.com]

I've been reading up on this, and it turns out that the Channel Islands are "Crown Dependencies"--not part of the U.K. and not represented in the Westminster parliament, but owing ultimate allegiance to the British crown. And although Sark has its own autonomous government, it's technically part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey (another, larger Channel Island).

Nonetheless, it is kind of incredible that this tiny island has maintained itself as an autonomous and highly idiosyncratic state for hundreds of years.

Other curiosities:

The island has no airstrip--you can only get there via ferry.

No cars are not allowed.

Until fairly recently, islanders spoke a form of Norman French.

Before a protective railing was installed in 1900, children supposedly had to crawl across the high, narrow isthmus linking Greater and Little Sark to avoid being blown over the side.