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Argues for the importance of the Channel Islands within the Plantagenet Empire. The conquest of the duchy of Normandy in 1204 by Philip Augustus, king of France, precipitated a near-total collapse of the power of the Plantagenet kings of England in western France. The Channel Islands, as situated a short distance off the coast of Normandy, seemed destined to be incorporated into Philip's kingdom. But instead, the Islands remained under the authority of the kings of England, and by the mid-thirteenth century, the Islands had been asserted an inalienable possession of the English crown. This book examines the place of the Channel Islands in the wider realm of the Plantagenet kings of England from 1204 to 1341, particularly their strategic importance to control over the Channel. It demonstrates that they were as much a part of this realm as its other constituent parts, such as the lordship of Ireland or duchy of Aquitaine. It also considers their political and constitutional status, their administrative and judicial structures, and how Islanders understood their own identity within the socio-economic environment of the Plantagenet world.