History

Thousands of years ago, around the time of the last glacial period, when sea level was lower,
the Channel Islands were high ground on the plain connecting the European Continent and southern England.
In 933 AD, the Duchy of Normandy annexed the islets, along with the other Channel Islands and the Cotentin Peninsula.
After William, Duke of Normandy conquered England in 1066, the islands remained united to the Duchy until Philip Augustus conquered mainland Normandy in 1204.
In 1259 Henry III did homage to the French king for the Channel Islands. Edward III, in the 1360 Treaty of Brétigny, waived his claims to the crown of France and to Normandy,
but reserved various other territories to England, including the Channel Islands.
The 1911 Britannica says that Maîtresse Île "affords a landing and shelter for fishermen."
A small company of Wehrmacht soldiers on the Minquiers were among the last to surrender in the Second World War.
A French fishing boat, skippered by Lucian Marie, approached the island of Minquiers and anchored nearby.
A fully armed German soldier approached and asked for help saying 'We've been forgotten by the British, perhaps no one on Jersey told them we were here,
I want you to take us over to England, we want to surrender'. This was on 23 May 1945, three weeks after the war in Europe ended.