History of Cornwall
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The history of Cornwall goes back to the Paleolithic, but in this period Cornwall only had sporadic visits by groups of humans. Continuous occupation started around 10,000 years ago after the end of the last ice age. When recorded history started in the first century BCE, the spoken language was Common Brittonic, and that would develop into Southwestern Brittonic and then the Cornish language. Cornwall was part of the territory of the tribe of the Dumnonii that included modern-day Devon and parts of Somerset. After a period of Roman rule, Cornwall reverted to rule by independent Romano-British leaders and continued to have a close relationship with Brittany and Wales as well as southern Ireland, which neighboured across the Celtic Sea. After the collapse of Dumnonia, the remaining territory of Cornwall came into conflict with neighbouring Wessex.
By the middle of the ninth century, Cornwall had fallen under the control of Wessex, but it kept its own culture. In 1337, the title
By the end of the 18th century, Cornwall was administered as an integral part of the
Cornwall's Early Medieval history, in particular the early Welsh and Breton references to a Cornish King named Arthur, have featured in such legendary works as Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, predating the Arthurian legends of the Matter of Britain (see the list of legendary rulers of Cornwall).
Pre-Roman Cornwall
Stone Age
Cornwall was only sporadically occupied during the
The upland areas of Cornwall were the parts first open to settlement as the vegetation required little in the way of clearance: they were perhaps first occupied in Neolithic times (Palaeolithic remains are almost non-existent in Cornwall). Many megaliths of this period exist in Cornwall and prehistoric remains in general are more numerous in Cornwall than in any English county except Wiltshire. The remains are of various kinds and include menhirs, barrows and hut circles.[2][3]
Bronze Age
Cornwall and neighbouring
There is evidence of a relatively large-scale disruption of cultural practices around the 12th century BCE that some scholars think may indicate an invasion or migration into southern Britain.[citation needed]
Iron Age
Around 750 BCE the
During the
The first account of Cornwall comes from the Sicilian Greek historian Diodorus Siculus (c. 90 BCE – c. 30 BCE), supposedly quoting or paraphrasing the 4th-century BCE geographer Pytheas, who had sailed to Britain:
The inhabitants of that part of Britain called Belerion (or Land's End) from their intercourse with foreign merchants, are civilised in their manner of life. They prepare the tin, working very carefully the earth in which it is produced ... Here then the merchants buy the tin from the natives and carry it over to Gaul, and after travelling overland for about thirty days, they finally bring their loads on horses to the mouth of the Rhône.[6]
Claims have been made that the Phoenicians traded directly with Cornwall for tin. There is no archaeological evidence for this and modern historians have debunked earlier antiquarian constructions of "the Phoenician legacy of Cornwall",[7][8][9][10] including belief that the Phoenicians even settled Cornwall.
Toponymy
By the time that Classical written sources appear, Cornwall was inhabited by tribes speaking Celtic languages. The ancient Greeks and Romans used the name Belerion or Bolerium for the south-west tip of the island of Britain, but the late-Roman source for the Ravenna Cosmography (compiled about 700 CE) introduces a place-name Puro coronavis, the first part of which seems to be a misspelling of Duro (meaning Fort). This appears to indicate that the tribe of the Cornovii, known from earlier Roman sources as inhabitants of an area centred on modern Shropshire, had by about the 5th century established a power-base in the south-west (perhaps at Tintagel).[11]
The tribal name is therefore likely to be the origin of Kernow or later Curnow used for Cornwall in the Cornish language. John Morris suggested that a contingent of the Shropshire Cornovii was sent to South West Britain at the end of the Roman era, to rule the land there and keep out the invading Irish, but this theory was dismissed by Professor Philip Payton in his book Cornwall: A History.[5] Given the geographical separation between the three tribes known as Cornovii–the third being found in modern-day Caithness– and the absence of any known connection, the Cornish Cornovii are generally assumed to compose a completely separate tribe. While their name may derive from their inhabitation of a peninsula, the absence of a peninsula in the other two cases has led to the postulation of a derivation from these tribes' worship of a "horned god."[12]
The English name, Cornwall, comes from the Celtic name, to which the Old English word Wealas "foreigner" is added.[13]
In pre-Roman times, Cornwall was part of the kingdom of Dumnonia, and was later known to the Anglo-Saxons as "West Wales", to distinguish it from "North Wales" (modern-day Wales).[14]
Roman Cornwall
During the time of Roman dominance in Britain, Cornwall was rather remote from the main centres of Romanisation. The Roman road system extended into Cornwall, but the only known significant Roman sites are three forts:- Tregear near Nanstallon was discovered in early 1970s, the other two found more recently at Restormel Castle, Lostwithiel (discovered 2007) and a fort near to St Andrew's Church in Calstock (discovered early in 2007).[15] A Roman style villa was found at Magor Farm near Camborne.[16]
Pottery and other evidence suggesting the presence of an ironworks have been found at the undisclosed location near St Austell, Cornwall. Experts say the discovery challenges the belief that Romans did not settle in the county and stopped in east Devon where Isca Dumnoniorum became a flourishing provincial capital of the Dumnonii.[17] Prof. Barry Cunliffe notes that "in the south-west peninsula of Devon and Cornwall the lack of Romanization, after a brief military occupation in the first century, is particularly striking. West of Exeter the native socio-economic system simply continued unhindered".[18]
Only a few
Archaeological sites at Chysauster Ancient Village and Carn Euny in West Penwith and the Isles of Scilly demonstrate a uniquely Cornish 'courtyard house' architecture built in stone of the Roman period, entirely distinct from that of southern Britain, yet with parallels in Atlantic Ireland, North Britain and the Continent, and influential on the later development of stone-built fortified homesteads known in Cornwall as "Rounds".[23]
Post-Roman and Medieval periods
In the wake of the Roman withdrawal from Great Britain in about 410, Saxons and other Germanic peoples were able to conquer and settle most of the east of the island over the next two centuries. In the west, Devon and Cornwall held out as the British kingdom of Dumnonia.
Dumnonia had close cultural contacts with Christian Ireland, Wales, Romano-Celtic
Relationship with Wessex
The early kings of Wessex are notable for the possible prevalence of Brythonic names among them[26] and therefore care should be exercised in assuming a stark ethnic antipathy between emergent 'British' and 'English' identities, peoples and culture; rather a struggle for dominance of warring elites more or less aligned with eastern 'Germanic' and western 'Romano-Celtic' cultures and peoples.[26] Atlantic Brythons were often recorded in alliance with Scandinavian forces such as the Danes, or Normans in Brittany, up to the period of the Norman Conquest.[27]
In the early eighth century, Cornwall was probably a sub-division of Dumnonia, and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records that in 710, Geraint, king of Dumnonia, fought against Ine, king of Wessex. The Annales Cambriae states that in 722, the Battle of Hehil "among the Cornishmen" was won by the Britons. In the view of the historian Thomas Charles-Edwards, this probably indicates that Dumnonia had fallen by 722, and that the British victory of that year against Wessex secured the survival of the new kingdom of Cornwall for another one hundred and fifty years. There were intermittent battles between Wessex and Cornwall for the rest of the eighth century, and Cuthred, king of Wessex, fought against the Cornish in 743 and 753.[28]
However, according to John Reuben Davies, Dumnonia ceased to exist around the beginning of the ninth century, but:
- The kingdom of Cornwall, on the other hand, remained as an independent British territory in the face of pressure from Wessex, cut off from fellow Brittonic-speakers in Wales and Brittany by the sea and the West Saxons.[29]
In 814,
William of Malmesbury, writing around 1120, says that in about 927, King Æthelstan of England expelled the Cornish from Exeter and fixed Cornwall's eastern boundary at the River Tamar. T. M. Charles-Edwards dismisses William's account as an "improbable story" on the ground that Cornwall was by then firmly under English control.[35] John Reuben Davies sees the expedition as the suppression of a British uprising, which was followed by the confinement of the Cornish beyond the Tamar and the creation of a separate bishopric for Cornwall.[36] Although English kings granted land in the eastern part in the ninth century, no grants are recorded in the western half until the mid-tenth century.[31]
Cornwall now acquired Anglo-Saxon administrative features such as the hundred system. Unlike Devon, Cornwall's culture was not anglicised. Most people still spoke Cornish, and place-names are still mainly Brittonic.
The antiquarian William Camden wrote in his book Britannia in 1607:
- As for those Cornwallians, although they stoutly bent all their force together in defence of their Countrey, yet soone became they subject to the Saxons, as who neither matched then in number, neither was their Countrey sufficiently fenced by nature to defend them.[38]
The Cornish Church
The first centuries after the Romans left are known as the 'age of the saints', as
By the 880s more Saxon priests were being appointed to the Church in Cornwall and they controlled some church estates like Polltun, Caellwic and Landwithan (Pawton, in St Breock or Pillaton in east Cornwall); perhaps Celliwig (Kellywick in Egloshayle or possibly Callington (formally Kellywick)); and Lawhitton. Eventually they passed these over to Wessex kings. However, according to Alfred the Great's will the amount of land he owned in Cornwall was very small.[34] West of the Tamar Alfred the Great only owned a small area in the Stratton region, plus a few other small estates around Lifton on Cornish soil east of the Tamar). These were provided to him through the Church whose Canterbury appointed priesthood was increasingly English dominated.[citation needed]
The early organisation and affiliations of the Church in Cornwall are unclear, but in the mid-9th century it was led by a Bishop Kenstec with his see at Dinurrin, a location which has sometimes been identified as Bodmin and sometimes as Gerrans. Kenstec acknowledged the authority of Ceolnoth, bringing Cornwall under the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Canterbury. In the 920s or 930s King Athelstan established a bishopric at St Germans to cover the whole of Cornwall, which seems to have been initially subordinated to the see of Sherborne but emerged as a full bishopric in its own right by the end of the 10th century. The first few bishops here were native Cornish, but those appointed from 963 onwards were all English. From around 1027, the see was held jointly with that of Crediton, and in 1050, they were merged to become the diocese of Exeter.[37]
The 11th century
In 1013 Wessex was conquered by a Danish army under the leadership of the Viking leader and King of Denmark
The chronology of English expansion into Cornwall is unclear, but it had been absorbed into England by the reign of Edward the Confessor (1042–1066), when it apparently formed part of Godwin's and later Harold's earldom of Wessex.[42] The records of Domesday Book show that by this time the native Cornish landowning class had been almost completely dispossessed and replaced by English landowners, the largest of whom was Harold Godwinson himself.[43]
The Cornish language continued to be spoken, particularly in west and mid Cornwall, and evolved a number of characteristics that began to separate it from its descendant language of Breton. The latter also went through evolution over the centuries, however they remain exceedingly similar. As well, Cornwall showed a very different type of settlement pattern from that of Saxon Wessex and places continued, even after 1066, to be named in the Celtic Cornish tradition.[44] Mills argues that the Breton rulers of Cornwall, as allies of the Normans, brought about an 'Armorican Return'[44] with Cornu-Breton retaining its status as a prestige language.
Post Norman conquest (1066–1485)
Legend has it that
Much of the land in Cornwall was seized and transferred into the hands of a new Norman aristocracy, with the lion's share going to
Robert became Earl in succession to Brian; nothing is known of Cadoc apart from what
A popular Cornish literature, centred on the religious-themed mystery plays, emerged in the 14th century (see Cornish literature) based around Glasney College—the college established by the Bishop of Exeter in the 13th century.[51]
It has been claimed as one of the great ironies of history that three Cornish-speaking Cornishmen brought the English language back from the verge of extinction – John of Cornwall, John Trevisa and Richard Pencrych.[52]
Norman absentee landlords became replaced by a new Cornish-Norman ruling class including scholars such as
Tudor and Stuart period
1485–1603
The general tendency of administrative centralisation under the Tudor dynasty began to undermine Cornwall's distinctive status. For example, under the Tudors, the practice of distinguishing between some laws, such as those related to the tin industry, that applied simply in Anglia or in Anglia et Cornubia (in England and Cornwall) ceased.[54]
The
The Cornish also rose up in the
English Civil War (1642–1649)
Cornwall played a significant role during the
18th and 19th centuries
1755 Tsunami
On 1 November 1755 at 09:40 the
Developments in tin mining
At one time the Cornish were the world's foremost experts of mining (See Mining in Cornwall and Devon ) and a School of Mines was established in 1888. As Cornwall's reserves of tin began to be exhausted, many Cornishmen emigrated to places such as the Americas, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa where their skills were in demand.
There is only one mine South Crofty in Cornwall, that is currently being restarted. Also, a popular legend says that wherever you may go in the world, if you see a hole in the ground, you'll find a Cornishman at the bottom of it.[61] Several Cornish mining words are in use in English language mining terminology, such as costean, gunnies, and vug.
Since the decline of tin mining, agriculture and fishing, the area's economy has become increasingly dependent on tourism—some of Britain's most spectacular coastal scenery can be found here. However, Cornwall is one of the poorest parts of Western Europe and it has been granted
In 2019, Canadian mining company, Strongbow Exploration announced it was looking to resume tin mining at South Crofty.[62]
Politics, religion and administration
Cornwall and Devon were the site of a
Industrialised communities have long appeared to weaken the pre-eminence of the
In 1841 there were ten
Smuggling heyday
The peak of smuggling in Cornwall was evident in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Import taxes and other duties on goods led to a number of traders and consumers evading the extra price burden by using the county's ragged coastline as a landing point for dutiable goods. The most trafficked items were brandy, lace and tobacco, imported from Continental Europe. The Jamaica Inn pub on Bodmin Moor has been noted for its early association with smuggling. By the 19th century, a large proportion of the population of Cornwall – an estimated 10,000 people, including women and children – were thought to take part in the smuggling business. The rate of smuggling subsided in the coming century, and by the 1830s, two factors were established to have combined to make smuggling less worthwhile – improvements in coastguard services which lead to capture, and the reduction of excise duties on imported goods.[65]
20th and 21st centuries
A revival of interest in Cornish studies began in the early 20th century with the work of Henry Jenner and the building of links with the other five Celtic nations.
A political party,
There have been some developments in the recognition of Cornish identity or ethnicity. In 2001 for the first time in the UK the inhabitants of Cornwall could record their ethnicity as Cornish on the national census, and in 2004 the schools census in Cornwall carried a Cornish option as a subdivision of white British. On 24 April 2014 it was announced that Cornish people will be granted minority status under the European Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities.[66]
See also
- Timeline of Cornish history
- Constitutional status of Cornwall
- List of Cornish soldiers, commanders and sailors
- List of museums in Cornwall
General:
Notes
- S2CID 1366803. Archived from the original(PDF) on 28 February 2019.
- ^ Hencken, H. O'Neill (1932) The Archaeology of Cornwall and Scilly. London: Methuen.
- ^ Pevsner, Nikolaus (1970). Cornwall. "Introduction: Prehistory," pp. 25–29. Penguin Books
- ^ "Groundbreaking study: Ancient tin ingots found in Israel were mined in England". The Times of Israel. 16 September 2019. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
- ^ a b Philip Payton. (1996). Cornwall: A History. Fowey: Alexander Associates
- ISBN 1-84232-123-4, p. 51.
- ^ Halliday, p.52.
- ^ Kendrick, Thomas D. (1950). British antiquity. London: Methuen & Co. BNBNo.b5007301. pp. 107, 132
- ISBN 0-904357-81-3. pp.123–131 (Chapter 21 "The Phoenician myth")
- ISBN 0-7524-1452-6. p. 21.
- ^ Cornwall Guide Ancient History page.
- ISBN 0-582-49274-2.
- Cornwall County Council. 6 August 2009. Archived from the originalon 11 March 2014. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
- ISBN 978-0-7083-2032-7.
- ^ "Roman Fort Discovered – Were The Romans Using Cornish Silver?". culture24.org.uk. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
- ^ Roman-British Villa Magor Farm Archived 25 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine, Illogan, Redruth, Cornwall.
- ^ "Romans 'may have settled as far south-west as Cornwall'". 22 June 2010. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 27 March 2018 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
- ISBN 9780198752929.
- ^ "Mynheer Farm – Self Catering Holidays in Cornwall – The Roman Milestone". www.mynheerfarm.co.uk. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
- ^ "St. Hilary's Church". Roman Inscriptions of Britain.
- ^ Roman Milestones near Nanstallon The Trethevy stone can be dated c. 252 as both Caesars died in the following year.
- ^ Fleuriot, Léon (1982) Les Origines de la Bretagne. Paris: Payot; p. 18
- ^ "Flying Past – The Historic Environment of Cornwall: Continuity and Change". www.historic-cornwall.org.uk. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
- ^ Excavations at Tintagel Castle, Cornwall, 1990–1999, R Barrowman, C Batey, C Morris, Society of Antiquities, London 2007
- ^ Charles-Edwards, Wales and the Britons, p. 23
- ^ a b David Dumville: Britons and Anglo Saxons in the Early Middle Ages : The West Saxon Genealogical Regnal List and the chronology of Wessex [1977]
- ^ La Bretagne; des origines à nos jours; Bernard Medrignac, Éditions Ouest France, 2009
- ^ Charles-Edwards, Wales and the Britons pp. 428–430
- ^ Davies, "Wales and the West", p. 341
- Hingston Downin Devon. (Charles-Edwards, Wales and the Britons, p. 431)
- ^ a b Oliver Padel, "Cornwall"
- ^ Davies, "Wales and the West" p. 342
- ^ Charles-Edwards, Wales and the Britons, p. 431
- ^ a b Keynes & Lapidge eds, Alfred the Great, p. 175
- ^ a b Charles-Edwards, Wales and the Britons, pp. 22, 432
- ^ a b Davies, "Wales and the West", p. 343
- ^ a b Todd, The South West to AD 1000, pp. 287–9.
- ^ Camden, Britannia
- ^ SeaDogIT. "The Age of the Saints". Cornwall Heritage Trust. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
- ^ Charter S 1507 at the Electronic Sawyer
- ^ Shepherd, William R. (1911) Historical Atlas. "Dominions of Cnut".
- Brythonic peopleand their lands, not specifically to Wales and the Welsh in the modern sense. Since this reference concerns a parcel of adjoining territories contiguous with Cornwall but not with Wales, and since Wales was not under English rule at this date whereas the evidence of Domesday Book indicates that Cornwall was, it may reasonably be concluded that the land in question was "West Wales" (i.e. Cornwall), not "North Wales".
- ^ Williams, Ann and Martin, G. H. (tr.) (2002) Domesday Book: a complete translation, London: Penguin, pp. 341–357.
- ^ ISBN 9781443823999.
- ISBN 978-0-85989-232-2.
- ^ "Welsh Journals Online". Welshjournals.llgc.org.uk. Retrieved 2 November 2015.
- ^ E. M. R. Ditmas (1969) Tristan and Iseult Twelfth Century Romance by Beroul retold from Norman French
- ISBN 9781579583767.
- ^ Domesday Book, tr. Williams and Martin, pp. 341–357.
- ^ The name Launceston belonged in Anglo-Saxon times to St Stephen's by Launceston (lan stefan tun) where there was a monastery.
- Cornish Archaeology. 55: 66.
- ISBN 978-0-7100-7928-2.
- ^ Payton (2004), chapter 5.
- ISBN 978-0-333-69283-7.
- ^ Rowse, A. L. (1941) Tudor Cornwall. London: Cape.
- Stoyle, Mark(2002). West Britons. University of Exeter Press
- ^ Burne, A. H. & Young, Peter (1959) The Great Civil War, a military history.
- ^ Gardiner, S. R. (1888) History of the Great Civil War vol. i.
- ^ Gaunt, Peter (1987) The Cromwellian Gazetteer
- ^ Cornwall Council. Sources of Cornish History – The Lisbon Earthquake Archived 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- – via JSTOR.
- ^ "Strongbow reviving age-old Cornwall tin mining tradition". Mining Journal. 9 May 2019. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
- ^ Cornwall County Council – Cornish Methodism Archived 8 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Cornish Church Guide (1925). Truro: Blackford
- ^ Digest, Readers (1989). Around Island Britain. Grafton Books. p. 87.
- ^ "Cornish people granted minority status within UK". BBC. 24 April 2014. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
References
- Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Translated by Swanton, Michael (2nd ed.). London: Phoenix Press. 2000.. An online translation is also available at the Avalon Project.
- Camden, William (2004) [1607]. "Britans of Wales and Cornewale". Britannia. Translated by Philemon Holland. A hypertext critical edition by Dana F. Sutton.
- Charles-Edwards, Thomas (2013). Wales and the Britons 350–1064. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-821731-2.
- Cornwall Council. "Home Page - Cornwall Council". www.cornwall.gov.uk.
- Davies, John Reuben (2013). "Wales and West Britain". In Stafford, Pauline (ed.). A Companion to the Early Middle Ages: Britain and Ireland c.500-c.1100. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-118-42513-8.
- ISBN 0-7551-0817-5.
- ISBN 978-0-14-044409-4.
- Padel, O. J. (2014). "Cornwall". In ISBN 978-0-470-65632-7.
- ISBN 1-904880-00-2 (Available online on Google Books).
- Rowse, A. L. (1941) Tudor Cornwall. London: Jonathan Cape
- ASIN B004X16B1E.
Further reading
- Blight, John Thomas (1872) Ancient Crosses and Other Antiquities in the East of Cornwall 3rd ed. (1872)
- Blight, John Thomas (1856) Ancient Crosses and Other Antiquities in the West of Cornwall (1856), 2nd edition 1858. (A reprint is offered online at Men-an-Tol Studios) (3rd ed. Penzance: W. Cornish, 1872) (facsimile ed. reproducing 1856 ed.: Blight's Cornish Crosses; Penzance : Oakmagic Publications, 1997)
- Drake, S. J. (2019). Cornwall, Connectivity and Identity in the Fourteenth Century. Boydell & Brewer. ISBN 978-1-78327-469-7.
- Elliott-Binns, Leonard Elliott (1955) Medieval Cornwall. London: Methuen & Co
- ISBN 0-563-17835-3. with several subsequent editions and reprints.
External links
- Volumes 1–54 of Cornish Archaeology, a peer-reviewed journal published by the Cornwall Archaeological Society