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Cornovii (Cornish)
 
 
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The Cornovii were a Celt
Celt

Celts , is a modern term used to describe any of the European peoples who spoke, or speak, a Celtic languages. The term is also used in a wider sense to describe the Modern Celts of those peoples, notably those who participate in a Celtic culture....
ic tribe who inhabited the far South West peninsula of Great Britain
Great Britain

Great Britain is an island lying to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the List of islands by area, and the largest in Europe. With a population of 58.9 million people it is List of islands by population....
, during the Iron Age
Iron Age

In archaeology, the Iron Age was the stage in the development of any people in which tools and weapons whose main ingredient was iron were prominent....
, Roman
Roman Britain

Roman Britain refers to those parts of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire between AD 43 and 410. The Romans referred to their province as Britannia....
 and post-Roman
Sub-Roman Britain

Sub-Roman Britain is a term derived from an archaeologists' label for the material culture of Great Britain in Late Antiquity. "Sub-Roman" was invented to describe the pottery sherds in sites of the 5th century and the 6th century, initially with an implication of decay of locally-made wares from a higher standard under the Roman Empire....
 periods and gave their name to Cornwall
Cornwall

Cornwall , constitutional Duchy and palatine, is a metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of England of England, United Kingdom, located at the tip of the south-western peninsula of Great Britain....
 or Kernow.






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The Cornovii were a Celt
Celt

Celts , is a modern term used to describe any of the European peoples who spoke, or speak, a Celtic languages. The term is also used in a wider sense to describe the Modern Celts of those peoples, notably those who participate in a Celtic culture....
ic tribe who inhabited the far South West peninsula of Great Britain
Great Britain

Great Britain is an island lying to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the List of islands by area, and the largest in Europe. With a population of 58.9 million people it is List of islands by population....
, during the Iron Age
Iron Age

In archaeology, the Iron Age was the stage in the development of any people in which tools and weapons whose main ingredient was iron were prominent....
, Roman
Roman Britain

Roman Britain refers to those parts of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire between AD 43 and 410. The Romans referred to their province as Britannia....
 and post-Roman
Sub-Roman Britain

Sub-Roman Britain is a term derived from an archaeologists' label for the material culture of Great Britain in Late Antiquity. "Sub-Roman" was invented to describe the pottery sherds in sites of the 5th century and the 6th century, initially with an implication of decay of locally-made wares from a higher standard under the Roman Empire....
 periods and gave their name to Cornwall
Cornwall

Cornwall , constitutional Duchy and palatine, is a metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of England of England, United Kingdom, located at the tip of the south-western peninsula of Great Britain....
 or Kernow.

The Ravenna Cosmography
Ravenna Cosmography

The Ravenna Cosmography was compiled by an anonymous cleric in Ravenna around AD 700. It consists of a list of place-names covering the world from India to Ireland....
, of around 700
700

Sorry, no overview for this topic
, makes reference to Purocoronavis, (almost certainly a corruption of Durocornovium), 'a fort or walled settlement of the Cornovii', (unidentified, but possibly Tintagel
Tintagel

Tintagel is a village situated on the Atlantic Ocean coast of Cornwall, in England, United Kingdom. It is in the North Cornwall District and the population of the parish 1,820 persons; area of the parish 4,885 acres....
 or Carn Brea
Carn Brea

Carn Brea is a civil parish and hilltop site near Redruth in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, famous for its long history of human occupation....
). According to professor Philip Payton
Philip Payton

Philip John Payton is Professor of Cornwall and Australian Studies at the University of Exeter and Director of the Institute of Cornish Studies based at Tremough, just outside Penryn, Cornwall....
, in "Cornwall: A History", the Cornovii were most likely a sect or offshoot of the Dumnonii
Dumnonii

The Dumnonii or Dumnones were a Celtic tribe who inhabited the farther parts of the West Country peninsula of Britain, during the British Iron Age and the early Roman Britain....
 tribe whose territory included modern day Cornwall, Devon
Devon

Devon is a large Counties of England in South West England. The county is also referred to as Devonshire, but that is an entirely unofficial name, rarely used inside of the county but often indicating a shire....
, western parts of Somerset
Somerset

Somerset is a Counties of England in South West England. The county town is Taunton, which is in the south of the county. The Ceremonial counties of England of Somerset borders the counties of Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west....
 and perhaps the fringes of Dorset
Dorset

Dorset , is a Counties of England in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester, Dorset, situated in the south of the county at ....
. The Cornovii were sufficiently established for their territory to be recorded as Cornubia
Cornubia

Cornubia can be:*SS Cornubia *Cornwall, an old Latin name*A geologists' name for a former island which existed in the Mesozoic and during continental drift and orogeny became an area of land in or around Cornwall....
 by c700AD, the name meaning "people of the horn", or "peninsula". "Corn" is a common element in British
British English

British English or UK English is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the United Kingdom from forms used elsewhere....
 place-name etymology, literally meaning Horn, but in this context a horn-shaped peninsula. The original territory name was Cerniw and the suffix wealas being the Anglo-Saxon
Old English language

Old English is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written in parts of what are now England and south-eastern Scotland between the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century....
 word, meaning foreigner, (which they also applied to the Welsh), hence the Anglo-Saxon name of Corn-wealas, meaning "foreigners of the horn".

The people who inhabited the very north of the British
Great Britain

Great Britain is an island lying to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the List of islands by area, and the largest in Europe. With a population of 58.9 million people it is List of islands by population....
 mainland (modern Caithness
Caithness

Caithness is a registration county, Lieutenancy areas of Scotland and historic Local government in Scotland of Scotland. The name was used also for the Earl of Caithness and the Caithness of the Parliament of the United Kingdom ....
), and the English West Midlands
West Midlands (region)

The West Midlands is an official Regions of England of England, covering the western half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands#The English Midlands....
  ( NW Staffordshire
Staffordshire

Staffordshire is a landlocked Counties of England in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Stafford. Part of the National Forest, England lies within its borders....
 & NE Shropshire
Shropshire

Shropshire , alternatively known as Salop or abbreviated, in print only, Shrops, is a Counties of England in the West Midlands of England....
) were also known by the same name, Cornovii
Cornovii

The Cornovii , were a people of British Iron Age and Roman Britain, who lived principally in the modern counties of North Staffordshire, Shropshire and Cheshire in the English West Midlands ; moreover, Ptolemy references presence of the Cornivii as far south as Gloucestershire....
. In 1973 Oxford University historian Dr John Morris
John Morris (historian)

John Robert Morris was an English historian who specialised in the study of the institutions of the Roman Empire and the history of Sub-Roman Britain....
 put forward a theory in his work 'The Age of Arthur', that the Cornovii from the West Midlands migrated to Cornwall in 460
460

Events...
. There is however no primary evidence to suggest that these tribes were related or that there was any contact between the two and it appears that the only connection is a name similarity. (The names of 'tribes' Dumnonii
Dumnonii

The Dumnonii or Dumnones were a Celtic tribe who inhabited the farther parts of the West Country peninsula of Britain, during the British Iron Age and the early Roman Britain....
, Damnonii
Damnonii

The Damnonii were a people of the early second century who lived in what is now southern Scotland. They are mentioned briefly in Ptolemy's Geographia , and there is no other historical record of them....
, Cornovii
Cornovii

The Cornovii , were a people of British Iron Age and Roman Britain, who lived principally in the modern counties of North Staffordshire, Shropshire and Cheshire in the English West Midlands ; moreover, Ptolemy references presence of the Cornivii as far south as Gloucestershire....
, Cornavii occur at several locations all over Britain and may simply reflect some language similarity in the eyes of the Romans). For instance there was a Damnonii tribe in Scotland (the Clyde Valley), whose name looks very similar to the Dumnonii tribe of South West Britain, so many have assumed that they must be the same people but again there is no evidence of any contact between the two.

Philip Payton, in his book "Cornwall - A History" says "Dr John Morris in his controversial "The Age of Arthur" postulates an ingenious theory - the Morris thesis is not widely accepted by archaeologists and early historians, and we may safely conclude that the Cornovii located west of the Tamar
River Tamar

The Tamar is a river in south western England, that forms most of the border between Devon and Cornwall . At its mouth, the Tamar flows into the Hamoaze where it joins with the River Lynher before entering Plymouth Sound....
 were an indigenous people quite separate from their namesakes in the Midlands and Caithness."

See also

  • List of Celtic tribes
    List of Celtic tribes

    This is a list of Celtic tribes and associated Celts with their geographical localization....
  • Kingdom of Cornwall
    Kingdom of Cornwall

    The Kingdom of Dumnonia somes retroactively dubbed the Kingdom of Cornwall, was a petty kingdom that existed during the sub-Roman Britain and Early Middle Ages in Great Britain's West Country peninsula; it was roughly in the area of what is today called Cornwall and Devon....
  • History of Cornwall
    History of Cornwall

    The history of Cornwall begins with the pre-Roman inhabitants, including speakers of a Celtic language that would develop into Brythonic languages and Cornish language....
  • Philip Payton
    Philip Payton

    Philip John Payton is Professor of Cornwall and Australian Studies at the University of Exeter and Director of the Institute of Cornish Studies based at Tremough, just outside Penryn, Cornwall....
  • Institute of Cornish Studies
    Institute of Cornish Studies

    The Institute of Cornish Studies started in 1970/71 as a research centre jointly funded by Exeter University and Cornwall County Council, with three core staff being employees of the University of Exeter ....
  • Donyarth
    Donyarth

    King Donyarth is thought to have been a 9th century King of Kingdom of Cornwall, now part of the United Kingdom.He is known solely from an inscription on 'King Doniert's Stone', a 9th century cross shaft which stands in St Cleer civil parish in Cornwall ....
  • Huwal of the West Welsh
    Huwal of the West Welsh

    Huwal , "King of the West Welsh" was a Celtic monarch of the early-mid 10th century recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. There is some controversy over the location of his kingdom....


External links

  • The History Files: