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Kingdom of Cornwall
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The Kingdom of Dumnonia somes retroactively dubbed the Kingdom of Cornwall, was a petty kingdom that existed during the sub-Roman and Early Middle Ages in Great Britain's south-western peninsula; it was roughly in the area of what is today called Cornwall and Devon. Like many small kingdoms which emmerged across Great Britain, it saw the Celts return to self government on the island.
name seems to derive from a Brythonic tribe called the Cornovii, whose existence is implied from the place-name Durocornavium (see Dumnonii) recorded in the Roman Ravenna Cosmography.
Kernow is the Cornish language name of Cornwall to this day, with cognates in Welsh Cernyw and Breton Kernev.
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The Kingdom of Dumnonia somes retroactively dubbed the Kingdom of Cornwall, was a petty kingdom that existed during the sub-Roman and Early Middle Ages in Great Britain's south-western peninsula; it was roughly in the area of what is today called Cornwall and Devon. Like many small kingdoms which emmerged across Great Britain, it saw the Celts return to self government on the island.
Name
Its name seems to derive from a Brythonic tribe called the Cornovii, whose existence is implied from the place-name Durocornavium (see Dumnonii) recorded in the Roman Ravenna Cosmography.
Kernow is the Cornish language name of Cornwall to this day, with cognates in Welsh Cernyw and Breton Kernev. (Kernev is also the Breton form of the region of Brittany known in French as Cornouaille.) Its Latin name is Cornubia, but it was known to the Anglo-Saxons of neighbouring Wessex as the kingdom of the West Welsh, later as Cornwall.
Status and character
Cornwall seems to have originally been part of the greater kingdom of Dumnonia, although tradition seems to indicate that it had its own monarchs at times and may have been one of a number of sub-kingdoms. However, some members of the recreational Celtic movement in Britain such as Peter Berresford Ellis, believe it was always independent of Dumnonia, perhaps as early as the time of Gildas (c. 545). This was certainly the case after the majority of the latter kingdom fell under Anglo-Saxon control in the 8th century.
Dumnonia had remained largely un-Romanized and settlements continued in use into the post-Roman period. It is suggested that the kings were itinerant, stopping at various palaces, such as Tintagel, at different times of the year. Lesser lords built defended 'rounds' like Kelly Rounds and Castle Dore.
Dumnonia may have reverted to paganism after the Roman departure from Britain, or perhaps Christianity never reached these far-flung parts of the Empire. In the 5th and 6th centuries, however, the area was evangelized by the children of Brychan Brycheiniog and saints from Ireland. There was an important monastery at Bodmin and sporadically, Cornish bishops are named in various records until they submitted to the See of Canterbury in the mid-9th century.
Kings of Cornwall
Cornish monarchs are recorded in a number of Old Welsh documents and Saints' Lives as well as in local and Arthurian tradition:
Since the 19th century, there has been controversy concerning a certain Huwal, "King of the West Welsh". This character only appears in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle entry for 927, accepting King Athelstan of Wessex as his overlord. 'West Wales' was an old term for Dumnonia or Cornwall, but may also refer to present day West Wales, then generally known as Deheubarth, where Hywel Dda was king, although in 927 Hywel Dda signed a founding charter in Exeter, as part of his life long reconciliation with Lloegr. These charters signed by Hywel as king of the whole of Wales
for a short time are listed by Emanuel College Cambridge in their ancient archive of manuscripts. Other 'kings', such as Ricatus, mentioned on memorial stones may have ruled more localised regions.
An early 17th century pedigree of a so-called 'Earl of Cornwall' in the Book of Baglan may possibly also represent a list of rulers in Cornwall
According to William of Worcester, writing in the 15th century, Cadoc, described as the last survivor of the Cornish royal line at the time of the Norman Conquest in 1066, was appointed Earl of Cornwall by William I of England.
Arthurian connection
Arrival of the Saxons and Normans
Lying in the extreme west of Britain, Cornwall was protected from Anglo-Saxon land invasions until 814 when King Egbert of Wessex subdued parts of Devon that were until then part of Cornwall. Clashes continued throughout the early 9th century and by the 880s Wessex had gained control of at least part of Cornwall, where Alfred the Great had estates. William of Malmesbury, writing around 1120, says that King Athelstan of England (924–939) fixed Cornwall's eastern boundary at the Tamar. The chronology of Wessex expansion into all of Dumnonia is unclear, but it had long been absorbed into England by the reign of Edward the Confessor (1042–1066), even before the Kingdom of Jorvik which was the last state to be incorporated.
Cornwall showed a very different type of settlement pattern to that of Saxon Wessex and places continued (even after 1066) to be named in the Celtic Cornish tradition with Saxon architecture being uncommon in Cornwall. The earliest record for any Anglo Saxon place names west of the Tamar is around 1040.
See also
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