Editing Cornwall (section)

==History==
{{Main|History of Cornwall}}
{{For timeline|Timeline of Cornish history}}
[[File:Men-an-Tol.jpg|thumb|right|[[Mên-an-Tol]]]]

===Prehistory, Roman and post-Roman periods===
{{Main|Prehistoric Cornwall}}
{{See also|Dumnonia}}
Humans reoccupied [[Great Britain|Britain]] after the [[Last Glacial Period|last Ice Age]]. The area now known as Cornwall was first inhabited in the [[Palaeolithic]] and [[Mesolithic]] periods. It continued to be occupied by [[Neolithic]] and then by [[Bronze Age]] people.

[[Cornish Bronze Age|Cornwall in the Late Bronze Age]] formed part of a maritime trading-networked culture which researchers have dubbed the [[Atlantic Bronze Age]] system, and which extended over most of the areas of present-day Ireland, England, Wales, France, Spain, and Portugal.<ref>{{Cite book |editor= Barry Cunliffe |editor2= John T. Koch |title= Celtic from the West: Alternative Perspectives from Archaeology, Genetics, Language and Literature|year= 2010|publisher= Oxbow Books and Celtic Studies Publications|isbn= 978-1-84217-410-4|page= 384|url= http://www.oxbowbooks.com/bookinfo.cfm/ID/88298//Location/DBBC|url-status= dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100612212219/http://www.oxbowbooks.com/bookinfo.cfm/ID/88298/Location/DBBC|archive-date= 12 June 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last= Cunliffe|first= Barry|title= A Race Apart: Insularity and Connectivity|journal= Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society|volume= 75|year= 2009|pages= 55–64|publisher= The Prehistoric Society|doi= 10.1017/S0079497X00000293|s2cid= 192963510}}</ref>

During the [[British Iron Age]], Cornwall, like all of Britain (modern England, Scotland, Wales, and the Isle of Man), was inhabited by a [[Celts|Celtic-speaking]] people known as the [[Britons (Celtic people)|Britons]] with distinctive cultural relations to neighbouring [[Brittany]]. The [[Common Brittonic]] spoken at this time eventually developed into several distinct tongues, including [[Cornish language|Cornish]], [[Welsh language|Welsh]], [[Breton language|Breton]], [[Cumbric language|Cumbric]] and [[Pictish language|Pictish]].<ref>Payton (2004), p. 40.</ref>

The first written account of Cornwall comes from the 1st-century BC Sicilian Greek historian [[Diodorus Siculus]], supposedly quoting or paraphrasing the 4th-century BCE geographer [[Pytheas]], who had sailed to Britain:
{{blockquote|The inhabitants of that part of Britain called ''Belerion'' (or Land's End) from their intercourse with foreign merchants, are civilized 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 traveling overland for about thirty days, they finally bring their loads on horses to the mouth of the Rhône.<ref>Halliday (1959), p. 51.</ref>}}
[[File:England Celtic tribes - South.svg|thumb|right|Celtic tribes of Southern Britain]]
The identity of these merchants is unknown. It has been theorized that they were [[Phoenicia]]ns, but there is no evidence for this.<ref>Halliday (1959), p. 52.</ref> Professor Timothy Champion, discussing Diodorus Siculus's comments on the tin trade, states that "Diodorus never actually says that the Phoenicians sailed to Cornwall. In fact, he says quite the opposite: the production of Cornish tin was in the hands of the natives of Cornwall, and its transport to the Mediterranean was organized by local merchants, by sea and then overland through France, passing through areas well outside Phoenician control."<ref>{{cite journal|last= Champion|first= Timothy|title= The appropriation of the Phoenicians in British imperial ideology|journal= Nations and Nationalism|volume= 7|issue= 4|pages= 451–65|doi= 10.1111/1469-8219.00027|year= 2001}}</ref> Isotopic evidence suggests that tin ingots found off the coast of [[Haifa]], [[Israel]], may have been from Cornwall.<ref>{{cite journal |last1= Berger |first1= Daniel |last2= Soles |first2= Jeffrey |last3= Giumlia-Mair |first3= Alessandra |last4= Brügmann |first4= Gerhard |last5= Galili |first5= Ehud |last6= Lockhoff |first6= Nicole |last7= Pernicka |first7= Ernst |title= Isotope systematics and chemical composition of tin ingots from Mochlos (Crete) and other Late Bronze Age sites in the eastern Mediterranean Sea: An ultimate key to tin provenance? |journal= PLOS ONE | date= 2019 |volume= 14 |issue= 6 |pages= e0218326 |doi= 10.1371/journal.pone.0218326 |pmid= 31242218 |pmc= 6594607 |bibcode= 2019PLoSO..1418326B |doi-access= free }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1= Woodyatt |first1= Amy |title= Ancient tin found in Israel has unexpected Cornish links |url= https://edition.cnn.com/2019/09/19/uk/cornwall-tin-israel-intl-scli-gbr/index.html |access-date= 16 March 2020 |work= CNN |date= 19 September 2019 |archive-date= 9 January 2020 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200109064059/https://edition.cnn.com/2019/09/19/uk/cornwall-tin-israel-intl-scli-gbr/index.html |url-status= live }}</ref> Tin, required for the production of [[bronze]], was a relatively rare and precious commodity in the Bronze Age – hence the interest shown in Devon and Cornwall's tin resources. (For further discussion of tin mining see [[#Economy|the section on the economy below]].)

In the first four centuries AD, during the time of [[Roman Britain|Roman dominance in Britain]], Cornwall was rather remote from the main centres of Romanization – the nearest being [[Isca Dumnoniorum]], modern-day [[Exeter]]. However, the Roman road system extended into Cornwall with four significant Roman sites based on forts:<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Parcero-Oubina |first1=Cesar |last2=Smart |first2=Chris |last3=Fonte |first3=João |date=2023-07-25 |title=Remote Sensing and GIS Modelling of Roman Roads in South West Britain |journal=Journal of Computer Applications in Archaeology |language=en |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=62–78 |doi=10.5334/jcaa.109 |issn=2514-8362 |doi-access=free |hdl=10261/338676 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> Tregear near [[Nanstallon]] was discovered in the early 1970s, two others were found at [[Restormel Castle]], Lostwithiel in 2007, and a third fort near [[Calstock]] was also discovered early in 2007. In addition, a Roman-style villa was found at [[Illogan|Magor Farm]], Illogan in 1935. [[Ptolemy]]'s ''[[Geographike Hyphegesis]]'' mentions four towns controlled by the [[Dumnonii]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=ToposText |url=https://topostext.org/work/209#2.3.13 |access-date=2023-09-11 |website=topostext.org}}</ref> three of which may have been in Cornwall.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Fitzpatrick-Matthews |first=Keith |date=2022-01-01 |title=Britannia in the Ravenna Cosmography: a Reassessment |url=https://www.academia.edu/4175080 |website=Academia.edu}}</ref> However, after 410 AD, Cornwall appears to have reverted to rule by Romano-Celtic chieftains of the [[Cornovii (Cornwall)|Cornovii]] tribe as part of the Brittonic kingdom of [[Dumnonia]] (which also included present-day Devonshire and the Scilly Isles), including the territory of one [[Mark of Cornwall|Marcus Cunomorus]], with at least one significant power base at [[Tintagel]] in the early 6th century.

King [[Mark of Cornwall]] is a semi-historical figure known from Welsh literature, from the [[Matter of Britain]], and, in particular, from the later Norman-Breton medieval romance of [[Tristan and Iseult|Tristan and Yseult]], where he appears as a close relative of [[King Arthur]], himself usually considered to be born of the Cornish people in folklore traditions derived from [[Geoffrey of Monmouth]]'s 12th-century ''[[Historia Regum Britanniae]]''.

Archaeology supports ecclesiastical, literary and legendary evidence for some relative economic stability and close cultural ties between the [[Sub-Roman Britain|sub-Roman]] [[Westcountry]], South Wales, Brittany, the Channel Islands, and Ireland through the fifth and sixth centuries.<ref>{{cite web
|url= http://www.archaeology.co.uk/specials/the-timeline-of-britain/tintagel.htm
|title= AD 500 – Tintagel
|publisher= Archaeology.co.uk
|date= 24 May 2007
|access-date= 24 November 2013
|archive-date= 14 November 2013
|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131114234506/http://www.archaeology.co.uk/specials/the-timeline-of-britain/tintagel.htm
|url-status= live
}}</ref> In Cornwall, the arrival of Celtic saints such as [[Nectan of Hartland|Nectan]], Paul Aurelian, [[Saint Petroc|Petroc]], [[Saint Piran|Piran]], [[Samson of Dol|Samson]] and numerous others reinforced the preexisting Roman Christianity.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Orme |first=Nicholas |title=Unity & Variety: A History of the Church in Devon & Cornwall |publisher=[[University of Exeter]] |year=1991 |isbn=0859893553 |pages=1–22}}</ref>

===Conflict with Wessex===
The [[Battle of Deorham]] in 577 saw the separation of [[Dumnonia]] (and therefore Cornwall) from Wales, following which the [[Dumnonii]] often came into conflict with the expanding English kingdom of [[Wessex]]. [[Centwine of Wessex|Centwine]] of Wessex "drove the Britons as far as the sea" in 682, and by 690 [[Saint Boniface|St Bonifice]], then a Saxon boy, was attending an abbey in Exeter, which was in turn ruled by a Saxon abbot.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Probert |first=Duncan |title=New light on Aldhelm's letter to King Gerent of Dumnonia. |publisher=Oxbow Books |year=2010 |isbn=9781842173572 |pages=110–28}}</ref> The [[Carmen Rhythmicum]] written by [[Aldhelm]] contains the earliest literary reference to Cornwall as distinct from Devon. Religious tensions between the Dumnonians (who celebrated [[Celtic Christianity|Celtic Christian]] traditions) and Wessex (who were [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]]) are described in [[Epistola ad Geruntium|Aldhelm's letter]] to [[Geraint of Dumnonia|King Geraint]]. The ''[[Annales Cambriae]]'' report that in AD 722 the Britons of Cornwall won a battle at [[Battle of Hehil|"Hehil"]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/annalescambriae.html |title=Medieval Sourcebook: The Annales Cambriae 447–954 (The Annals of Wales) |publisher=Fordham.edu |access-date=2 November 2015 |archive-date=4 December 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101204110611/http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/annalescambriae.html |url-status=live }}</ref> It seems likely that the enemy the Cornish fought was a West Saxon force, as evidenced by the naming of [[King Ine]] of Wessex and his kinsman Nonna in reference to an earlier Battle of Llongborth in 710.<ref>[[Weatherhill, Craig]] ''Cornovia''; p. 10</ref>

The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' stated in 815 (adjusted date) "and in this year king Ecgbryht raided in Cornwall from east to west." this has been interpreted to mean a raid from the Tamar to Land's End, and the end of Cornish independence.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.third-millennium-library.com/MedievalHistory/Book/CHAPTERS/XIV.html |title=The Foundation of the Kingdom of England |publisher=Third-millennium-library.com |access-date=25 September 2010 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111005105356/http://www.third-millennium-library.com/MedievalHistory/Book/CHAPTERS/XIV.html |archive-date=5 October 2011 }}</ref> However, the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' states that in 825 (adjusted date) a battle took place between the Wealas (Cornish) and the Defnas (men of Devon) at [[Gafulforda]]. The Cornish giving battle here, and the later battle at Hingston Down, casts doubt on any claims of control Wessex had at this stage.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Fletcher |first=John |title=The Western Kingdom: The Birth of Cornwall |publisher=The History Press |year=2022 |isbn=978-1803990002}}</ref>

In 838, the Cornish and their Danish allies were defeated by Egbert in the [[Battle of Hingston Down]] at Hengestesdune. In 875, the last recorded king of Cornwall, [[Donyarth|Dumgarth]], is said to have drowned.<ref>[[wikisource:Welsh Annals|Annales Cambriae]]</ref> Around the 880s, Anglo-Saxons from Wessex had established modest land holdings in the north eastern part of Cornwall; notably [[Alfred the Great]] who had acquired a few estates.<ref>Keynes, Simon; Lapidge, Michael (tr.) (1983), ''Alfred the Great: Asser's Life of King Alfred and other contemporary sources'', London, Penguin Books, p. 175; cf. ''ibid'', p. 89</ref> [[William of Malmesbury]], writing around 1120, says that King [[Athelstan]] of England (r. 924–939) fixed the boundary between English and Cornish people at the east bank of the [[River Tamar]].<ref name="Stenton, F. M. 1947 p. 337">Stenton, F. M. (1947) ''Anglo-Saxon England''. Oxford: Clarendon Press; p. 337</ref> While elements of William's story, like the burning of [[Exeter]], have been cast in doubt by recent writers<ref name=":0" /> Athelstan did re-establish a separate [[Bishop of Cornwall|Cornish Bishop]] and relations between Wessex and the Cornish elite improved from the time of his rule.

Eventually [[Edgar, King of England|King Edgar]] (r. 959–975) was able to issue charters the width of Cornwall, and frequently sent emissaries or visited personally as seen by his appearances in the [[Bodmin manumissions|Bodmin Manumissions]].

===Breton–Norman period===
[[File:Kernow Hundreds.png|thumb|right|The ancient [[Hundreds of Cornwall]]]]
One interpretation of the [[Domesday Book]] is that by this time the native Cornish landowning class had been almost completely dispossessed and replaced by English landowners, particularly [[Harold Godwinson]] himself. However, the [[Bodmin manumissions]] show that two leading Cornish figures nominally had Saxon names, but these were both glossed with native Cornish names.<ref>[http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/tangwystyl/bodmin/ Cornish (and Other) Personal Names from the 10th Century Bodmin Manumissions] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160511021107/https://s-gabriel.org/names/tangwystyl/bodmin/ |date=11 May 2016 }} by Heather Rose Jones</ref> In 1068, [[Brian of Brittany]] may have been created [[Earl of Cornwall]], and naming evidence cited by medievalist [[Edith Ditmas]] suggests that many other post-Conquest landowners in Cornwall were Breton allies of the Normans, the Bretons being descended from Britons who had fled to what is today [[Brittany]] during the early years of the Anglo-Saxon conquest.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://welshjournals.llgc.org.uk/browse/viewpage/llgc-id:1386666/llgc-id:1419899/llgc-id:1419912/get |title=Welsh Journals Online |publisher=Welshjournals.llgc.org.uk |access-date=2 November 2015 |archive-date=31 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151231220817/http://welshjournals.llgc.org.uk/browse/viewpage/llgc-id:1386666/llgc-id:1419899/llgc-id:1419912/get |url-status=live }}</ref> She also proposed this period for the early composition of the [[Tristan and Iseult]] cycle by poets such as [[Béroul]] from a pre-existing shared Brittonic oral tradition.<ref>E. M. R. Ditmas, ''Tristan and Iseult in Cornwall: The Twelfth-century Romance by Beroul Re-told from the Norman French, by E. M. R. Ditmas Together with Notes on Old Cornwall and a Survey of Place Names in the Poem'' (Forrester Roberts, 1970)</ref>

Soon after the [[Norman conquest of England|Norman conquest]] most of the land was transferred to the new Breton–Norman aristocracy, with the lion's share going to [[Robert, Count of Mortain]], half-brother of [[William the Conqueror|King William]] and the largest landholder in England after the king with his stronghold at [[Trematon Castle]] near the mouth of the Tamar.<ref>Williams, Ann & Martin, G. H. (2002) (tr.) ''Domesday Book: a complete translation'', London: Penguin, pp. 341–357</ref>

===Later medieval administration and society===
Subsequently, however, Norman absentee landlords became replaced by a new Cornish-Norman ruling class including scholars such as [[Richard Rufus of Cornwall]]. These families eventually became the new rulers of Cornwall, typically speaking [[Norman French]], Breton-Cornish, [[Latin]], and eventually English, with many becoming involved in the operation of the [[Stannary law|Stannary Parliament]] system, the Earldom and eventually the [[Duchy of Cornwall]].<ref>Payton (2004), chapter 5.</ref> The [[Cornish language]] continued to be spoken and acquired a number of characteristics establishing its identity as a separate language from [[Breton language|Breton]].

====Stannary parliaments====
{{main|Stannary law}}
{{Unreferenced section|date=February 2025}}
The [[stannary parliament]]s and stannary courts were legislative and legal institutions in Cornwall and in Devon (in the Dartmoor area). The stannary courts administered [[equity (law)|equity]] for the region's tin-miners and tin mining interests, and they were also courts of record for the towns dependent on the mines. The separate and powerful government institutions available to the tin miners reflected the enormous importance of the tin industry to the English economy during the Middle Ages. Special laws for tin miners pre-date written legal codes in Britain, and ancient traditions exempted everyone connected with tin mining in Cornwall and Devon from any jurisdiction other than the stannary courts in all but the most exceptional circumstances.

====Piracy and smuggling====
Cornish piracy was active during the Elizabethan era on the west coast of Britain.<ref name="Matthew 1924">{{cite book|last1=Matthew|first1=David|title=The Cornish and Welsh Pirates in the Reign of Elizabeth|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=The English Historical Review |volume=39 |issue=155 |date=July 1924 |pages=337–348}}</ref> Cornwall is well known for its [[Wrecking (shipwreck)|wreckers]] who preyed on ships passing Cornwall's rocky coastline. During the 17th and 18th centuries Cornwall was a major [[smuggling]] area.

===Heraldry===
{{main|Cornish heraldry|Cornish corporate heraldry}}

In later times, Cornwall was known to the [[Anglo-Saxons]] as "West Wales" to distinguish it from "North Wales" (the modern nation of [[Wales]]).<ref>{{cite book |last=Deacon |first=Bernard |title=A Concise History of Cornwall |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oOUWAQAAIAAJ |year=2007 |publisher=University of Wales Press |isbn=978-0-7083-2032-7 |page=4 |access-date=16 October 2015 |archive-date=31 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151231220816/https://books.google.com/books?id=oOUWAQAAIAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> The name appears in the ''[[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]]'' in 891 as ''On Corn walum''. In the [[Domesday Book]] it was referred to as ''Cornualia'' and in c. 1198 as ''Cornwal''.<ref name=VW>{{cite book
|title=The Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-names
|last=Watts |first=Victor
|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]
|edition=1st paperback |year=2010
|page=158
|isbn=978-0-521-16855-7}}</ref>{{efn|"[[Wales]]" is derived from the [[Proto-Germanic language|Proto-Germanic]] word ''[[Walhaz]]'', meaning "Romanised foreigner"; through [[Old English]] ''welisċ'', ''wælisċ'', ''wilisċ'', meaning "[[Romano-British culture|Romano-British]]"; to [[Modern English]] ''Welsh''. The same etymology applies to Cornwall and to [[Wallonia]] in Belgium.<ref>{{cite book |last=Davies |first=John |author-link=John Davies (historian) |title=A History of Wales |publisher=Penguin |year=1994 |location=London |page=69 |isbn=978-0-14-028475-1}}</ref>}} Other names for the county include a [[latinisation of names|latinisation]] of the name as ''Cornubia'' (first appears in a mid-9th-century deed purporting to be a copy of one dating from c. 705), and as ''Cornugallia'' in 1086.
<!-- Hidden section
==Christianity in Cornwall==
{{Main article|Christianity in Cornwall}}
{{See also|List of Cornish saints}}

Many place names in Cornwall are associated with Christian missionaries described as coming from Ireland and Wales in the 5th century AD and usually called saints (''See'' [[List of Cornish saints]]). The historicity of some of these missionaries is problematic.<ref>[[Nicholas Orme|Orme, Nicholas]] (2000) ''The Saints of Cornwall''</ref><ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.lelant.info/uny.htm |title=uny |publisher=Lelant.info |date=5 January 2008 |access-date=24 November 2013}}</ref> The patron saint of [[Wendron]] Parish Church, "Saint Wendrona" is another example. and it has been pointed out by [[Gilbert Hunter Doble|Canon Doble]] that it was customary in the Middle Ages to ascribe such geographical origins to saints.<ref>[[Gilbert Hunter Doble|Doble, G. H.]] (1960) ''The Saints of Cornwall''. 5 vols. Truro: Dean and Chapter, 1960–70</ref> Some of these saints are not included in the early lists of saints.<ref>See for example absences from Olsen and Padel's "A tenth century list of Cornish parochial saints" in ''Cambridge Medieval Celtic Studies''; 12 (1986); and from ''[[Nova Legenda Angliae]]'' by [[John Capgrave]] (mid-15th century)</ref>

In modern times[[Saint Piran]], after whom [[Perranporth]] is named, is regarded as the patron saint of Cornwall.<ref>{{cite web |title = St. Piran – Sen Piran |publisher = St-Piran.com |url = http://www.st-piran.com/st-piran.htm |access-date = 11 May 2007 }}</ref> However, in early Norman times it is likely that [[Michael (archangel)|Saint Michael the Archangel]] was recognised as the patron saint<ref>Henderson, Charles (1935) "Cornwall and her patron saint", In: his ''Essays in Cornish History''. Oxford: Clarendon Press; pp. 197–201</ref> and is still recognised by the Anglican Church as the ''Protector of Cornwall''.<ref>{{cite news |last=Wyatt |first=Tim |title=Cornish welcome new status |url = http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2014/2-may/news/uk/cornish-welcome-new-status |access-date = 8 May 2014 |newspaper=Church Times |date=2 May 2014}}</ref> The title has also been claimed for [[Saint Petroc]] who was patron of the [[Diocese of Cornwall|Cornish diocese]] prior to the Normans.{{efn|The cult of St Petroc was the most important in the [[Diocese of Cornwall]] since he was the founder of the monastery of Bodmin the most important in the diocese and, with St Germans, the seat of the bishops. He was the patron of the diocese and of Bodmin.<ref>Caroline Brett, "Petroc (fl. 6th cent.)", [[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]], [[Oxford University Press]], 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/21757 accessed 16 December 2008]</ref>}}

===Celtic and Anglo-Saxon times===
[[File:St Germans Church 1.jpg|thumb|St German's Priory Church (Norman)]]
[[File:Dupath well cornwall.jpg|thumb|Dupath Well, one of Cornwall's many holy wells dating from c.1510]]
[[File:St Petroc's Church, Bodmin - geograph.org.uk - 51028.jpg|The Church of St Petroc at Bodmin (late 15th century)|thumb]]

The church in Cornwall until the time of Athelstan of Wessex observed more or less orthodox practices, being completely separate from the Anglo-Saxon church until then (and perhaps later). The See of Cornwall continued until much later: Bishop [[Conan of Cornwall|Conan]] was apparently in place previously, but he was re-consecrated in AD 931 by [[Athelstan]]. However, it is unclear whether he was the sole Bishop for Cornwall or the leading Bishop in the area. The situation in Cornwall may have been somewhat similar to Wales where each major religious house corresponded to a [[cantref]] (this has the same meaning as Cornish [[Constitutional status of Cornwall#Cornish "shires"|keverang]]) both being under the supervision of a Bishop.<ref>Charles-Edwards, T. (1970) "The Seven Bishop Houses of Dyfed", In: ''Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies'', vol. 24, (1970–1972), pp. 247–252.</ref> However, if this was so the status of keverangow before the time of King Athelstan is not recorded. However, it can be inferred from the districts included at this period that the minimum number would be three: Triggshire; Wivelshire; and the remaining area. Penwith, Kerrier, Pydar and Powder meet at a central point ([[Scorrier]]) which some have believed indicates a fourfold division imposed by Athelstan on a sub-kingdom.

===Middle Ages===
The whole of Cornwall was in this period in the [[List of Archdeacons of Cornwall|Archdeaconry of Cornwall]] within the Diocese of Exeter. From 1267 the archdeacons had a house at [[Glasney College|Glasney]] near Penryn. Their duties were to visit and inspect each parish annually and to execute the bishop's orders.<ref name="Orme, Nicholas 2007 p. 29">Orme, Nicholas (2007) ''Cornwall and the Cross''. Chichester: Phillimore; p. 29</ref> Archdeacon Roland is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as having land holdings in Cornwall but he was not Archdeacon of Cornwall, just an archdeacon in the Diocese of Exeter.<ref>Thorn, Caroline, et al., eds. (1979) ''Cornwall''. Chichester: Phillimore</ref> In the episcopate of William Warelwast (1107–37) the first Archdeacon of Cornwall was appointed<ref name="Orme, Nicholas 2007 p. 29"/> (possibly Hugo de Auco). Most of the parish churches in Cornwall in Norman times were not in the larger settlements, and the medieval towns which developed thereafter usually had only a chapel of ease with the right of burial remaining at the ancient parish church.<ref>''Cornish Church Guide'' (1925) Truro: Blackford</ref> Over a hundred [[holy well]]s exist in Cornwall, each associated with a particular saint, though not always the same one as the dedication of the church.<ref>[[Henry Jenner|Jenner, Henry]] (1925) "The Holy Wells of Cornwall". In: ''Cornish Church Guide''. Truro: Blackford; pp. 249–257</ref><ref>[[Mabel Quiller-Couch|Quiller-Couch, M. & L.]] (1894) ''Ancient and Holy Wells of Cornwall''. London: Chas. J. Clark</ref>

Various kinds of religious houses existed in mediaeval Cornwall though none of them were nunneries; the benefices of the parishes were in many cases appropriated to religious houses within Cornwall or elsewhere in England or France.<ref>[[George Oliver (historian)|Oliver, George]] (1846) ''Monasticon Dioecesis Exoniensis: being a collection of records and instruments illustrating the ancient conventual, collegiate, and eleemosynary foundations, in the Counties of Cornwall and Devon, with historical notices, and a supplement, comprising a list of the dedications of churches in the Diocese, an amended edition of the taxation of Pope Nicholas, and an abstract of the Chantry Rolls'' [with supplement and index]. Exeter: P. A. Hannaford, 1846, 1854, 1889</ref>

===From the Reformation to the Victorian period===
In the 16th century there was some violent resistance to the replacement of Catholicism with Protestantism in the [[Prayer Book Rebellion]].<ref>Orme, Nicholas (2007) ''Cornwall and the Cross''. Chichester: Phillimore; p. 147</ref> In 1548 the college at [[Glasney College|Glasney]], a centre of learning and study established by the Bishop of Exeter, had been closed and looted (many manuscripts and documents were destroyed) which aroused resentment among the Cornish. They, among other things, objected to the English language [[Book of Common Prayer]], protesting that the English language was still unknown to many at the time. The Prayer Book Rebellion was a cultural and social disaster for Cornwall; the reprisals taken by the forces of the Crown have been estimated to account for 10–11% of the civilian population of Cornwall. Culturally speaking, it saw the beginning of the slow decline of the [[Cornish language]].

From that time Christianity in Cornwall was in the main within the Church of England and subject to the national events which affected it in the next century and a half. Roman Catholicism never became extinct, though openly practised by very few; there were some converts to Puritanism, Anabaptism and Quakerism in certain areas though they suffered intermittent persecution which more or less came to an end in the reign of William and Mary. During the 18th century Cornish Anglicanism was very much in the same state as Anglicanism in most of England. Wesleyan Methodist missions began during [[John Wesley]]'s lifetime and had great success over a long period during which Methodism itself divided into a number of sects and established a definite separation from the Church of England.

[[File:Poughill Methodist Church - geograph.org.uk - 207036.jpg|thumb|Poughill Methodist Church]]

From the early 19th to the mid-20th century [[Methodism]] was the leading form of Christianity in Cornwall but it is now in decline.<ref>{{cite web |title =Methodism |publisher = Cornish-Mining.org.uk |url = http://www.cornish-mining.org.uk/story/religion.htm |access-date = 11 May 2007 }}</ref><ref>Shaw, Thomas (1967) ''A History of Cornish Methodism''. Truro: Bradford Barton</ref> The Church of England was in the majority from the reign of Queen Elizabeth until the Methodist revival of the 19th century: before the Wesleyan missions dissenters were very few in Cornwall. The county remained within the [[Diocese of Exeter]] until 1876 when the Anglican [[Diocese of Truro]] was created<ref>{{cite web |title = Truro Cathedral website – History page |publisher = TruroCathedral.org.uk |url = http://www.trurocathedral.org.uk/cathedral-story/story1.html |access-date = 11 May 2007 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070701160507/http://www.trurocathedral.org.uk/cathedral-story/story1.html |archive-date = 1 July 2007 |url-status = dead}}</ref><ref>Brown, H. Miles (1976) ''A Century for Cornwall''. Truro: Blackford</ref> (the first Bishop was appointed in 1877). Roman Catholicism was virtually extinct in Cornwall after the 17th century except for a few families such as the Arundells of [[Lanherne]]. From the mid-19th century the church reestablished episcopal sees in England, one of these being at [[Diocese of Plymouth|Plymouth]].<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.plymouth-diocese.org.uk/ |title = Diocese of Plymouth |access-date = 13 April 2009}}</ref> Since then immigration to Cornwall has brought more Roman Catholics into the population.
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