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Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

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Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)
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Page 1: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

Cornwall/Kernow

Kernow bys vyken!

(Cornwall For Ever)

Page 2: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

Cornwall- Kernow

Page 3: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

The Cornish- an Gernowyon

The Cornish were until 577AD part of the continuum of British (Celtic) culture that stretched along the west of the island through Wales and down to the south west peninsula.

The advance of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms brought early English influence to eastern Cornwall after 682AD.

Page 4: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

CELTIC SOUTH WEST OFBRITAIN

Page 5: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

The Cornish

Cornwall remained independent politically until 936AD when the Cornish were defeated by the army of king Athelstan, which meant that the border between ‘England’ and the ‘Cornish’ (western Britons) was set at the river Tamar, and remains the border of Cornwall to this day. (Cornwall is part of the UK).

Cornwall was treated as a separate entity however. From 1337 Cornwall was further administered as a

‘quasi-sovereign’ royal Duchy. The expression ‘Duchy of Cornwall’ is still used.

Page 6: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

The Cornish- and their language

The Cornish language- called Kernewek-was for all this time the language of all sections of the Cornish population. Although Cornish was less used in eastern Cornwall by the Middle Ages, it remained the language of the west.

It was further strengthened by the presence of many Bretons in Cornwall, who were speaking a very similar language.

Page 7: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

Cornish Language

This situation changed rapidly with the far-reaching political and economic changes from the end of the middle ages.

Language-shift progressed through Cornwall from east to west during this period. Probably some 38,000 people spoke the language in 1300,and then stablized to about 33,000 between c1350-1550AD.

It then declined dramatically.

Page 8: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

Cornish Language

The period between the Tudor accession and the Civil War (mid 17th century) was one of considerable political and economic change.

There were two major events in Cornish history which indicate how dissatisfied the Cornish had become, one expressed the continuing Cornish sense of identity, and the other was specifically concerned with the Cornish language.

Page 9: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

The Cornish Revolt

Until the fifteenth century Cornwall had continued to be separate in many ways from England, developing its own culture and outlook.

As late as 1485 certain laws were enacted which were peculiar to Cornwall.

But the rise of the Tudors created disaffection amongst the Cornish.

Page 10: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

(1) The Cornish Revolt 1497

The origin of the revolt by the Cornish was a tax to pay for a war against Scotland.

In St. Keverne, Cornwall, a blacksmith named Michael Joseph spoke out against the tax. In Bodmin a lawyer called Thomas Flamank argued that a war in Scotland should not be paid for by poor people far away in Cornwall.

Page 11: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

The Cornish Revolt 1497

The idea to march to London originated in May 1497 when Michael Joseph, also known as ‘An Gof’ (the Smith) led protesting Cornishmen to Bodmin. They were joined there by many others and representatives of prominent Cornish families.

Page 12: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

The Cornish Revolt 1497. ‘An Gof’. This army armed itself with such tools as they

had for their various trades. The army reached a total of 15,000 men.

By now the army was marching through the west of England, and still led by the charismatic leader ‘An Gof’.

Before leaving the town of Wells (Somerset, 10 kms from Glastonbury), they issued a declaration of their grievances.

Page 13: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

An Gof Memorial

Page 14: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

The Cornish Revolt 1497

Eventually the Cornish insurgents marched to Bristol, Salisbury and then to Winchester (S of England), and were making for Kent where other peasant revolts had taken place in the late 14th century.

Page 15: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

The Cornish Revolt 1497

At this point the Tudor king Henry VII (Henry VIII’s father) gathered an army (some 10,000 men). It was decided to test the strength of the insurgents who engaged the Cornish near Guildford (Surrey, 40 kms SW of London). London began to panic. (Blackheath)

Page 16: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

Memorial stone erected in 1997

in memory of the Cornish March through

Guildford, Eng., 1497 on their

Way to Blackheath nr London.

Page 17: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

The Cornish Revolt 1497

Soon after this, the Cornish army proceeded to Blackheath (16th June 1497). The spot is close to London, and had also been an assembly point for another peasant revolt in 1381.

Page 18: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

The Cornish Revolt 1497: The Battle of Blackheath.

On Saturday 17th June 1497, the Cornish army was attacked by the royal army. Although the Cornish were armed with bows, after some hours they were completely surrounded. An Gof was forced to surrender.

Both An Gof and Thomas Flamank were executed. Many members of the Cornish army escaped back to Cornwall. Some joined another revolt in Bodmin.

Page 19: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

Kernewek-the Cornish language

Cornish was still very widely spoken in Cornwall in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Most of An Gof’s Army would have spoken the language.

Many still in the mid 1500s were monolingual in Cornish. In1538 the bishop of Exeter parts of the Gospels, the Lord’s Prayer, Ten Commandments etc to be taught in Cornish.

Priests were appointed for their knowledge of the language.

Page 20: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

Kernewek-the Cornish language

It is possible to see the Catholic Church making concessions to popular feeling in Cornwall by allowing the use of the language in devotional contexts.

The language issue came to a head after 1540. With the reformation and the introduction of protestantism in Britain (including Wales and Cornwall), English was introduced to religious services.

Page 21: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

(2) Kernewek-the Cornish language

In January 1549, Parliament passed the First Act of Uniformity which introduced the English language in all church services in the kingdom.

Cornwall once again rose in arms led by 36 year old Humphry Arundell whose grandfather had participated in the An Gof rebellion. This rebellion was specifically about the Cornish language.

Page 22: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

Kernewek-the Cornish language

The demands made by the insurgents were entirely conservative, concerned with religious demands and language.

In a list of requests to the king, number eight concerned the Cornish language: ‘we, the Cornish men, whereof certain of us understand no English, utterly refuse this new English’.

This fact of not knowing English was reiterated when they reached Exeter, Latin was used to communicate with them.

Page 23: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

Kernewek-the Cornish language

The insurrection was defeated, with considerable retributions.

Summary executions of prisoners Several thousands perished, and the

aftermath was particularly severe.

Page 24: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

Kernewek- the Cornish Language

Unfortunately the new Book of Common Prayer was never translated into Cornish, and instead led to the anglicisation of the Cornish churches. This was a death-blow to the Cornish language. Compare this with the translation of the Bible into Welsh in Wales. One result of this was that Catholicism lasted longer in Cornwall than in Wales.

But in time, as Cornwall transitioned to Protestantism, the Cornish language became associated with Catholicism.

Page 25: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

Kernewek-the Cornish language

During the rest of the 16th century local priests- Catholic and then Anglican were left the task of translating devotional material for their Cornish-speaking parishioners.

Page 26: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

The retreat of the Cornish language

Cornish in the 18th century

Page 27: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

Cornish Literature

Most of what we might call the traditional lore of Cornwall, songs and folk-tales never reached a written form.

There may have been some attempts at prose and poetry in the pre-Nornman period but nothing has survived.

The earliest writings in Cornish belong to the 14th century, and are non-secular.

Page 28: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

Cornish Literature

Much of this literature is in the form of religious plays that would have been performed in churches or on what were known in Cornwall as plen-an-gwary (local medieval amphi-theatres), eg St Just-in- Penwith in west Cornwall.

Page 29: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

Plen an Gwary: http://www.plenproject.com/

Page 30: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

Glasney College, Penryn

Many of the plays produced during the 14th-16th century came from Glasney College.

Consecrated in 1267 and dissolved in 1545.

It was from this college that many of the surviving pieces of Cornish literature would have come from.

Page 31: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

Medieval Cornish literature

Cornish literature would also have had numerous plays about the lives of the Cornish and Breton saints. Two have survived:

The Life of St. Meriasek (rediscovered in 1948)

The Life of St. Key. (rediscovered 2000).

Page 32: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

Nicholas Boson (c1660-c1700)

The most prominent of the late Cornish writers was Nicholas who recorded in Cornish a folk-tale known as Jowan Chy’n Horth.

His other best known text is Nebbaz Gerriau Dro Tho Carnoack (A Few Words About Cornish). c1690.

Page 33: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

‘A Few Words About Cornish’

This text in late Cornish (c1680) gives an insider’s view of the Cornish language when west Cornwall was going through language –shift to English.

His comments about his experience of Cornish as a child are especially valuable.

Page 34: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

‘A Few Words About Cornish’(c1690).

I remember when I was only about six years old, I coulod not speak it, nor hardly understand it, because my mother had the whim of forbidding the people around the house and neighbours from speaking anything to me but English…

Page 35: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

Penzance c1817

Page 36: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

Cronek Hager Du!- the last native speakers

The last know monolingual Cornish speaker was Chesten Marchant (died 1676), and the last native bilingual speaker was possibly Dolly Pentreath (died 1777).

The Cornish language became to all intents and purposes a dead language c1820 (and probably already by 1800).

Yet, Cornish is a remarkable language in that together with Manx (Isle of Mann), the language has been partially revived.

Page 37: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

Dolly Pentreath’s cottage, Mousehole

Page 38: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

The Revival of the Cornish language The revival of Cornish is usually considered to

have started in 1904 when Henry Jenner (1848-1934) published his landmark book Handbook of the Cornish Language.

The Cornish that was revived was based on the written Cornish of the late medieval period (approx 1550AD), since this was the best known form of Cornish.

Page 39: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

Reviving the Cornish language

This initial period of reconstruction lasted between approx. 1920-1940.

A number of dictionaries and language learning books appeared during that period and afterwards.an attempt was made to rationalize the grammar, and to produce a form of Cornish often called “Unified Cornish”.

Page 40: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

Recent developments in the language revival Between the end of WWII and the mid

1980s, there was a considerable number of works in Cornish published using what is termed Unified Cornish (mainly associated with Nance and ASD Smith).

But by the mid ‘80s there was a growing dissatisfaction with the spelling system used in U Cornish.

Page 41: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

Recent developments

This led to the creation of a form of Cornish called Kernewek Kemmyn (‘Common Cornish’).

There was disagreement however with those who preferred to remain with the Unified form of Cornish.

Yet another faction led by Richard Gendall opted for a new form of Cornish based on Late Cornish as spoken at the end of the 18th century.

Page 42: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

Recent developments

In the 1990s Nicholas Williams proposed a new version of Unified Cornish.

The need for a standard form was keenly felt, and in 2008, after long and tedious discutions, a new standard written form was agreed upon called SWF (Standard Written Form).

Page 43: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

Cornwall

For those concerned in language planning Revived Cornish is of great interest: a formerly dead speech-form is once again alive.

The chough, or Bran Arthur, symbol of the Cornish revival.

Page 44: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

Kernewek- the Cornish language

The revival of Cornish is usually considered to have started in 1904 when Henry Jenner (1848-1934) published his landmark book Handbook of the Cornish Language.

The Cornish that was revived was based on the written Cornish of the late medieval period (approx 1500AD), since this was the best known form of Cornish.

Page 45: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

Kernewek- the Cornish language

There were many difficulties in reviving a dead language. Uncertainties about the exact pronunciation, lack of a coordinated language movement, and more difficult means of communication than those we are used to today.

Page 46: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

Kernewek- the Cornish language

After the pioneering work of Henry Jenner, two other prominent scholars contributed to the work of reconstructing Cornish on the basis of extant Cornish literature.

They were Robert Morton Nance (1873-1959) and A.S.D. Smith (1883-1950).

Page 47: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

Kernewek- the Cornish language

Given that the language had to be reconstructed on the basis of literary texts, the syntax, semantics and lexicon of Cornish are incomplete. Many of these gaps were filled by analogy with the closely related Celtic languages Welsh and Breton.

Page 48: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

Kernewek- the Cornish language

This initial period of reconstruction lasted between approx. 1920-1940.

A number of dictionaries and language learning books appeared during that period and afterwards.an attempt was made to rationalize the grammar, and to produce a form of Cornish often called “Unified Cornish”.

Page 49: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

Recent developments in the language revival Between the end of WWII and the mid

1980s, there was a considerable number of works in Cornish published using what is termed Unified Cornish (mainly associated with Nance and ASD Smith).

But by the mid 80s there was a growing dissatisfaction with the spelling system used in U Cornish.

Page 50: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

Recent developments

This led to the creation of a form of Cornish called Kernewek Kemmyn (‘Common Cornish’).

There was disagreement however with those who preferred to remain with the Unified form of Cornish.

Yet another faction led by Richard Gendall opted for a new form of Cornish based on Late Cornish as spoken at the end of the 18th century.

Page 51: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

Modern Writers in Cornish

Novels by Myghal Palmer Poetry by many, but especially Tim Saunders. Small readership, but significant in terms of

writing skills and the consolidation of the revial of Cornish.

Today: some 500 fluent speakers.(and growing).

Page 52: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

Translations into Modern Cornish

One of the most prolific translators into Cornish today is Professor Nicholas Williams of Dublin.

An Beybel Sans (2011); Enys Tresour (2010); Jowel Lethesow (2009); Alkys in Pow an Anethow (2009).

Also by others: An Pennsevik Byhan (Le Petit Prince),2010)

Page 53: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

Cornish Wrestling

And other aspects of Cornish culture

Page 54: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

Cornish wrestling

Cornish wrestling has a long history, and Geoffrey of Monmouth suggestsHistory of the Kings of Britain, of c. 1139 that Corineus wrestled a Cornish giant, Gogmagog.

The earliest written evidence for wrestling in the West Country comes from a 1590 poem Michael Drayton concerning the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. It states that the Cornish men who accompanied Henry V into battle held a banner of two Cornish wrestlers in a hitch.

Cornish and Breton wrestlers have long taken part in inter-Celtic matches since at least 1402 and these still occasionally continue. In early times Cornish and Devonian wrestlers often had matches against each other though the rules they followed were not the same.

Page 55: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

St Piran’s Day

St Piran's Day started as one of the many tinners' holidays observed by thetin miners of Cornwall. Other miners' holidays of a similar nature include Picrous Day and Chewhidden Thursday. There is little description of specific traditions associated with this day. However, many observers noted the large consumption of alcohol and food during 'Perrantide'. The day following the St Piran's Day was known by many as 'Mazey Day', a term which has now been adopted by the revived Golowan festival in Penzance.

Page 56: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

St Piran’s Day

St Piran’s Day is also celebrated in Grass Valley California in honour of the Cornish miners who came to the area in the 19th century.

Page 57: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

Chewhidden Thursday

Chewhidden is Late Traditional Cornish for ‘Deth Yow Gwyn’ or White Thursday.

Chewidden Thursday (also known as White Thursday, Chewidden Day or Jew-whidn) was a festival celebrated by the tin miners of West Cornwall on the last clear Thursday before (i.e. at least one week before)Christmas.

Page 58: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

Chewhidden Thursday

The last Thursday – a clear week before Christmas day – was formerly always claimed by the tinners as a holiday, and was called by them White-Thursday (Jew-whidn), because on this day, according to tradition, black tin (tin ore) was first melted and refined into white tin.

Page 59: Cornwall/Kernow Kernow bys vyken! (Cornwall For Ever)

Cornish Pasties

Pre-eminent in Cornish cuisine is the pasty (sometimes known as the Cornish pasty) a savoury dish consisting of minced meat and potato enclosed within a crescent shaped pastry crust. The pasty evolved as a portable lunch for Cornish miners, the crust serving as a disposable handle that could be held by a miner's hand without soiling the filling.


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