Bodmin gospels

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On the 30th of April, 1833, a vulgate copy of the Gospels, which formerly belonged to Bodmin, was sold for thirty guineas to the British Museum, (No. 9381,) by Mr. Bodd, bookseller, of 9, Great Newport Street, London. He had purchased it in the same month, for thirty-eight shillings, at the sale of the library of the late Elisha Biscoe, Esq., of Holton Park, Wheatley, near Oxford. How it came there cannot be discovered. The manuscript is supposed to be of the IXth century, if not of an earlier date. There are forty-six entries written on the blank spaces, partly in Saxon, and partly in Latin, of manumissions of slaves, before the Bishop of Bodmin, between A.D. 940 and A.D. 1020. This, it is believed, is the only original record relating to Cornwall, or its Bishopric, anterior to the conquest. The volume is in quarto, of rather an oblong form, and is very neatly written, though evidently by a scribe not well informed, or of great learning, even for those times. The entries seem to be contemporaneous with the manumissions which they record. The following are specimens of those entries : — This is the name of that man, Madsnth, whom loaa freed for the redemption of hie eonl, on the altar of S. Petroc, before these witnesses seeing it, Titthcrd, presbyter ; Âthalberth, presbyter ; Budda, presbyter ; Brytthael, presbyter ; Cenmyn, presbyter; these are the laymen, Tethion, son of Hasso, and Ungust, son of Cilif : and whosoever shall infringe this liberty let him be accursed, and whosoever shall defend it may he be blessed. These are the names of those women whom Erman freed for the soul of his mother, Guengnin and Elisaved, on the altar of S. Petroc, before these witnesses seeing it, Osian, presbyter ; Leucuin, clerk ; Ect, clerk.

The practice of manumitting slaves in the church, as recorded in the entries, appears to have existed from the early part of the fourth century. [1]

  1. ^ A complete parochial history of the county of Cornwall [ed. by J. Polsue]. edited by Joseph Polsue

St Columb's well

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Devon & Cornwall Notes & Queries - (Page 178) 1951

I have an early eighteenth-century MS. plan which shows St. Columb Well on the right bank of the Fal, a little below Trerice Ford (now a bridge), ...


[no title] AR/17/81 1542, 13th Feb

(33 Hen VIII) Inquisition to establish bounds, by copy of court roll John Arundell, knight, lord of the manor = (1) Manor of Treloye: indented record of inquisition held before William Bere, gentleman, under-steward of (1), by oath of all the tenantry.

The true bounds of Myngam and Myngam Downe begin at a water flowing from Gossemour (Goss Moor) to the corner of a hedge of Myngam on the north side; from there as a green way leads from the water towards Froddon (Fraddon) to a 'lappa' or heap of stones on the east side almost to 'le Furches', the way is the bound between the land of Gauerygan (Gavrigan) and Myngam and Myngam Downe; from the 'lappa' or heap of stones to the top of a hill leading southwards to a stone placed as a bound; from that stone straight to a great stone called Mene Bugell on the south; from that stone to certain pits called Pyttes Lawarnes, and from there to the well of Sancta Columba; so to the water of Treris on the south and east side; by the water of Treris (Trerice) to the water flowing from Gossemour (incipiunt ad aquam fluente ducente et current' de mora vocat' Gossemour ad angulum cuiusdam sepis sive fossati de Myngam predict' in parte borial', sic abinde sicut verida via que ducit ab dict' aqua versus Froddon ad quandam lappam sive cumulum lapidum in parte oriental' quasi ad Le Furches, que quidem via est verus bund' et limes inter terr' de Gauerygan et Myngam et Myngam Downe predict'; et sic ab dict' lappa sive cumulo lapid' versus summicat' mont' ducent' versus australem ad quemdam lapidem ibidem scit' et posit' pro bund'; et ab illo lapide recte usque ad quemdam lapidem magnum vocat' Mene Bugell in parte australi; et ab illo lapid' vocat' Mene Bugell ad quosdam puteos vocat' Pyttes Lawarnes, et abinde ad fontem Sancte Columbe; et sic ad aquam de Treris in parte austral' et oriental', et sic per aquam de Treris predict' ad predictam aquam ducent' et current' de mora de Gossemour prenominat'). John Gauerygan and all his predecessors, whose heir he is, have been and are seised in the lands of Myngam and Myngam Downe in demesne as of fee tail, holding them of John Arundell knight as of the said manor, by rent and service of 18s, suit of court, and relief.

John Arundell and his predecessors have had toll of all tin found within the bounds of Myngam and Myngam Downe, namely the thirteenth gallon of black tin according to custom time out of memory. [Tenants affixing their seals, not witnesses] Remfrey Olyuer, Richard Cowga, Richard Tome Rawlyn, Robert Cadye, John Jenkyn, John Trethowell, John Newham, William Lukye and Richard Bodragowe. Seals of William Bere and tenants (8 seals, on 6 tags); [16th century] "Myngam bounds and toll tynne". Myngam, Myngam Downe [= Mingham, in St Columb Major] Gossemour Froddon Le Furches Gauerygan 'Lappa sive cumulus lapidum' Pits called Pyttes Lawarnes Well of Sancta Columba Stone called Mene Bugell Treris [Trerice in St Dennis] This goes with AR/17/80 (law-suit concerning Mingham downs, Dec 1541).

Archaeologia Cambrensis By Cambrian Archaeological Association

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The gradual extinction also of the ancient language cannot be without deep interest to Welsh men. It appears that up to the commencement of the sixteenth century, the Cornish language was very generally spoken. Some difficulty seems to have arisen at the time of the Reformation as to the language in which the Liturgy should be read in churches, and it appears that the ancient language was eventually proscribed and an English Liturgy substituted, which was naturally considered a great hardship.

In those days there were not the same means of grumbling which exist at present, yet no doubt " the twenty thousand Cornish boys" did their best to "know the reason why." We are not informed, by the bye, whether Bishop Trelawny spoke Cornish, and whether his Examining Chaplain plucked all comers who could not; thereby gaining for himself the highest place in the affections of true Cornish boys in general, and of expectant curates in particular. We are not even told whether some little nepotical jobs of the then Lord Chancellor were interfered with by this barbarous and inconvenient tongue. Probably they might have been, and, in those somewhat despotic days, the gordian knot was cut by the trenchant process of proscribing the language. This, at least, is no new question to many of our Cambrian Archaeological Association friends, and one might be almost disposed to recommend it as a fair subject fora Prize Poem at the next Eisteddfod, that, as fair damsels are warned against the approaches of handsome and devoted admirers, so should all true Welshmen be warned against the seductive arts of all English Lord Chancellors and Anti-Welsh Bishops. I believe, however, we are able to take pretty good care of ourselves in that respect.

It seems that through this insidious introduction of English into churches, a blow was given to the Cornish language which it never recovered, and from which it eventually died. We are told by Hitchins "That from the time the Liturgy was established in the Cornish churches in the English language, the Cornish tongue rapidly declined."

Although the inhabitants were immoderately attached to the dialect of their ancestors, yet they found themselves under a necessity of understanding English, this being now the language in which their devotions were commanded to be performed ; and the attention which was paid to the English caused it to make encroachments upon their attachment to the Cornish, so that in proportion to the assiduity with which they cultivated the former, they seem to have neglected the latter.


according to Hal's...

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This language was spoken so generally in Cornwall down to the reign of King Henry VIII, that Dr. John Moreman, Vicar of Menhynnet, in the latter part of that King's time, is said to be the first who taught his parishioners the Lords Prayer, Creed, and Ten Commandments in the English, tongue. When the Liturgy at the Reformation was appointed by authority to take place of the Mass, the Cornish people desired that it should be in the English language, being apprehensive that it might be injoined them in their mother tongue, as it was with regard to the Welsh. By this means, and the gentry mixing gradually with the English, the Cornish language lost ground in proportion as it lay nearer to Devon. In the parish of Pheoke it resisted the scythe of time so long, that about the year 1640, Mr. William Jackman, then vicar thereof, was obliged to administer the Sacrament to the Communicant in the Cornish, because the aged people did not understand the English tongue. After the Restoration we find the Cornish surviving only in the more western parts, where the Rev. Mr. F. Robinson, Rector of Landawidnek, was the last, who, not long before the year 1640, preached a sermon in the Cornish language only. About the year 1710 it was generally spoken in the parishes of Paul and St. Just ; the fishermen and market women in the former, and the tinners in the latter, conversing one with the other for the most part in the Cornish tongue.


miracle-plays

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In Cornwall miracle-plays were at an early date performed in the native Cymric dialect. Three of these have been edited and translated by Mr. Edwin Norris, under the title of The Ancient Cornish Drama (2 vols., Oxford, 1859). He states that the earliest MS. of these dramas is apparently of the fifteenth century, but that their language shows their origin to belong to a period earlier than the fourteenth. The three plays ostensibly constitute a connected trilogy of which the several plays are to be performed on successive days; but they are really four in number, viz. (1) the Origo Mundi, which in three divisions carries on the Old Testament story through some of its principal incidents from the Creation to the building of the Temple by Solomon, who consecrates a bishop to take care of it; there is added the episode of the martyrdom of Maximilla on refusing to abjure her belief in Christ. (2) The History of Christ from the Temptation to the Crucifixion; here there is no break in the action. (3) The Resurrection and the Ascension; but the action of this play is interrupted by that of (4) the Death of Pilate, which is quite detached from the rest. The whole ends with an antiphony of angels on the reception of the Son into Heaven by the Father, and an epilogue by 'the Emperor.' There is not much in these Cymric plays to distinguish them from the many plays on Scriptural themes in Latin, French, and English, and, indeed, occasional French words occur. —It may be added that we possess no notice of the actual performance of plays in Cornwall earlier than that occurring in Richard Carew's Survey, first printed in 1602. He mentions the Guary miracles, for the representation of which amphitheatres are, he says, raised in some open field. Two of these, of larger dimensions than those referred to by Carew, and popularly called Rounds, were described by Borlase in the middle of the eighteenth century; and one of these situate close to the principal inn in St Just Churchtown, not far from the Land's End, I remember visiting some sixteen years since. [1]

  1. ^ A History of English Dramatic Literature to the Death of Queen Anne Vol. 1 Book by Adolphus William Ward; Macmillan Company, 1899

John Kenall, LL D

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Archdeacon of Oxford, the Cornishman John Kenall, LL D Canon of Christchurch commisionary of Oxford 1564 Chancellor of Rochester

Disagreed violently with William Chedsey of Corpus Christi College as to the eucharistic presence in quality and quantity while publicly examining a heretic, William Wood of Kent, in 1558, Foxe , Acts and Monuments


Walter Wright D. 1561 John Drewry

PAGE 126 Cornwall a history ISBN 1904880053

Haboured Catholic tendancies along with Andrew Perne Dean of Ely, Gabriel Goodman Dean of Westminster, John Bullingham Bishop of Gloucester, [1]

The link between the Cornish language and Catholicism was also exhibited in the activities of John Kenall, vicar of St Columb Major (where Mass was still being said in 1590) who according to Carew bore the principal love and knowledge of this language.

In some areas the Anglican Church had remained deeply conservative (Mass being celebrated at St Columb Major in 1590, for example

  1. ^ The Martin Marprelate Tracts: 0 by Edited by Joseph L. Black and Joseph L. Black (Hardcover - 10 April 2008)

Anne Duffin

Rogationtide

Hence Mr. Carew, who published his survey of Cornwall in 1602, notices the almost total extirpation of the language in his days. He says ; " The principal love and knowledge of this language liveth in Dr. Kennall, the civilian, and with him lieth buried ;


for the English speech doth still encroach upon it and hath driven the same in the uttermost skirts of the shire. Most of the inhabitants can speak no word of Cornish ; but few are ignorant of the English, and yet some so affect their own as to a stranger they will not speak it ; for if meeting them by chance you inquire the way, or any such matter, your answer shall be " Meea na vedra couza Sawzneck" — " I can speak no Saxonage." This then was the state of things as regards the ancient Cornish language in 1602, and this was the result of letting English into the church.

By the time Richard Carew came to write his Survey of Cornwall in the last years of ... love and knowledge of this language lived in Dr Kenall [John Kenall


him lyeth buryed' (Dr. Kenall was a Canon of Exeter, where he died in 1592).

Carew adds that 'the principal love and knowledge of this language lived in Dr. Kenall the Civilian, and with him lieth buried; for the English speech doth

The principal love and knowledge of this language lived in Dr Kenall, and with him lieth buried, for the English speech doth still encroach upon it, ...

Met Queen Elizabeth I at Oxford in 1566

The letter is signed by Thomas Godwin, Thomas Bernard, Thomas Day, Henry Siddall, John Kennall, Robert Banks, James Calfhill, and Herbert Westfaling


Doctors in Disput. presentes :

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Theolog. Juris Civ. Medicin. 1 Dr. Humfrey. 9 Dr. Kennall. 13 Dr. Huicke. 2 Dr. Godwin. 10 Dr. Lloyde. 14 Dr. Masters. 3 Dr. Calfild. 11 Dr. Loocher. 15 Dr. Bay le, Sen. 4 Dr. Overton. 12 Dr. Abre. 16 Dr. Bayle, Jun. 5 Dr. Westfaling. 17 Dr. Astlo. 6 Dr. Peers. 18 Dr. Barons. 7 Dr. Cradocke. 19 Dr. Stithirst. 8 Dr. Yelder. 20 Dr. Gifford. 1 Lawrence Humphrey, born at Newport Pagnell, admitted a Demi of Magdalen 1547 ; A. B. and Perpetual Fellow there ; and A. M. 1553 ; expelled from his Fellowship in the Reign of Mary ; he travelled to Zurich, and was restored at his return after her death. In 1560 he was constituted Queen's Professor of Divinity, and 1561 elected President of his College; 1562 D. D. ; 1570 Dean of Gloucester; 1530 Dean of Winchester. Wood (Ath. Ox. I. 242.) gives him the character of a great and general scholar, an able linguist, a deep divine; and adds, that for his excellency of life, exactness of method, and substance of matter in his writings, he went beyond most of our theologists. Among his numerous writings there enumerated, is " Oratio Woodstochiae habita ad illustriss. R. Elizab. 31 Aug. 1572, Li mil. 1572," 4to. ; and a similar Oration will be noticed hereafter, under 1575. He died 1589, aged 63, and was buried in Magdalen College Chapel. 2 Thomas Godwin, a native of Wokingham, in the county of Berks ; sent to Oxford about 1538 ; admitted Probationer Fellow of Magdalen College 1544, and next year Perpetual Fellow, being then A.B. When he quitted his Fellowship, he took the College School at Brackley, and married. But in Mary's Reign professed Physic. In the Reign of Elizabeth he took Orders, and was Chaplain to Bullyngham Bishop of Lincoln ; who, appointing him frequently to preach before the Queen, she made him Dean of Christ Church 1565, and of Canterbury 1566 ; Bishop of Bath and Wells 1584. At last he incurred her displeasure by a second marriage, and died aged 73, 1590 ; and was buried at his native place. He was father of Dr. Francis Godwin, the Episcopal Historian. Ath. Ox. I. 700. 3 James Calfhill, of Shropshire. Admitted at Oxford 1545 ; Student of Christ Church 1548 ; A. M. 1552; Second Canon of Christ Church 1560; D. D. Dean of Bocking, and Archdeacon of Colchester, and nominated to Worcester 1570, but died before consecration. He wrote " Querela Oxon. Acad. ad Cantabrigiam, 1552," 4to. A Latin poem on the death of the sons of the Duke of Suffolk, of the Sweating Sickness, 1551. " Hist, de exhumatione Catherinas nuper uxoris Pet Martyris," 1562, 4to. " Progne," a tragedy in Latin ; bnt whether this last was printed or not Wood did not know. He died 1570, and was buried there. Ath. Ox. I. 163. Loading... Loading...

Disputatores in Phil. Moral. Natural. 21 Mr. Wolley, Resp. 26 Mr. Campion, Resp. 22 Mr. Leche, Oppo. 27 Mr. Dee, Oppo. 23 Mr. Thornton, Op. 28 Mr. Mericke, Oppo. 24 Mr. Buste, Opp. 29 Mr. Bristow, Oppo. 25 Mr. Mathew, Op. 30 Mr. Squyer, Oppo. 5 Herbert Westphaling, of German origin, admitted of Christ Church 1547; A. M. 1555 ; Canon and Rector of Brightwell about 1561 ; Canon of Windsor 1577; and Bishop of Hereford 1585, where he died, and was buried 1601-2. He learnedly disputed before Queen Elizabeth at Oxford, 1566. Ath. Ox. I. 314. Hist. Ant. Univ. Ox. II. 305. 6 John Piers, born at South Hinxsey, near Abingdon ; admitted a Perpetual Fellow of Magdalen 1546 ; and Student of Christ Church ; Rector of Quainton, in the county of Bucks ; Prebendary and Dean of Chester about 1559 ; Master of Baliol and Dean of Christ Church 1570 ; Dean of Salisbury 1571; Bishop of Rochester 1576; of Salisbury 1577; Archbishop of York 15S8. He died at Bishopsthorpe 1594, aged 71. Ath. Ox. I. 713. 7 Edward Cradock, of StafiFordshire, Student of Christ Church 1552 ; Margaret Professor 1565 ; D. D. ; resigned his Professorship 1594 ; and was a great chymist and Rosicrucian. Ath. Ox. I. 277. 8 Arthur Yeldard, A. M. of Cambridge ; incorporated at Oxford 1556 ; President of Trinity College, B. D. 1 563. Ath. Ox. Fasti, I. 85 — 92. His name is not among the Oxford Graduates.

9 John Kennall, LL. D. Canon of Christ Church, Chancellor of Rochester, Vice- chancellor and Archdeacon of Oxford University 1561 ; Canon Residentiary of Exeter, where be died 1591.

10 Q. Hugh Lloyd, a most admired Grammarian of the age he lived in, born in Carnarvonshire, educated at Winchester ; Fellow of New College 1564 ; Chancellor of Rochester 1578 ; Chief Master of Winchester School ; LL. D. 1588; died 1601, buried in the outer Chapel at New College. Ath. Ox. 1.310. 11 Robert Lougher, or Loffer, of All Souls, LL. D. 1564 ; Principal of New Inn, Professor of Civil Law, and Chancellor of Exeter; died 1563. Ath. Ox. Fasti, I. 93. 12 William Awbre, born at Cantre in Brecknockshire ; of All Souls ; Principal of New Inn ; Professor of Civil Law, Judge Advocate of the Queen's army at St. Quintin's, Advocate in the Court of Arches, one of the Council of the Marches in Wales, Master in Chancery, Chancellor of Canterbury, and by special favour of the Queen taken to her nearer service, and made one of the Masters of Requests in Ordinary, a person of exquisite learning, and singular prudence, and mentioned with honour by Thuanus and others. He was cousin to Dr. John Dee; died 1595, and was buried in St. Paul's, London. Ath. Ox. I. 73—81.