The Saints of CornwallCornwall is unique among English counties, though similar to other Celtic lands, in its religious history. Its churches, chapels, and place-names commemorated not only the major saints of Christendom, but also many minor 'Celtic' ones, unique to single churches. This book breaks new ground by considering them all, comprehensively and in detail. The introduction explains how the cults came into existence, and how they shed light on early Christianity in the county. It follows their history up to the Reformation, and shows how popular devotion to the saints lingered even in the eighteenth century. The main part of the book provides a history of every known religious cult in Cornwall from the sixth century AD to the Reformation, with relevant information about its later history down to the present day. Every known site is identified (church, chapel, altar, image, holy well, or other outdoor feature), and every written source is discussed (saint's Life, liturgical commemoration, and calendar festival). This is the first time that a complete inventory of cults has been produced for an area as large as an English county. The work also includes many saints venerated in Brittany, Wales and England, and makes copious references to all three countries. It provides a major resource in the fields of medieval Church history, Reformation studies, folklore, and Celtic studies, as well as the history of Cornwall. |
Contents
1 | |
The Evidence for the Saints | 11 |
The Saints and the Early Church | 17 |
From 900 to 1550 | 32 |
The Reformation and Afterwards | 38 |
Maps | 46 |
Common terms and phrases
10th-century list 12th century 1878 the parish 1925 Henderson Abbey bishop Boase Bodmin Breage Breton Brittany Brittonic saints Brychan Cadoc calendar Chanter Chanter VIII Chanter XI chapel of St church of St church-site commemorated commune Fin Cornish Saints Cornwall cult Dalton and Doble Devon ecclesiam Sancti ecclesie Ecton England English Exeter Cathedral Farmer feast-day Fowey Glastonbury Grosjean guild Gwinear Hartland Henderson 1925a holy honour ibid John Jones Kelly Keverne king Lapidge later Latin Launceston Leland list of saints Loth martyr Mary medieval mentioned Meyrick Michael monastery Nectan Nicholas Roscarrock Oliver Olson and Padel Orme Padstow parish church parish feast parochia patron-saint Petroc Piran place-name Polsue Priory PROB recorded relics saint called saint-cults saint's name Samson Sanctorum Sithney St Columb St Columb Major St Kew St Michael's Mount St Neot Sunday Tanguy venerated virgin Wade-Evans Wales Welsh William Worcester Willis Winwaloe