- The
following is a synopsis on the
- 1549
Cornish Prayer Book Rebellion
CORNISH OPEN FORUM
STRICKLY KERNEWEK
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St. Hilary,
Cornwall, Britain
Howard Curnow
writes:
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The 1549 Cornish
Prayer Book Rebellion
Throughout much of the 15th
and 16th centuries Cornwall was in a state of considerable unrest.
Notwithstanding the Saxon invasions many centuries previously,
followed by the Norman conquest, 500 years ago the Cornish were
still a race apart from those east of the Tamar. The use of their
own language was widespread, and under Stannary Law, which in
many respects meant that they were self-governing, they co-existed
alongside England in a situation which a 20th century American
President might term a 'favored nation status'. In return for
a system of taxation - imposed for the benefit of the Duke of
Cornwall - the Stannary Parliament, which had jurisdiction well
into present-day Devon, was empowered to overturn 'unwanted'
laws handed down to them from Westminster.
However, all was not well
in the State of Kernow! Existence in the 15th century must have
been tough for anyone, and during the reign of Henry VII the
struggle just to survive seemed to be getting more difficult.
Things came to a head when, in 1497 Henry imposed an additional
tax (to enable him to fight James IV of Scotland) on people,
not just in Cornwall, who were already greatly oppressed. The
result was the March from St. Keverne to Blackheath, London,
the 500th anniversary of which was commemorated by many thousands
of people in 1997.
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The suffering in Cornwall
in the wake of this event was great. Many were executed for their
complicity in the uprising and their property seized. Even more
people had punitive fines imposed, as well as having to pay the
tax which sparked the uprising. This would seem to be like trying
to squeeze blood out of a stone, and as the years rolled by these
events were not forgotten.
The Dissolution of the Monasteries
& Chantries from 1536 to 1548 by Henry VIII had considerable
impact during the following years, particularly on the people
of Penryn, home of that great centre of Cornish learning, Glasney
College, and in Bodmin, the acknowledged centre of Cornwall and
location of the Priory Church. Although he set himself up as
the Head of the 'Church in England', Henry did not change the
basic form of Roman Catholic worship to which the people were
accustomed. After his death, however, in 1547, those who governed
this new Church saw the opportunity for permanent change, thus
ensuring their own positions of power. Henry's son, Edward VI,
was only nine years old at the time and was unable to withstand
the intentions of Archbishop Cranmer. He told the young monarch
that he would '... see idolatry destroyed, the tyranny of the
bishops of Rome banished from your subjects, and all images destroyed.'
Much of this planned destruction subsequently took place throughout
the land. In recent years the remnants of wall paintings which
were plastered over for 'safe keeping' have been discovered in
a number of Cornish churches, and the casket containing St. Petroc's
remains, which were safely hidden during those troubled years,
can still be seen in Bodmin parish church.
The Act of Uniformity was
passed and Commissioners of the king travelled all over the country
destroying the symbols of the old Catholic form of worship. The
blessing of candles on Candlemas Day was banned. Lights and bells
used during Holy Communion for the sick and dying were abolished.
Ashes on Ash Wednesday, 'palm' leaves on Palm Sunday, creeping
to the cross on Good Friday and the distribution of the blessed
bread at the church door after Mass - all of these were banned.
Perhaps the ordinary people
would have grudgingly accepted change had it been introduced
more diplomatically, but diplomacy when dealing with the common
man was an unknown art-form. Commissioners were soon to be seen
on the highways dressed in the spoils of their deeds. Pieces
of holy silver-ware were worn about their bodies, in some cases
beaten into sheaths for their daggers.
On the 5th April 1548
Sir William Body, Archdeacon of Cornwall (a position which he
bought for 30 pounds a year) and hated king's Commissioner, met
with a crowd of a thousand farmers, fishermen and miners in Helston.
People from all around, from Gwennap, Constantine and St. Keverne
(seat of the 1497 rebellion) rioted in the streets of the town,
and in the affray, Body was murdered. On 28th May two men were
hanged, drawn and quartered for this act, together with seven
others who had been there in Helston that day. Ten days later
Father Martin Geoffrey, parish priest at St. Keverne was similarly
executed in London.
So there was little wonder,
by the Spring of 1549 when the new Prayer Book in English had
been passed by the Parliament in Westminster and had been given
Royal Assent, that the feelings in Cornwall of being forced into
something completely unacceptable were raised to the point of
action. As in 1497 the people set out on the road to England
to seek redress for all these wrong-doings. They joined up with
the people of Devon where there were similar riots, in particular
to the command that the new Prayer Book should be used in every
church in the land on Whitsunday 1549. [There were also riots
concerning the introduction of the English Prayer Book in Gloucester,
Worcester, Rutland, Norfolk and Suffolk.]
Once again in Cornwall this
was the straw that broke the camel's back. It was obvious, for
example, that the young king was just a pawn in this power struggle,
and amongst the 'Final Demands of the Western Rebels' in 1549
they set out their demands in 'The Articles of us the Commoners
of Devonshire and Cornwall in divers Campes by East and West
of Excettor' that:
"...we will have the
Lawes of our Soverayne Lord Kyng Henry the viii concernynge the
syxe articles to be in use again, as in hys time they were ..."
[this echoed the previous demands sent from Castle Canyke (Bodmin)
that they only wanted the will of the old king to be carried
out until the new king was old enough to rule]. The Articles
stated further that, "... we wyll not receyve the newe servyce
because it is but lyke a Christmas game ... but we wyll have
oure olde service ... in Latten not in Englysh, as it was before.
And so we the Cornyshe men (whereof certen of us understande
no Englysh) utterly refuse this newe Englysh." Sampford Courtenay,
just north of Okehampton, made its own impact on history when,
as seems likely in Bodmin, St. Ives, Helston, St. Keverne, Launceston,
Penryn and many other places throughout Cornwall, the parish
priest refused to read from the new Prayer Book. The local people
joined the Cornish in their march towards Exeter. Crediton, Ottery
St. Mary, Honiton, Fenny Bridges and Clyst St. Mary (where 900
Cornish prisoners were executed in a very short space of time),
all have their place in what is known as 'The Prayer Book' or
'Western Rebellion', but it was their lack of success at the
City walls of Exeter that was for the rebels the beginning of
the end.
A few final points which
have long rankled in the memories of the Cornish.
On 2nd July 1549 after Exeter
had closed its gates, the army outside was incited to set fire
to the City. However, the Rev. Robert Welsh, a Penryn man who
was the priest of St. Thomas', across the river from Exeter,
persuaded the Cornish not to do so, but to show mercy to the
innocent people of the City. This they did, and on the 5th August
they released their prisoners and marched away from the walls
of the City. Welsh's reward was to be drawn up by a rope about
his middle to a gallows projecting from the top of his own church
tower. There his body remained in chains, 'bedecked in his popish
apparel', for something like three years.
A total of some 4,000 Cornishmen
were killed in this uprising, which, together with another 1,000
or so who were hanged afterwards, represented approximately one
in ten of the population of Cornwall. With many of these protesters
drawn from the areas that still spoke Cornish, the heart was
ripped out of the Cornish speaking community. Until this time
the history of Cornwall had been played out in the Celtic language
of Cornwall.
Another consequence was to
lose the close friendship of their Cousins from Brittany. There
seems to have been many Bretons caught up in these disturbances,
indicating the continuing close relationship between the Cornish
and the Bretons, but following 1549 these Catholics from across
the sea were no longer welcome in Protestant Britain.
Yet another major change
would seem to be the use on English soil of foreign mercenaries.
Nearly 1,000 Lanzkechts and Arquebusiers were used to devastating
effect by the English to crush the Prayer Book Rebellion.
with grateful thanks to Joanna
Mattingley for historical advice, and reference to 'Cornwall's
Secret War' (bi-lingual) by Pol Hodge, Kowethas as Yeth Kernewek,
1999; 'The Western Rising' by Philip Caraman, West Country Books,
1994; 'Revolt in the West (The Western Rebellion 1549)' by John
Sturt and 'The Western Rebellion of 1549' by Frances Rose-Troup
pub. in 1913.
There is no doubt that in
the hearts and minds of all true Cornish people, we have not
made a great deal of progress since 1549. We have not been able
to get the teaching of our mother tongue to be even an option
on the schools curriculum. We have not been allowed even the
slightest degree of autonomy, even to having our own Member of
the European Parliament. We are constantly over-ruled by the
English government in Westminster, having a vastly expanded infrastructure,
houses and supermarkets constructed against the wishes of the
local people, and we have not been allowed to pursue the establishment
of a Cornish university. Neither have we been allowed to have
our own Economic Development Agency, but have been lumped together
with areas 200 miles to the east, areas where commuters drive
to their daily work in the city of London, areas where the unit
of economic well-being is well over the 100% average figure for
the whole of the European Community. We have been so deprived
by ! the English governments down through the ages, but in particular
since World War II, that the corresponding figure of economic
success for Cornwall is 69%. All of this negative administration
by the English encourages a constant flow of young Cornish blood
out of our country. But we have not given up in the last 50 years,
the last 500 years or the last 1,000 years. As we approach the
new millenium there is every reason to believe that the wild
Celtic enthusiasm for, and love of the world around them, which
has shone down through the ages like a rich golden thread in
the dull tapestry of the history of Europe, will not only continue
to shine, but will blossom under the new European umbrella. There
is a determination that Kernow will once again be recognised,
accepted and given a degree of autonomy as befits its role in
the history of this continent. [To quote the slogan for the Prayer
Book Rebellion: Kernow Arta =Cornwall Again!]
Without the drive and determination
of our interminable Celtic spirit our people would have given
up after the Prayer Book Rebellion, if not before. As it is,
we recognise that although we are administered by the English
as a part of England, we do not live in England and we are not
English. We are 'Cornish', 'Celtic', 'British' & 'European'.
KERNOW BYS VYKEN (kernow biss vicken) = CORNWALL FOR EVER.
Howard
Curnow, Route Organiser.
tel
/ fax: (44) 1736.710116
An Gernyk, St. Hilary, Penzance
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