King Mark of Cornwall

“ And when King Mark and his barons of Cornwall beheld how young Sir Tristram departed with such a carriage [that is, carrying himself so bravely] to fight for the right of Cornwall, wit ye well there was neither man nor woman of worship but they wept for to see so young a knight jeopard himself for their right. ”

“ When the young hero has reached the age of fifteen, his guardian takes him over to Cornwall, where King Mark not only recognises him as his nephew, but also designates him as his heir.
Tristan has been carefully trained, and is so expert in the use of his arms that he soon excites the envy of the courtiers, who are watching for an opportunity to do him harm. The King of Cornwall, having been defeated in battle by the King of Ireland, is obliged to pay him a yearly tribute, which is collected by Morold, a huge giant and a relative of the Irish king. ”

“ Their losses were many, due to the skillful archery of the few within. King Mark's castle was of the kind that could only be assailed at two points which was in itself great help to the besieged.
If, perchance, the men of King Mark had had greater stomach for the attack, things might have gone ill with those within. But there were many of the men of this king who favored but little the quarrel with the besieged, counting it, in their own hearts, a scurvy action on the part of Cornwall's king. And men fight poorly who have such thoughts. ”

“ The prebendaries or some of them remained till the general dissolution, when the prebends were given or sold, and have passed through the Williams’s, by purchase to the Hawkins family, with some fairs. One fair, however, is the grant of King Charles the Second. Few gentlemen’s houses in the west of Cornwall were without the honour of receiving Prince Charles during his residence in Cornwall, about the middle part of the civil wars; and he is said to have remained for a time longer than usual with Mr. Williams, who, after the Restoration, waited on the King with congratulations from the parish ”

“ His chief dwelling and place of residence was at Jutsworth, near Saltash and Trematon, where he married and had issue one only daughter named Agnes, as some say, others Beatrix, who was married to Reginald Fitz-Harry, base son of King Henry I., by his concubine Anne Corbett, in whose right he was made Earl of Cornwall, after William Earl of Cornwall aforesaid had forfeited the same, by attainder of treason against the Conqueror and his sons, and was deprived thereof. ”

“ That here was a Christian free chapel before the Norman Conquest I doubt not, implied in the word Trewrow, now a Rectory Church; in the glass windows of which, the north side thereof, is yet extant the arms of John Earl of Cornwall, who succeeded to the Crown of England 1199, and was made Earl of Cornwall by his father King Henry II. at nine years old (though he had not the possession thereof till the time of Richard I. 1190, which was but a hundred and twenty-four years after the Norman Conquest, and but one hundred and three years after the Conqueror’s death) ”

“ Lastly, after this prince had thus vanquished his enemies abroad and at home, had restored the Christian Religion, eclipsed by the Saxons, ordained this useful order of knighthood, and done all the good offices a just, pious, and religious king could do to his subjects, he was at last, as many others, ungratefully dealt with by his own people, who at the instigation of his discontented cousin Mordred on the Roman Pictish title, confederated with the Saxons as against a bastard, and rose a great army in Cornwall in opposition to his power ”

“ For the etymology of the first compound word, it signifies the safe, secure, or impregnable fort or fortress; for the second, safe, secure, impregnable, or invincible man; or a man so fortified, magnified, or fenced, by art or nature, that he was not liable to hurt or danger, referring perhaps to the King or Earl of Cornwall, whose fort or castle it was; as also the manor of Dundagell, contiguous therewith, privileged with the jurisdiction of a court leet, and other marks of grandeur over the adjacent country, still pertaining to the Duke of Cornwall. ”

“ The manors of Millaton and Carnadon Prior belong to the Duchy of Cornwall; the latter had belonged to the Priory of Launceston, and is one of the manors given in exchange by King Henry the Eighth for the honour of Wallingford.
On the waste of this manor stands the lofty hill usually called Carraton Downs, supposed, with the exception of Brown Willy (which is elevated 1368 feet above the sea) to be the highest land in Cornwall. Here King Charles the First drew up his forces on the 2d of August, 1644, and was joined by Prince Maurice. ”

“ As for Mr. Carew’s derivation, who calls it Lostwithiel, from the Cornish Losswithiall, which in English, saith he, signifieth a lion’s tail, it is so ridiculous, as not to be worth repeating; neither doth the word carry that sense. This parish is a vicarage, valued in the King’s books at £2. 13s. 4d.
The Duke of Cornwall is patron. The incumbent Mr. Baron, who succeeded Mr. Whiteford.
This church is not valued in Tax. Benefic. anno 1291; and was then appropriated to the Priory of Bodmin.
THE TOWN AND BOROUGH OF LESTWITHIEL,
“Reputed,” saith Mr. ”

“ John, 83, 88 Harvest dinners, 68 Havens, 26 Hawkins, Sir John, 115, 156 Hawks, 25 Hay, Walter, (temp. Rich. 1) , 49 Hearle, arms of, 143 Hechin, arms of, 112 Helford, 151 Helston, 150 Hendor, John, 63, 88 Hengsten, 115 Henpoint, 113 Henry 1, King, 97 Henry 7, King, 97, 99 Henry, Prince of Wales, Sir John Dodderidge’s account of Cornwall dedicated to him, xxiii Herbs, 10387 Heriots, 37 Hill of Penwarne, arms of, 140. ”

“ One of the charms of Cornwall is that it gives one the sense of being such an old country, as if things had gone exactly as they do now, not merely since the days of King Arthur, but for ever so long before then. The Romans, the Phœnicians, nay, the heroes of pre-historic ages, such as Jack the Giantkiller and the giant Cormoran, seemed to be not impossible myths, as we gradually quitted civilisation in the shape of a village or two, and a few isolated farm-houses, and came out upon the wild district known as Goonhilly Down. ”

“ In the Civil War, Cornwall was almost unanimous on the side of the King. Lord Robartes, however, threw in his lot with the Parliament. On the side of the King were Sir Bevil Grenville, Sir Ralph Hopton, Godolphin, Slanning, and Trevanion. A battle was fought at Boconnoc on January 19, 1643, in which General Ruthven and the Roundheads were defeated. Another battle in which the Royalists were successful was at Stamford Hill above Stratton, May 16, 1643. ”

“ And in the morning that we may scape away,
Either without scath or scorne.’
Then forth is gone this proud porter,
As fast as he cold hye,
And when he came befor Cornewall King,
He kneeled downe on his knee. ”

“ Cornub. dict. feod. Mortan. (Carew, p. 126, Lord Dunstanville’s edition,) which Edward Earl of Cornwall must be Edward de Caernarvon, afterwards King of England, the 2d of that name, for there was no other Edward Earl of Cornwall. 303 Elizabeth, the daughter and heir of this Sir John Fitz William (for he was a knight) brought the manor, &c. into the family of Mohun in which it continued till the reign of James the 1st, when Sir Reginald Mohun, to raise fortunes for his children by his third wife, sold this manor to Samuel Pendarves of Roscrow, esq. in whose posterity it yet remaineth, Mrs. ”

“ Richard de, 52 Resorgan, a Cornish rebel, 98 Restormel castle, 137 Richard 3rd, King, 97 Richard Earl of Cornwall, 97 Rivers, 26 Roche, 138 Roche, Odo de la, 52 Roderick, King of the Britons, 96 Romane, John, 63 Roscarrock of Roscarrock, family and arms of, 127 Roseland, 141 Rouse, ancient family of, 64. Of Halton, pedigree, 113. Arms, 114. Anthony, 83, 88390 Royalties in the Dukes of Cornwall, 79 Rufe, Ralph de, (temp. Rich. 1) , 49 St. Agnes, 148 St. Aubyn, ancient family of, 64. Of Clowance, pedigree and arms of, 152. Thomas, 88 St. ”

“ The news gradually spread to distant lands, and eventually reached Tyre, the ancient city of the Phoenicians, so that their merchants came to Cornwall to buy tin in the days of King Solomon. The Britons then, fearing an invasion, built castles on their coast, including that on St. Michael's Mount, while St. Piran became the most popular saint in Cornwall and eventually the patron saint of the miners of tin. His name was associated with many places besides the sands he landed upon, including several villages, as well as a cross, a chapel, a bay, a well, and a coombe. ”

“ Edmund Earl of Cornwall had his palace here, privileges conferred by Earl Richard, antiquity of its franchise, revenues of the 487 corporation, damage done by the parliament army 26. The lords of the manor 27. Rent payable to the Duke, lies between hills, river navigable. By the Editor, locality, its beauty, seat of the duchy court, indebted to Richard King of the Romans, palace converted into a prison, charter of George 2nd 28. Its invalidity, church, town extends beyond the parish, statistics, incumbent, patron, Geology by Dr. Boase 29 Lestwithiel town, ii. ”

“ And thus, according to Merlin’s prophecy, did the boar of Cornwall bring help and assistance, and tread Britain’s enemies under his feet.
But no sooner was this land settled in peace at home, but plots and designs from abroad were laid to disturb the tranquillity thereof. For at that time the Romans, having made a peace with their enemies the Vandals, sent messengers to King Arthur, demanding 3,000l. per annum tribute, a prodigious sum in those days, many years in arrear, according to the agreement Julius Cæsar made with King Cassibellan, and was still due to the senate. ”

“ The settlers in Armorica introduced their own form of Christianity, and the object of the British and Irish missionary saints who flocked thither soon afterwards was not, as ancient writers have supposed, in order to convert the pagan Gauls, but rather to administer to the spiritual needs of their compatriots. To these missions our Dumnonia contributed little in comparison with Wales. Cornwall after the foundation of the kingdom of Wessex in 519 became isolated: its relations with Brittany were doubtless closer than with Saxonised Britain. ”

“ John, 62 Bret, William de, 52 Bridges in Cornwall, 53 Brooke, Lord, 63 Brunn, Robert le, 52 Buckingham, Duke of, 97 Bude, Bay of, 118 Buildings in Cornwall, 53 Buller, of Tregarrick, pedigree of, 131. Arms of, 132. Shillingham, house of Mr., 111 Calveley, Sir Hugh, 135 Camden, Mr. mentions Mr. Carew’s Survey of Cornwall, with approbation, in the 1st edition of his Britannia, xvii. A member of the Society of Antiquaries, xviii. His Epitaph on the Author, xxv Camel River, the Site of King Arthur’s last battle, 122 Campo Arnulphi, Henry de, (temp. Ed. 2) , 50. (Rich. de, temp. Ed. 2) , 50. ”

“ Thomas a Becket.”
It is a curious circumstance in the history of Cornwall, that several of the principal gentlemen from this remote county, took active parts on either side between King Richard the Third and his antagonist Henry the Seventh: many were present at the battle of Bosworth. Mr. Carew relates (p. 269, Lord Dunstanville’s edition) the almost miraculous escape of Sir Richard Edgecombe of Cotehele, when he was pursued (as I apprehend) by Bodrigar, who, in his turn, found himself obliged to fly after the defeat of King Richard ”

“ John of Jerusalem, to pray for his soul; the remainder descended to his heir (which we have no reason to doubt of, since Henry de la Pomeray, one of his posterity, 3 Henry IV. at Tregony, held twelve knights’ fees of land in Cornwall, id. Mr. Carew) ; having so done, he caused himself to be blooded to death, to make his bequests good and valid in law; after his death King Richard restored the prior and his monks to the full possession of their cells, revenues, and chapel; and in de la Pomeray’s fort, he placed a small garrison of soldiers, to defend the same against sudden invasion of enemies ”

“ From all parts, and especially from that storied city whose merchants were then, as now, princes of the land, men were wont to encounter the perilous journey from the Thames to the Tamar, to pursue their traffic with the “underground folk,” as they termed the inhabitants of Cornwall, that rocky land of strangers, as, when literally interpreted, is the exact meaning of its name.
It was in the year 1463, when Edward IV. occupied the English throne, that a tall and portly merchant, in the distinctive apparel of the times, rode along the wilds of a Cornish moor. ”

“ It seems very improbable that King Athelstan, after founding and splendidly endowing a church to commemorate or to sanctify bis conquest of Cornwall, should bestow on it a name so very indiscriminate as The burial-ground; more especially at a time when missionaries from Ireland had recently converted the inhabitants to Christianity, and had left to posterity a reputation for piety so elevated as to invest them at once with the appellation of saints, and to procure for them, in after times, the dedication of almost all the churches throughout the County. ”

“ Cornwall has produced admirable sailors, men who have won deathless renown in warfare at sea, as "Old Dreadnought" Boscawen, Pellew, Lord Exmouth, etc., and daring and adventurous smugglers, like "The King of Prussia," who combined great religious fervour with entire absence of scruple in the matter of defrauding the king's revenue. It has produced men of science who have made for themselves a world-fame, as Adams the astronomer, and Sir [Pg viii] Humphry Davy the chemist; men who have been benefactors to their race, as Henry Trengrouse, Sir Goldsworthy Gurney, and Trevithick. ”