The links between Cornwall, a county frequently considered remote and separate in the Middle Ages, and the wider realm of England are newly discussed.
Winner of The Federation of Old Cornwall Societies (FOCS) Holyer an Gof Cup for non-fiction, 2020.
Stretching out into the wild Atlantic, fourteenth-century Cornwall was a land at the very ends of the earth. Within its boundaries many believed that King Arthur was a real-life historical Cornishman and that their natal shire had once been the home of mighty giants. Yet, if the county was both unusual and remarkable, it still held an integral place in the wider realm of England.
Drawing on a wide range of published and archival material, this book seeks to show how Cornwall remained strikingly distinctive while still forming part of the kingdom. It argues that myths, saints, government, and lordship all endowed the name and notion of Cornwall with authority in the minds of its inhabitants, forging these people into a commonalty. At the same time, the earldom-duchy and the Crown together helped to link the county into the politics of England at large. With thousands of Cornishmen and women drawn east of the Tamar by the needs of the Crown, warfare, lordship, commerce, the law, the Church, and maritime interests, connectivity with the wider realm emerges as a potent integrative force.
Supported by a cast of characters ranging from vicious pirates and gentlemen-criminals through to the Black Prince, the volume sets Cornwall in the latest debates about centralisation, devolution, and collective identity, about the nature of Cornishness and Englishness themselves.
S.J. DRAKE is a Research Associate at the Institute of Historical Research. He was born and brought up in Cornwall.
Industry Reviews
Drake puts medieval Cornwall on the map... [this book] will be essential reading on its subject. It will be used for a hundred years or more. * MEDIEAVISTIK *
Magisterial.... Thanks to the careful research and convincing argument presented in Cornwall, Connectivity and Identity, we should now regard Cornwall's distinctiveness not as separateness, but as holding an important place in the project of governing a heterogeneous polity, the history of which dates back to the fourteenth century and the Plantagenet project of creating an English kingdom * THE MEDIEVAL REVIEW *
Sam Drake has produced a masterful and compelling work on Cornwall in the high medieval period, the first 'overarching study' in 60 years. [...] This book should be a must buy for all interested in medieval regional history and Cornwall. * THE LOCAL HISTORIAN *
This fascinating study by Sam Drake is a welcome contribution not only to scholarship on late medieval Cornwall, it also represents an important and timely intervention in current approaches to history of regions in pre-modern Britain and Ireland. * PERITIA *
An interesting and useful volume which offers a substantial amount of historical ?esh to clothe the archaeological bones for this intriguing period of Cornwall's history. * CORNISH ARCHAEOLOGY *
Dr Sam J. Drake's Cornwall, Connectivity and Identity in the Fourteenth Century is a most notable contribution [...] Drake offers a wide-ranging and richly researched portrait of life in fourteenth-century Cornwall which takes 'connectivity' as its theme. This allows Drake to make a scholarly contribution of great value not only for those primarily interested in Cornish history but also for those who work on the more general social and political history of England in the late middle ages: put simply, this is a book that will need to be added to a great many reading lists. * REVIEWS IN HISTORY *
A well-written and engaging book. * ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW *
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