Details below of a communication received and dated 4th June 2003.
Mr S Trudgian
6 North Street
LostwithielSir
As we have worked together in the past, you will be aware of my interest in ensuring that bodies in receipt of public funding disseminate accurate accounts of Cornish history, for history to a people is like personality is to an individual, without it they wither and eventually die.
I am concerned about some of the claims and inferences made in the new Lostwithiel Heritage Trail published by Lostwithiel Town Forum. I fear that these claims, coupled with a degree of editorial selectivity and inappropriate use of terminology, promulgate a misleading view of Cornish history and undermines Lostwithiels important place in it. Before I raise this matter with some of the external contributors and funders I would appreciate it if you would enquire as to the source of this information. The following are mere examples:
Point 1. The brochure asserts that "Lostwithiel was developed from a Saxon manor." This is highly improbable. Despite the notion of Saxon manors being prevalent in Cornwall, careful analysis of evidence suggests otherwise. Let me explain.
Lostwithiel and Restormel Castle are not mentioned in Domesday, therefore both entities are of Norman origin. This is confirmed by the first Charter of Robert de Cardinham. The two nearby, but quite separate, settlements of Bodardle and Polscoe are mentioned in Domesday, but they are not nucleated manors on the English model.
In Cornwall very few such manors existed, so for administrative convenience Norman auditors carried out Domesday tax assessments by grouping collections of huts [on the Celtic settlement pattern] together and listing them as a taxable unit. This was so with Bodardle and Polscoe.
This is reflected in the fact that the area called Bodardle is recorded by Domesday as being home to 7 slaves, 24 bordars and 10 villans. Polscoe was home for just 3 bordars.
A "villan" is a village peasant, a "bordar" is of lower status than a villan and a slave is a purchased labourer. Saxon 'manors', and the operation of 'manorial law,' relied on a centralised system of estate management operating around a Lord and his central Court, the administration of which involved Ceorls, Reeves and Sokemen. There is no record of a lord and any of his functionaries residing at either Bodardle or Polscoe.
The Domesday evidence tells us that both entities were mere collections of isolated huts occupied by low status peasants grouped together at the time of Domesday for administrative convenience. In other words, they were not "Anglo-Saxon manors" and could not have functioned as such. What kind of "Saxon manor" would have been occupied and administered by three Cornish peasants?
Point 2. The brochure asserts that 14th Century Lostwithiel was "the Capital of Cornwall administering county affairs". This mischievous statement underplays both the significance of Lostwithiel and the former, overtly recognised, constitutional status of Cornwall.
The Complete Oxford English Dictionary states that the word 'County' was not introduced to Britain until the 15th century, the same source also states that Cornwall was never a shire [it even had its own shires]. If Cornubia was not a county or shire, what was it? Contemporary maps [Munster 1538, Honter 1561etc.] and documents reveal that Cornubia [now known as the County of Cornwall] was not part of Anglia during this period and Lostwithiel was the headquarters of an alternative and competing Duchy government complete with independent exchequer, admiralty offices etc. Even the 'Records of the Black Prince' refer to Cornubia and Anglia as separate entities.
Point 3. The authors of the brochure effuse over Edmund, but do not refer to the fact that he actively resisted attempts by the King of England to undermine his position and diminish Cornwall's status. For example, records of the 1284 Launceston Eyre show Edmund's advocate opening proceedings by asserting that his leige Lord "held Cornubia above the King". The same records reveal that Edmund would not answer to, or admit into his territory, any writ of the King. The last two Duchy Charters of 1337/38 acknowledge that Cornubia had fiscal autonomy, and the King of England's writ did not extend into our land.
Why is historical information relating to Cornish dictinctiveness being vetted out of Lostwithiel's past? I have scanned Barbara Fraser's web based 'history' of Lostwithiel and her story corresponds with that delivered by the brochure. The same yarn appears in the associated "Guide to the Ancient Capital of Cornwall" (2003). This pamphlet was devised by Barbara Fraser and edited by Jonathan Barker.
It is notable that an earlier Lostwithiel Town Guide by J.W Higgins [circa late 1940's] made no mention of a fictitious "Saxon Manor", or of Lostwithiel being a "County Capital" - referring quite rightly to Lostwithiel being the "Capital of the Duchy of Cornwall". So why is Cornubia's medieval status being retrospectively downgraded to mere County, and a false English origin for the town, now being promulgated?
What measures can be taken to compensate for the damage done to Cornish history by the various misrepresentations in the publicly funded brochure? In the first instance I should like to come to Lostwithiel and give a talk about this situation. I would therefore appreciate it if you could liase with members of Lostwithiel Old Cornwall Society to make this a reality. Stemming from this, Lostwithiel Cornish Association and others should make representations to Lostwithiel Town forum with a view to having the brochure corrected and reprinted. Failing this, LCA would need to acquire a small amount of funding with which to print and distribute a factual account of Loswithiel's past. Reasons for having to perform this exercise would be given in the alternative brochure. I could help facilitate this.
This does not bode well for those who have associated themselves with a pamphlet that so obviously denudes the Cornish dimension, including the businesses that will now be exposed as unwittingly funding this exercise in misinformation.
I have sent this to our friends in Brittany and in particular Lostwithiels twin town of Pleyber Christ. Everybody needs to be made weary of this version of history now being adopted and accepted as fact.
Lastly, those who take issue with this message should first ask Lostwithiel Town Forum to substantiate their many historical aberrations. The points made by me in this email, together with reference sources, can be corroborated by examining my latest book "Our Future is History" available from Cornwall Library Service.
I look forward to hearing from you.
John Angarrack
Cornish historian and authorThe contributors and/or funders are: Cornwall Heritage Trust, Cornwall County Council, Restormel Borough Council, Lostwithiel Town Council and Lostwithiel Business Group. The brochure was published by Lostwithiel Town Forum.
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