Portal:Cornwall

Works

 * Devon and Cornwall Notes & Queries
 * Cornwall, Victoria County History
 * Volume 1
 * Salmon, Cornwall, 1903
 * Mitton, Cornwall, 1915
 * Sabine Baring-Gould, A Book of the West, Volume 2 (Cornwall)
 * Sabine Baring-Gould, Cornwall, (Cambridge County Geographies), 1910
 * On the Economy of the Mines of Cornwall and Devon in Transactions of the Geological Society
 * Tregoning, The Laws of the Stannaries of Cornwall, 1808
 * Salmon, The Cornwall Coast, 1910
 * Gilbert, The Parochial History of Cornwall, 1838
 * Cox, Cornwall (The Churches of Cornwall), (County Churches), 1912
 * Peter, The Histories of Launceston and Dunheved, in the County of Cornwall, 1885
 * Courtney, Cornish Feasts and Folk-lore, 1890
 * Jenner, A Handbook of the Cornish Language, 1904
 * Jago, The Ancient Language, and the Dialect of Cornwall, 1882,
 * Glossary of words in use in Cornwall, 1880
 * Boase and Courtney, Bibliotheca Cornubiensis
 * Volume 1 (1874)
 * Volume 2 (1878)
 * Volume 3 (1882)

Royal charters applying to Cornwall
Full texts of Charters of the Kings of England which specifically relate to Cornwall, 1201 - 1508. Having been incorporated into the Kingdom of England late in the Anglo-Saxon period the constitutional status was unlike that of the rest of England in the Middle Ages, rather like a County Palatine but not designated as such. The charters below relate either to the tin mines of Cornwall and Devon or to the Earldom or Duchy of Cornwall. The stannary charters are dated between 1201 and 1508, the others between 1231 and 1338.

Until the early Tudor period Cornwall existed on maps of Great Britain as a separate and distinct country from England. Royalty referred to themselves as being 'rulers of England and Cornwall' (in Latin "Anglia et Cornubia"). A Greek traveller in 300 BC recorded that the people of Cornwall were an evolved and civilized tin mining community trading tin with other countries, 800 years before the Anglo-Saxons first set foot in Britain. In the 9th and 10th centuries the Kings of Wessex became the rulers of Cornwall and after a period of independence during the wars with the Danes this rule by the Kings of England became permanent (see: History of Cornwall). In 1337 the earldom of Cornwall was made into a royal Duchy to support the heir to the throne, Cornwall became an extraterritorial region of England ruled by the Dukes of Cornwall. Centralisation in the reign of Henry VIII meant that Cornwall's distinct status was no longer recognised in royal documents though unlike the situation for Wales no legislation was enacted to correspond to this. The rights of the Duke of Cornwall still rely on medieval legislation. When no-one is Duke of Cornwall the lands and rights of the Duchy are exercised by the Crown since the heir apparent may not always inherit the Duchy.

Charters relating to the stannaries

 * Charter of liberties to the tinners of Cornwall and Devon, 1201
 * Charter of liberties to the tinners of Cornwall, 1304
 * Charter of confirmation to the tinners of Cornwall, 1402
 * Grant of pardon to the tinners of Cornwall, 1508

Charters relating to the Earldom and Duchy

 * Charter of 15 Henry III, 1231, relating to the Earldom of Cornwall
 * Charter of 1 Edward II for Piers de Gaveston, Earl of Cornwall, 1307
 * Charter of 11 Edward II to sheriffalty of Cornwall for Isabella, Queen of England, 1318
 * Charter of 4 Edward III. for John of Eltham, Earl of Cornwall, 1331
 * Charter of 5 Edward III. for John of Eltham, Earl of Cornwall, 1332
 * Charter 11 Edward III. The Great Charter, 1337
 * Charter 11 Edward III, 1337, relating to the Duchy of Cornwall
 * Charter 11 Edward III, 1338