6 CHRONICLES OF CORNISH SAINTS. II. — S. PETROCK. 



had induced the Saxon mvaders to espouse their cause. Cornwall, 

 though still the stronghold of British power, was beset on all sides 

 by the foe. Eapacious bands hovered about the fords of the 

 Tamar, and piratical ships kept the coasts in constant alarm. 

 Moreover, the country itself was full of insurrection and strife, 

 for petty chieftains were everywhere struggling for supremacy. 

 One of the mightiest among them in the west seems to have been 

 a certain Tendurus, who is described, in the Life ascribed to John 

 of Tinmouth, as a man of fierce aspect and savage manners. There 

 is a Constantine also mentioned, not however as a chief, but as a 

 rich man, who is restored to health by the prayers of Petrock, and 

 who afterwards becomes a Christian teacher. Leland designates 

 Tendurus as Theodoras, and says that both he and Constantine 

 were chieftains of renown, and that they aided Petrock by their 

 generosity and piety, giving him a suitable site for the monastery 

 which he built.* Perhaps this Constantine may be identical with 

 the tyrant of that name whom Gildas vehemently denounced for his 

 life of iniquity ; for we are told that after he had slaughtered his 

 rivals, the sons of Mordred, he was seized with remorse, and re- 

 signed his throne that he might spend the rest of his days in 

 seclusion. We are also told that in his old age he became a pat- 

 tern of Christian virtue, and a preacher of the gospel in distant 

 lands. That he resided in Cornwall for some time after his con- 

 version may be inferred from the fact that a Church in the 

 county t has from time immemorial been associated with his name, 

 marking probably the place of his abode and Christian labour. 

 Moreover, there is a trace of his connection with the district in 

 which Petrock himself resided. In the parish of S. Minver, which 

 originally belonged to Padstow, there Avere, when Hals wrote 

 his history, the ruins of an old Chapel dedicated to S. Con- 

 stantine, and near it " A Well strong built of stone and arched 



* " Regtiabant eo in Corinia sjbcuIo, duo reguli, fama celebres, Theodorus 

 et Constantinus ; quorum cum liberalitate turn pietate adjutus, locum con- 

 dendo aptissimum monasterio accepit, cui nomen patria lingua Bosmanach 

 a monaehis inditum." De Script. Brit: 61. 



f Constantine, in the Hundred of Kirrier. From the notice of the 

 Church in Domesday it seems to have been, as Polwhele says, one of more 

 than ordinary note. " S. Constantinus tenet dim : hidam terra, qats fuit 

 quieta ab omn^ servicio T. E. E. Sed postquam Comes terram accepit, 

 reddidit geldum injuste, sicut terra villanorum." 



