180 THE BISHOPRIC OF CORNWALL." 



Tlie Saxon See of Cornwall is generally asserted to have been" 

 founded by King Edward the Elder in 909, with Athelstan for it's 

 first Prelate ; but we think on insufficient grounds. The opinion 

 appears to have been derived from an erroneous statement of 

 William of Malmesbury, who, in copying from an ancient Manu- 

 script, substituted the name of Cornwall for that of another See. 

 Let us see how this can be shown.* 



A very ancient Manuscript,t said to have been given to Exeter 

 Cathedral by Leofric, the first Bishop of that See, (1050-1073), 

 gives the following account of the consecration of seven Bishops 

 at Canterbury, on the same day, by Archbishop Plegmund, in the 

 reign of King Edward the Elder : — 



"Plegmundus Archiepiscopus, .... rediens ad patriam, in 

 urbe Dorobernia VII Episcopos VII Ecclesiis in uno die orduia- 

 vit : Frythestanum ad Ecclesiam Wentaniensem, yEthelstanum 

 ad Ecclesiam Corvinensem, Wserstanum ad Ecclesiam Sciraburn- 

 ensem, -^thilhelmum ad Ecclesiam Fontaniensem, Eadulfum ad 

 Ecclesiam Cridionensem. Insuper addiderunt illi tres villas in 

 Cornubid, quorum nomina PoUtun, Csellihg, Landwithan, ut inde 

 singulis annis visitaret gentem Cornuhiensem ad exprimendos 

 eorum errores : nam antea, in quantum potuerant, veritati re- 

 sistebant, et non decretis apostolicis dbediebant. Sed et aliis 

 provinciis constituit duos ; Australibus-Saxonibus virum idoneum 

 Beorneh ordinavit, et Mercionibus Coenuulfum ad civitatem quae 

 dicitur Dorceceaster." % 



* The argument is fully given by Pedler : — Anglo-Saxon Episcopate of 

 Cornwall, Chap. I. 



f Now in the Bodleian Library (Bodley, 579), and printed in Dugdale's 

 Monasticon. 



+ " Archbishop Plegmund returning to his country, ordained 



in the city of Canterbury seven Bishops to seven Churches in one day :— 

 Frithestan to the Church of Winchester, Athelstan to the Corvinensian 

 Church, Werstan to the Church of Sherborne, Aldhelm to the Church of 

 Wells, Eadulf to the Church of Crediton. Moreover they added to him three 

 Manors in Cornivall, the names of which are, PoUtun, Caelling, Landwithan, 

 that from thence he might every year visit the Cornish race to extirpate 

 their errors ; for they had prcAiously to the utmost of their power resisted 

 the truth, and had not obeyed the Apostolic decrees. He also appointed two 

 Bishops to other provinces ; to the South Saxons he ordained Beorneh, a fit 

 person, and to the Mercians Kenwulf , at the city which is called Dorchester " — 

 i.e., Dorchester in the County of Oxford. 



