THE BISHOPRIC OF CORNWALL, 201 



town of Bodmin, and the town of Petrockstoiv, and all other their 

 lands and tenements in free, pure, and perpetual almoigne." * In 

 Bishop Stafford's Register, A.D. 1415, the Parish is called "Pa- 

 rochia Sancti Petroci de Padistow." And henceforward it retained 

 this name. 



Keeping in mind then that Petrockstow was anciently the 

 same as Bodmin, we shall have less difficulty in interpreting aright 

 the passages of the old Chroniclers to which we will next refer. 



William of Malmesbury has the following passage : — 



" The seat of the Episcopate was at Saint Petrock's the Confessor. 

 The place is among the northern 'Britons, upon the sea, near a 

 river which is called Hegelmithe." And he adds, " Some say that 

 it was at Saint Germans, near the river Liner, upon the sea, in 

 the southern part." t 



Similarly Roger of Wendover : — 



" The Cornish Pontiffs had their See at S. Petrock's, among the 

 northern Welsh, upon the river Heilemuthe." :j: 



Now Bodmin, or S. Petrock's, is on the northern side of the 

 County ; and the Padstow estuary, coming up from Heyle Bay, 

 approaches within six miles of it. Moreover the river Heyle or 

 Alan, which falls into the Padstow estuary, flows within one mile 

 of Bodmin ; and over the waters of this river the Priors of Saint 

 Petrock's had immemorial jurisdiction. || The description is suffi- 

 ciently clear, though inexact ; and it can point to no other place 

 than Bodmin. When Willia^ of Malmesbury uses the expression 



* Oliver's Monasticon, p. 15. 



•j- Cornubiensium sane Pontificum succiduum ordinem nee scio nee ap- 

 pono nisi quod apud Sanctum Petrocum Confessorem fuerit Episcopatus 

 sedes. Locus est apud aquilonales Brittones supra mare juxta flumen quod 

 dicitur Hegelmithe. Quidam dicuut fiiisse ad Sanctum Germanum juxta 

 flumen Liner suprfi mare in australi parte." — William of Malmesbury, De 

 Gestis Pontificum, lib. 2. 



+ " Cornubienses sane Pontifices apud Sanctum Petrocum juxta Wallen- 

 ses aquilonales super flumen Heilemuthe sedes habuerant." — Roger of Wen- 

 dover. It is observable that he calls the people of Cornwall " Wallenses," 

 that is, the Gornu- Welsh. 



II See Placita Quo Warranto, 30 Edward I (1302), printed in Olivefs 

 Monasticon, p. 412, No. iv. 



