THE BISHOPRIC OF CORNWALL. 203 



in Cornwall was plundered by Danish pirates, who committed 

 many ravages in Devonshire and Cornwall." * 



Also, Eoger de Hoveden : — 



" In the year 981 the Monastery of Saint Petrock the Confessor 

 in Cornwall was ravaged by the pirates, who the year before had 

 laid waste Southampton, and were then committing frequent rav- 

 ages in Devonshire and in Cornwall, near the sea-shore.t 



From the evidence we have thus adduced from the Bodmin 

 Manumissions, from the Welsh Eecords, and from the ancient 

 Chroniclers, we can come to no other conclusion than that the 

 Cornish See was at Bodmin, the ancient Petrockstow, until the 

 destruction of that place by the Danes in 981, when it was re- 

 moved to S. Germans. 



The remark of William of Malmesbury, that some said the 

 See was at S. Germans, evidently refers to the undoubted fact 

 that the See was at S. Germans during the latter half of it's ex- 

 istence. We believe that the somewhat unreliable traditionary 

 accounts given by Leland in his Collectanea may be explained in 

 the same way. Another passage of Florence of Worcester must 

 not be unnoticed : — 



" In Damnonia, which is called Devonshire, and in Cornubia, 

 which is now called Cornwall, there were then two Bishoprics, 

 one at Crediton, the other at S. Germans : now there is one, and 

 it's See is at Exeter." % 



We have no difficulty ^n reconciling this, and similar passages, 

 with William of Malmesbury's clear statement, that " the Seat of 

 the Episcopate was at Saint Petrock's the Confessor," in the way 

 we have explained, — confirmed, as his statement is, by the evi- 

 dence of the Bodmin Manumissions and Welsh Eecords, as well 

 as by Eoger of Wendover. 



* Matthew of Westminster'' s Chronicles, 



f Roger de Hoveden's Annals, 



J "In Domnania quse DeveneschirG dicitur, et in Cornixbia quse nunc 

 Cornu-Gallia dicitm-, erantque tunc duo Episcopatus, unus in Oredinton, 

 alter apud Sanctum Germanum : nunc est unus, et est sedes ejus Exoniae." 

 — Florence of Worcester, Appendix. 



D 



