NOTES ON THE EXCURSION. 375 



I am rather inclined to take Llwyd's opinion tliat Gulval 

 is connected with Cunoval or Cymbeline, (to use the Latinized 

 form familiar to all readers of Shakespeare) the father of 

 Rialobran or Rialo the great and brave, (in the Cornish sense) 

 the chief who lies buried under the menhir, on the borders of 

 this parish close to the Men-an-tol which is well-known as the 

 Men Scrj'fa. If so, may I venture to conjecture that after the 

 persecution by the heathen Teudar was over, and the Christians 

 drove him out of Cornwall, as tradition and the " Beunans 

 Meriasek " affirm, S. Gulval or Cymbeline settled here as a 

 Christian, and possibly Christianised this locality and set apart 

 the ancient oratory, which is likely to have been built into this 

 Church. 



It is quite possible that Gulval or Cymbeline may have been 

 a layman and a soldier, for certainly some of the Cornish saints 

 were layman — e.g., S. Gerontius, or, as we call him now, 

 S. Gerrans, was a king and a famous British warrior ; 

 S. Constantino, who was also a king, and so on. Or if we assume 

 that Cymbeline the father of Rialobran was the S. Gulval of this 

 place and a bishop, it is possible that like S. Germoe he may 

 have taken orders late in life. It should be also remembered 

 that in the Brito-Celtic Church celibacy was not enforced. 



Putting together the shreds of evidence, is it too much to 

 suggest that the real S. Gulval may be the ancient Cornish 

 Christian Chief Cunoval, who probably settled in this country 

 soon after the defeat of Teudar and the expulsion of the 

 heathens, or their conversion, and who not improbably was the 

 first Christian chieftain of this Land's End district. In other 

 parts we find the name of the parish church and its dedication 

 connected with the establishment of Christianity in the district. 

 — e.g., S. Gwinnear, after the Irish Missionary Bishop 

 S. Gwinnear or Gwinear ; S. Leven, after the Missionary 

 Silvanus ; S. Ives, after the martyr S. la ; S. Germoe, after 

 the Bishop and King Germoch ; and the three Perrans, after the 

 great Missionary, Bishop S. Kierau or Piran. All these titles 

 are connected with the establishment of Christianity in the 

 district, why should we try to connect Gulval with a bishop of 

 S. Malo, who is half fabulous, who has never been proved to 

 have had anything to do with Cornwall, and whose feast is 

 6 months distant from the parish feast of this place ? 



