The Cornovii were a Brythonic people of the Iron Age and Roman Britain, who lived principally in the modern English counties of Cheshire, Shropshire, north Staffordshire, north Herefordshire and eastern parts of the Welsh counties of Flintshire, Powys and Wrexham.
Pengwern was a Brythonic settlement of sub-Roman Britain situated in Shropshire, adjoining the modern Welsh border.
Traditionally, Pengwern has been associated with the Kingdom of Powys, sometimes called eastern Powys.
But could it have been the lands of the Cornovii?
The northern part of Shropshire was part of the territory of the Wreocensaete (possibly referring to the Convonii capital on the Wrekin.
The southern part probably belonged to the Magonsaete.
Both were absorbed by the Saxon Kingdom of Mercia by King Offa.
After the Norman Conquest of 1066 the principal estates in Shropshire were all bestowed on Norman proprietors, pre-eminent among whom is Roger de Montgomerie, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury.
Nevertheless, Shropshire was a part of the harrying of the north and its effects were particularly strong on Shropshire.
This forms the backdrop to the legends, with probably some facts, of Wild Eadric, supposedly a Saxon Elderman of Condover.
The Black Death struck Shropshire hard, with around 15% of the population being lost to it.
Whilst around 2,000 died in Shrewsbury from a population of 9,500.
This created a massive labour shortages on the manors and estates.
Whilst in southern England these labour shortages were met with greater repression by the landowners, Shropshire in common with northern England relaxed control over labourers and wages increased.
Shrewsbury in 1334 was the 7th wealthiest town in England outside of London, and was well situated to handle trade from north and central Wales in time of peace.
The drapers took the role of middlemen when the trade in raw wool was replaced by trade in woollen cloth.
In the late 12th and 13th centuries all trade in Shrewsbury was controlled by the Guild Merchant.
Following other guilds, the Drapers took steps to become independent from the Guild Merchant.
Shropshire is blessed with almost every type of mineral found in northern Europe, including clay, iron, coal and tar.
Many of these are close to the surface and can be mined used bell pits, involving only rudimentary technology and limited capital outlay.
Whilst these always provided a source of additional income for landowners, it also gave rise to the industrial revolution.
With Shropshire briefly being the most industrialised county in Britain, possibly the world at that time.
Foreign History from our own contemporary perspective the same is true for Rural history and folklore in this Vlog I explore how constantly contested and shifting Authority are shaped so much of the folklore of Shropshire and therefore proposed some controversial revisions to our understanding of shropshire’s medieval and modern history controversial but revisions which appear
To have far more evidence to support them and be a far more explanative than the accepted narrative now many of these I’ve already mentioned in in passing in other vlogs but this Vlog provides a summary of what I consider to be the important themes a part of the controverty stems from the
Assumptions imposing existing polistical divisions on the land that is now known as Shropshire or I should say Shropshire in Telford it is now known even the border with Wales has shifted a number of times with important changes for Shropshire indeed the Shire itself was not established until 9 9 20 by the kingdom
Of Mercia it is however my contention that even this focus on political divisions and masks are constantly shifting Authority often contested and redefined The coronavi where a personic people of Iron Age Roland and Roman Britain who live principally in the Modern English counties of Cheshire Shropshire North Staffordshire North herefordshire and the Eastern parts of the Welsh counties of flintshire Paris and wrexham now I purposely use the word breathonic
Rather than Celtic as the very nation of a Celtic Britain is somewhat contested by academics the coronavai capital in pre-roman times was probably a hill fort on the reikin elforts is a typical Earthen work used to as a fortified Refuge or defended settlement located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage
There are 50 known sites in Shropshire Bronze Age as evidence is found within some of them has been found within some of them but the structures themselves were ultimately of Iron Age man now these Hill thoughts often form a part of Shropshire folklore General associated with some paranormal activity
Including the legend of the Recon Giant the territory of the coronavi where Bo was bordered by the brigantes to the north the corial tauvy to the east the double Knight to the South the declaney and the order vices to the West were also found in the very north of the
British Mainland modern day Keith nurse and Cornwall but in general academic opinion is that these were quite separate and unrelated peoples it seems unlikely that the Romans actually raided the hill fort despite popular myth but eventually the coronavai abandoned the reikin and moved to the Roman Garrison of veraconin current viom or rocksitter
Ptolemy’s second century geography names David this this tricks Chester which became their Capital under Roman rule at its peak viricomen is estimated to have been the fourth largest Roman settlement in Britain a city with a population of more than 15 000. the settlement probably lasted until the
End of the 7th Century or maybe even the beginning of the eighth uh this highlights a contemporary debate amongst historians as geological evidence does not support the idea of Britain being subjected to Conquest and takeover so much as assimilation thus the Quran Vai became romanized britons indeed the cohores Primark or evonium
Was the only recorded native British unit of the Roman army are known him to have served in Britannia penguin was a brisonic settlement of sub-roman Britain situated in Shropshire adjoining the modern Welsh border a tradition recorded by geraldus cambrensis in the late 12th century Associates it with the site of modern Shrewsbury
Although anthwike in wealth although it’s no although Shrewsbury has been known as anthraig in Welsh since the Middle Ages it’s also speculated that it was centered on what is now Whittington Castle which is now in North Shropshire certainly whitting Castle played an important part in Shropshire folklore
Including a supposed link to the Holy Grail a more recent suggestion is that the birth the dramatic Hill fort in bass Church uh but Arctic archaeological evidence shows only an Iron Age fort with possible Roman reuse certainly bass Church in its hilt for to the subject of many local Legends
It’s also said to be the resting face of kind of lithium can live they’ll learn the supposed King of the mysterious kingdom of penguin cantileslan apparently joined forces with the King Pender of Mercia to protect his realm and together they fought uh the increasingly powerful anglian Kingdom of northumbria at the Battle of
Mice Hungary or oswestry in 642 it’s here that King Oswald northumbria was slain they seem to have brought a period of peace until Pender’s death when a northumbrian raiding party led by Oswald’s brother osway of northumbria over the round kunzelan’s Palace at least penguin in a surprise attack completely caught off guard without
Defense the royal family including the King was slaughtered although according to a poet poetic tradition traditionally penguin has been associated with the Kingdom of Paris sometimes called in eastern powers but could it have been the lands of the coronavi I think it seems more likely also according to Poetic tradition it’s
Believed that penguin was centered on veraconin coravonium however the city seems to have been abandoned before the event these events in the kingdom of penguin it would make more sense that it was actually centered on the wreaking Hill Fort again hinted at in Poetic tradition this would mean that the coronavi
Eventually abandoned veracon in coravonium and returns to their old hillfort on the wreaking The northern part of Shropshire was part of the territory of reconcite possibly referring to the Quran VI capital of the reikin the southern part was probably part of magnesite both are absorbed by the Saxon Kingdom of Mercy a biking Alpha in 765 Arthur constructed what styke to defend his territory against the Welsh
In 778 or could have been nine having pushed across the Riven seven he drove the Welsh king of powers from Shrewsbury uh whilst there is little evidence on the founding of Shrewsbury it was important enough to have its own mint in these times but was there actually a settlement
Ruled by Paris at the time or or even penguin it now seems likely that the mercy and simply fortified with a castle is now as a strategic position over the wealths Welsh offer Securities contractors quests by a second defensive Earthen work known as offers Dyke which enter Shropshire at
Knighton traverses more in Mountain by Lana Monarch ozra Street and in many places forming the boundary line of the county and finally leaves it at Bronner Garth and enters denbyshire our whilst offers Dyke established the boundary with Wales it seems to have been as much simply a boundary as a true
Defensive structure with people moving either side of it although The anglicanic Chronic Saxon Chronicles suggests that in 1053 The Welsh killed many of the English wardens at Westbury Harold ordered that any Welshman found Beyond off his dike within the English pail should have their right hand cut off
A much later on in 1379 Welshman were forbidden to purchase land in the county save on certain conditions and this enactment was reinforced in 1400. but these stories illustrate my point it’s more likely that the mercy and overrule replaced all the it’s it’s most unlikely that the mercy and
Overall replaced all the local breathonic population so the term Welsh would simply refer to people from the other side of the dike and not a distinct ethnic difference nevertheless the border with Wales was not defined until the first heart of the 16th century the hundreds of oswestry including Austria Street pinhill
Including well when and part of cherrybury had prior to the laws of Wales Act formed various Lordships within the Welsh marshes 1200 was brief went briefly to Montgomery share at its Creation in 1536 but was returned to Shropshire in 1546 but there are also a number of enclaves with English shires which gradually
Gradually became resolved by 1844 despite numerous raids Shropshire was largely protected from Viking incursion although some Danes are likelier to settled in the area especially around but not in Bridge North a given its defensive importance of the kingdom of mercy and Shropshire was heavily garrisoned but probably sparsely populated
The mercy and ecclesiastical capital of Litchfield probably had a greater impact on Shropshire however it’s unclear that the mercians actually brought Christianity to Shropshire as under Roman rule there’s plenty of evidence of Wales in Western England remain strongly Christian indeed archaeological evidence suggests both Pagan and Christian burial
Practice in the area prior to becoming part of Mercier but even this is now contested with there being some evidence the parts of Britain where Christian brighter wrote the Roman invasion again this turbulent history is very much a backdrop to shropshire’s Folklore and indeed its interpretation After the northern conquest of 1066 the principal Estates in Shropshire were all bestowed on Norman Proprietors whom was Roger D Montgomery the first Earl of Shrewsbury Roger de Montgomery built his main Castle in Shrewsbury and around another 70 Castle throughout the county including Khan love and Ludlow making it the most fortified
Shire in England his son Robert Bessemer fortified his possession forfeited his possessions four rebelling against Henry the first when the latter bestowed the earldom on his Queen for life theoretically during mercy and Rule Shropshire was overseen by a sheriff but there are no Records who this was
Although Queen Apple ID does seem to have had a particular attention to Shrewsbury as the Vikings took her eastern shires but from the conquest the Norman Sheriff was Warren the Bold whose successor was Reynold and in 1156 the office was held by William fitzallen and nevertheless
Shropshire was a part of the Harian of the north and its effects were particularly strong in Shropshire this forms the backdrop to the legends which probably some of facts of wild edric supposedly a Saxon helderman of kondova the Shire Court was held in Shrewsbury and a considerable portion of Shropshire
Was included in the Welsh moashes the court for the administration which was held at Ludlow martial Lordships of Hereford Shrewsbury and Chester would come to enjoy a unique semi-independent status although men who held such honors remain vassals to the English Queen legally their Lordships lay outside the
Kingdom and was not subject to the king’s laws as a result they were able to exercise quasi-regal power in their regions under their jurisdiction building castles Prosecuting Wars and establishing markets without being required to seek Royal consent the precedent for such wide-ranging Powers wherein the chaotic years immediately after 1066.
When William the first was forced in large part to rely on his deputies around the kingdom to take care of their own local problems in 1397 the castle of Oswald stream with the hundred of the 11 towns the castle of Isabel and the lordship pertaining there too and the castle of Galilee were
Annexed to the principality of Chester uh by the statute of 15 1535 for the abolition of the marches the Lordships of volsworth Street Whittington mayor Brook and knocking were formed into the hundreds of fossil Street the lordship of Elsmere was joined to the hundredth of Pim Hill and
The lordship of down to the hundredth of cherbury and during the Norman period a number of religious centers were constructed uh Wenlock Priory but not fiery billed was build Wasabi home and Abby lilishalabi and Shrewsbury Abbey Shropshire in the 13th century was situated almost entirely in the dioceses
Of Hereford and of Coventry in Litchfield and formed an archdeenery called the archdeanery of salop the that proportion of the archdelery in Hereford diocese included the Dina is a Barefoot stoddeston Ludlow pontspruit club and Wenlock and in that proportion of the Coventry in Litchfield diocese the dinaris of salop and Newport
A part of Welsh Shropshire is included in the Diocese of Saint Asus comprising the deanery of oswestry the archdingery of Montgomery and two parishes in the deanery of van gothland and the archdeenery of wrexham um what should be apparent is is is the authority while sometimes brutally indulged would also have been note
Negotiated with a platonic population having assimilated the Saxons and then the Normans there would have been no easy mechanism for imposing absolute rule on a somewhat hostile population it’s something of a myth of hereditary uh Herald hereditary feudalism with landlord owners coming and going at least in the early period
People the ability to purchase land would have established themselves as having some Authority these landowners would have had strong influence on the local legal systems later years becoming magistrates but of course this ran parallel with the ecclesiastical corpse it wasn’t until the crown began to exert its Authority
That these social structures took on greater permanence and resemblance to what we would be more familiar with today such negotiations with authority are very clear within Shropshire folklore with customs and practice being used by the common people to challenge the authority of their landowners for example the Hedonism in the
Shrewsbury show was enshrined in the charters of the medieval Guilds of the town but the revelry took place in Kingsland which was then outside the authority of Shrewsbury parishes foreign With around 15 percent of the population being lost to it in less than a two-year period whilst around twenty two thousand died in Shrewsbury from a population of nine thousand five hundred this created massive labor shortages on the manners in the Estates a whilst in Southern England these labor
Shortages were met with greater repression by the landowners shropship in common with Northern England relaxed control over laborers and those who were waged their wages increased the new economic power of labors saw them increasingly encroaching on common land especially in North Shropshire snail Beach developed as a center for
Laborers seeking alternatives to the tyranny of the manners uh from it’s not particularly productive land I like so much of West Shropshire and to a lesser extent Shrewsbury itself snail Beach developed as a center of non-conformity thus abandoning the manner and the established church snail Beach and the stiper stones are
The location of so much a shropshire’s folklore and there is significant non-significant evidence that non-conformity emerged with the traditions of the cunning Folk in fact Shropshire and the marches are distinct in seemingly having tolerated witchcraft and there are a few records of their persecution Shrewsbury in 1334 with the seventh wealthiest town in England outside London was well situated to handle trade from North and Central Wales in times of Peace the Drapers took the role of middlemen when the trade-in raw wool was replaced by trade in Woolen cloth in the late 12th and 13th centuries all
Trade in Shrewsbury was controlled by the guild Merchant following other guilds the Drapers took steps to become independent from The Guild Merchant the Shrewsbury Draper’s company was a trade organization founded in 1463 in the town of Shrewsbury the members were wholesale dealers in wool and letter and later Woolen cloth the company dominated
The trade in wall cloth and in 1566 was given Regional Monopoly in the Welsh World Trade at first the staple or World cough trading center for Welsh cloth was located in the town of oswestry in 1585 the market was temporally moved to Knocking due to an outbreak of the plague in oswestry
There was also a market in welshpool in montgomeryshire where it was reported that 700 000 yards or webs were manufactured in the grain of Queen Elizabeth the first who reigned from 1558 to 1603 the Shrewsbury Drapers had to take the dangerous Journeys through the unsettled country to reach these markets again
This is the subject to many Legends including those of wild kineston and wild Jack Matton in the 17th century the trade had difficulties particularly during the English Civil War and then further declined in the 18th century with the industrialization of cloth production and improvements of Transport infrastructure the presence of such a
Wealthy town with its independent gills always meant that power was fragmented in Shropshire as I previously indicated the customs and practices of the guilds were often used to challenge the authority of the landowners and the established church Sure is blessed with almost every type of mineral found in northern Europe including clay Iron Coal and tar many of these are close to the surface and could be mined using Bell pits involving only rudimentary technology and limited Capital out right there whilst these always provided a source of
Additional income for landowners it also gave rise to the Industrial Revolution we’re Shropshire briefly being the most industrialized County in Britain possibly the world at the time such outcrops were widely dispersed across the county provided alternative sources of wealth and therefore Authority but at the seven Gorge around Ironbridge they
Were formative in the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and this produced a distinctly different social and economic structure in what is now Telford to the rest of Shropshire whilst it did disperse wealth and Authority the seven Gorge took on a much more familiar industrial class structure and with it its inequalities
Nevertheless this only added to the patchwork of Shifting Authority in Shropshire without each Shropshire being much more industrial a West Shropshire more aquarium but lacking the strong fluid feudal bonds of Southern England shires and the dis and the town of Shrewsbury distinctly Mercantile said times were changing and even
Shrewsbury began to take on a much more industrial character as the Royal Merchants Diversified into Brewing tanning shoemaking glove making and linen again Shropshire folklore and especially the writings of Mary Webb reflect this shifting Clash structure and relationships perhaps it’s all epitomized by the influx of Morris dancers from laid off industrial workers
From East Shropshire being commonplace in the streets of Shrewsbury during their Winters are their import lawyers exploiting the paternalist traditions of the Christmas doll thank you