To sum up. Three large holdings, or, to use a modern though inadequate word, estates, stand out clear and distinct, viz. those of Gerrans, Pawton and St. Germans, each of them at one time or another associated with the see of a Cornish bishop, monastic in character. Such records as we have, carefully distinguish these lands from one another. Neither St. Petrock (Pawton) nor St. German possesses any rights in Gerrans, nor Gerrans in Pawton or in St. Germans. Neither does St. Germans claim rights in Pawton, nor Pawton in St. Germans. It is not only opposed to the evidence of Domesday, it is inconceivable that any Cornish bishop exercised lordship over all three at the same time. The Pawton lands were almost certainly claimed by Crediton by virtue of the provision made in 909 for missionary visits to them yearly by the bishop of Crediton. The St. Germans holding was certainly annexed to Exeter when that see was founded. The Gerrans holding presents several difficulties. We have no record of any bishop at Gerrans save Kenstec (865). But because no records have been preserved, we cannot say that no bishops existed. Such a principle if applied to Cornish parishes would be fatal to their claim to have had a rector before the days of Bishop Bronescombe (1257). Nevertheless, the absence of recorded evidence is distinctly embarrassing. What were the events or circumstances which justified the annexation of the Gerrans property to the see of Exeter? Some justification there doubtless was. Was it found in the letter of submission written by Bishop Kenstec to Archbishop Plegmund (833-870) about fifty years before the see of Crediton was founded? Was it found in the forfeiture of royal possessions consequent upon the conquest of Cornwall by Athelstan (925-940)? It is possible that both these events may have contributed to the result, for there is good reason to believe that Gerrans was a residence of the kings of Cornwall in the seventh century, and it is certain that it was the residence of Kenstec in the ninth century. If the lands were claimed by King Athelstan there ought to be some charter to show when and by whom they were transferred to the see of Crediton or of Exeter. If they passed to the Saxon bishopric by virtue of the grant of Edward the Confessor in 1050, then we must conclude that they had preserved their episcopal associations until within a few years of that time, and that, therefore, Bishop Kenstec probably had successors at Gerrans. It is inconceivable that there were not valid grounds for the transfer of the lands. The fact that they were monastic lands would not have sufficed, for the canons of St. Petrock and St. German survived the annexation of a portion of theirs, whereas no vestige of a monastery remained at Gerrans in the days of the Confessor. It was its former connection with episcopal rule which led to the inclusion of Gerrans in the endowments of the bishopric of Exeter.
The foregoing fragmentary sketch is not to be regarded as a conclusive proof of the existence of concurrent Cornish bishoprics so late as the eleventh century, but it is intended to call attention to some of the sources from which others may seek the necessary means of forming a judgment for themselves. That the monastery-bishoprics were hard to suppress will be evident to everyone who examines the evidence. That they survived in Cornwall for a much longer period than is generally supposed seems more than probable.
VII
CORNISH SAINTS
In the first chapter it has been attempted to show how the tyranny of resemblance and coincidence leads to false analogies and wrong inferences. Some further illustrations of this principle which have a direct bearing upon the main purpose of the present enquiry may be found instructive.
In this chapter we are not so much concerned with the Lives of the Cornish Saints, as they have come down to us, as with the question whether they had any actual existence as human beings at all. Of Ia, Uny, Dennis, Allen, Paul and Berrian it has been stated that “it is more than probable that there was no man in either case. Ia is the Island saint, Uny the Downs saint, Dennis the Hill saint, Paul or Pol the Pool saint,” Buryan or Berrian the saint of Berrie.
But why stop there? Domesday Book supplies us with Eglostudic, Sainguilant and Sainguinas. It is just as easy to imagine places bearing the names of Tudic, Guilant and Guinas as to imagine one bearing the name of Berrie, and quite as good etymology to derive them from Tutton a chair, Guilan a kingfisher and Guenan a blister.
Most will admit that a chair saint is suggestive of saintly pursuits—study and contemplation; many saints have been fishermen; some have suffered from pimples and perhaps have known how to cure them.
Again we have two more ancient parishes one of which occurs in Domesday Book, viz. Eglosros (Philleigh) and Egloshayle, the church on the heath and the church on the estuary, yet no one has ever ventured to describe or to speak of them as the churches of St. Rose and St. Hayle, and for the obvious reason that Cornish saints have not been manufactured in the way that has been suggested.
In choosing Ia, Uny, Dennis, Allen, Paul and Berrian to demonstrate his theory, the critic could hardly have made a more unfortunate selection. With one exception they are all to be found in Brittany.