Cornouaille's location within Brittany.
Cornouaille is an historic region in Brittany, in northwest France. "Les Cornouailles",
however, is the French for Cornwall in
Great Britain. It is certain that the name Cornouaille descends from the region of the
British Isles. (This happened for Devon,
formerly called Dumnonia in Latin, la Domnonée becoming
the name of the equivalent region in Brittany in the early Middle Ages. This could be the case as well for the region "Gwened",
which is sometimes said to be descended from Welsh "Gwynedd", but another opinion is that this region is called after its
iron-age inhabitants, the "Veneti" (in Breton "Weneted").
The Germanic name of Cornwall or (Corn-whealas) has been supposed to mean "the corner of foreigners" [lit. Horn - being
a geographic description of the Armorican land mass - of Welsh] in reference to the resettling of the Celts from 'Great Britain' as opposed to 'Lesser Britain', the difference between 'La Grande Bretagne' - Great
Britain - and 'La Bretagne', Brittany. However, the basic stem of the name, Cornwall, must come from the name of the Welsh
peoples who populated the area after migrating there from other Welsh areas, the 'Kernow'. The myth that these people fled over
the English Channel because of pressure from Anglo-Saxon invaders is fanciful and
basically untrue[citation needed]. The origins of the Welsh settlement of modern-day Brittany, and hence the
place-names being the same on both sides of the Channel, harks from the end of the Roman period. Native British troops were hired
to support the ailing Western Empire during the fifth century. When returning through Gaul, they passed through Armorica, the
nearest point of continental Europe to Cornwall and Wales. When passing through there, they found it a rich land, led by two
Welsh generals or tribal leaders, returned to Wales, gathered others and then returned to Armorica to settle it. One of the
generals is recorded as 'Geraint' or 'Gerontius' in the Latin texts of the time.
The region was first mentioned by this name between 852 and 857 when
the Bishop of Saint-Corentin, Anaweten,
took over "Cornugallensis".
The existence of a district of ancient Anjou called "La Cornuaille" has led to the hypothesis
that it was a geographical or military label for all of southern Brittany as far as the
northern shore of la Domnonée in the 6th or 7th century.
At the origin of this feudal county, the reigning dynasty
acceded to a dukedom of the region, which then passed to the bishop of
Quimper.
The name Cornouaille signifies the diocese of Quimper which persisted until the
French Revolution. The diocese covered more than half of the south of Finistère, and extended over part of Morbihan and the Côtes-d'Armor. There were two arch-deacons, one for Cornouaille and
one for Poher. There were also a cantor, a treasurer, a theologian and twelve canons. This
episcopal division was the poorest in Brittany.
After the French Revolution, the new constitution created a diocese of Finistère, erasing that of Kerne/Cournouaille; most of
the old diocese was absorbed into the new.
In Breton, the region is known as "Kernev" or "Bro-Gernev", and in Latin as "Cornugallia" or "Cornubia".
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