The word Celtic is used in strikingly different ways in Wales and in Cornwall, and the modern meaning of the term in the two countries reflects very different historical trajectories, very different relationships with the English neighbour, and very different degrees of survival of the Brythonic languages. The Celtic identity of modern Wales and Cornwall is part of the broader Celtic legacy today, but the two cases raise distinct questions about what it means to be Celtic in the modern British Isles.
The Brythonic Inheritance
Welsh and Cornish are both Brythonic languages, the branch of the Celtic language family that is most closely related to the extinct Celtic languages of continental Europe. The Brythonic languages once extended across most of what is now England, from the wall of Hadrian to the English Channel, and the survival of Welsh and the revival of Cornish represent the persistence and re-emergence of this once-dominant linguistic group in the western and northern fringes of Britain.
In Wales, the Brythonic language became Welsh, and the country developed a continuous literary and political tradition that has, been unbroken from the middle ages to the modern period. The Welsh law tradition, the Eisteddfod, and the long sequence of Welsh-language literature from the Mabinogion to the modern novel all testify to the persistence of the Brythonic tradition in the western parts of Britain.
Cornwall, by contrast, gradually lost its Celtic language over the course of the early modern period. The last traditionally recorded native speaker of Cornish, Dolly Pentreath, is generally said to have died in 1777, although there is some evidence of survival into the early nineteenth century. The loss of the language was part of a broader Anglicisation of the Cornish economy, the Cornish gentry, and the Cornish church, and the result was a region in which the Brythonic tradition survived primarily as a regional identity rather than as a living linguistic and cultural practice.
What Celtic Means in Modern Wales
In modern Wales, Celtic most often means Welsh, and the equation is so close that the two words are sometimes used interchangeably. To call oneself Celtic in Wales is, for the great majority of Welsh speakers, simply to assert one’s Welsh-speaking identity and the distinctness of Wales from England. The Welsh-language movement, the Welsh-medium education sector, the National Eisteddfod, and the broadcasting corporation S4C are all institutions through which the Celtic identity of modern Wales is expressed and reproduced.
The political dimension of the term is also important. The devolution settlement of 1997-1999, which established the Senedd and gave Wales a measure of self-government, was widely understood as a recognition of the distinctness of Welsh identity, and the political parties of Wales, including Plaid Cymru, draw substantially on a vision of Wales as a Celtic nation. The constitutional recognition of Welsh as an official language under the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011 has reinforced this identification of Welshness with Celticness.
The equation of Celtic and Welsh in modern Wales is not without its complications. Not all residents of Wales are Welsh speakers, and the politics of language and identity in modern Wales are complicated by the substantial English-speaking population, by the history of migration into Wales, and by the long-standing political traditions of nonconformist chapels, labour movements, and English-speaking cultural institutions. The Celtic identity of Wales is, in practice, the identity of a particular community within Wales rather than of the whole country in every respect.
What Celtic Means in Modern Cornwall
In modern Cornwall, Celtic means something rather different. The Cornish language was, as noted, effectively extinct by the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century, and the modern Cornish identity is, in part, a revivalist identity that draws on a much more contested sense of historical continuity. The Gorsedh Kernow, the Cornish Gorsedd, was founded in 1928 by the Welsh Gorsedd, and the Cornish language has been revived as a spoken language only in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.
The Cornish revival has been the work of a small but determined group of scholars, enthusiasts, and political activists, and the meaning of Celtic in modern Cornwall is bound up with the effort to recover a lost language and a lost identity. The Cornish language has been recognised by the UK government under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, and the Cornish cultural institutions, including the Gorsedh, the Cornish Language Board, and the Cornish cultural festivals, have all helped to give the Cornish Celtic identity a public presence.
The political dimension of Cornish Celtic identity is also distinctive. Cornwall has no equivalent of the Welsh devolution settlement, although there is a long-standing campaign for a Cornish Assembly. The Cornish Constitutional Convention, founded in 2000, has advocated for greater autonomy for Cornwall within the United Kingdom, and the cultural festivals and the Cornish-medium schools have been important elements in the maintenance of the Cornish Celtic identity.
Cornish and Breton
Cornwall’s Celtic identity is also bound up with Brittany. The Cornish and Breton languages are the most closely related of the Brythonic languages, and the cultural links between Cornwall and Brittany have been substantial. The Breton Gorsedd was founded in 1900, and the modern Breton revival an important source of support and inspiration for the Cornish revival. The Cornish-Breton cultural exchange has been a significant element in the modern Brythonic Celtic identity, and the cultural festivals of the two regions have been important meeting points for the modern Celtic identity of the two regions.
The Two Meanings Compared
The two meanings of Celtic in Wales and Cornwall are, distinct but related. In Wales, the term refers to a living Brythonic language and culture that has been continuously transmitted, in some form, from the middle ages to the present. In Cornwall, the term refers to a recovered language and a reconstructed cultural identity, the work of a modern movement to recover a heritage that had been largely lost. The two cases are very different in their immediate circumstances, but they share a common Brythonic foundation, and they are both part of the broader Celtic legacy today.
The two meanings are also similar in the way that they relate to the English neighbour. The Welsh and Cornish Celtic identities are both, in part, products of the long relationship with England, and the political and cultural distinctness of Wales and Cornwall is, in part, a response to the integration of the two regions into the English state. The Celtic identity of the two regions is, in other words, a regional identity within the broader United Kingdom, and the meaning of Celtic in the two regions is shaped by this larger political and cultural context.
Conclusion
What Celtic means in modern Wales and Cornwall is the result of very different historical trajectories. The Welsh case is one of continuous transmission of a living Brythonic language and culture. The Cornish case is one of recovery and reconstruction of a lost Brythonic heritage. Both are part of the broader Celtic identity of the modern nations, and both contribute to the rich diversity of the Celtic legacy today.
Related Topics
- The Celtic identity in modern nations examines the modern Celtic identity of all six Celtic nations in detail.
- The Celtic revival of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries shaped both the Welsh and the Cornish Celtic identity.
- The Celtic languages and oral tradition are the foundation for both Welsh and Cornish Celtic identity.
- The Celtic art and craftsmanship of the older Celtic world, including the Celtic knotwork and symbolism of the Brythonic tradition, is a major element in both identities.
- The Celtic society, law, and governance of the older Brythonic world, including the Welsh law tradition, is the historical foundation for the modern Welsh and Cornish identities.