Cornish people roots can be traced to the ancient Britons who inhabited southern and central Great Britain before the Roman conquest.
Departure of Romans leaves eastern Britain open to Anglo-Saxon settlement. Wessex emerged as the dominant Anglo-Saxons kingdom during the 9th century, when Egbert, King of Wessex, wrested control of most of the southern lands from the Mercians in 825.
The Cornish people persistently defended their land against the Anglo-Saxons, and allied themselves with the Vikings who had begun to plunder and settle Britain in 793. The Britons of Cornwall joined an army of marauding Danes and invaded Wessex in 838, only to be defeated by Egbert at the Battle of Hingston Down.
In 936 AD Anglo-Saxon King Athelstan fixes the east bank of the River Tamar as the border between Cornwall and Wessex. Cornish are evicted from Exeter.
During Cornish Rebellion against taxation 1497, Michael Joseph ‘An Gof’ and Thomas Flamank lead the Cornish army to defeat at the Battle of Blackheath (London).
Ancient history of Cornish people
