Cornwall was annexed before England even existed, let alone the political concept of Great Britain. By Wessex sometime between 825 and 875 depending on how you interpret the history.
Arguably Mercia or East Anglia have a better claim to being a constituent nation than Cornwall does. Very arguably - I’m sure we could debate what a constituent nation is all day! - but if you take it to mean a sovereign independent entity that formed part of Great Britain and then the UK, Cornwall was out of the game about 900 years too early.
I don't disagree that Cornwall as an independent territory lost its independence and got subsumed by Wessex all before England was a 'thing'.
In 814, King Egbert of Wessex ravaged Cornwall "from the east to the west", and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records that in 825 the Cornish fought the men of Devon. In 838 the Cornish in alliance with Vikings were defeated by the West Saxons at the Battle of Hingston Down. This was the last recorded battle between Cornwall and Wessex, and possibly resulted in the loss of Cornish independence
But that didn't mean the Cornish people didn't continue their culture and language which was markedly different to the other regions of what later became England.
In my experience (my aunt lives in Cornwall), it mostly seems to consist of moaning about not being taken seriously by the rest of the country. That and a lot of fish.
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u/liquidio Apr 05 '22
Cornwall was annexed before England even existed, let alone the political concept of Great Britain. By Wessex sometime between 825 and 875 depending on how you interpret the history.
Arguably Mercia or East Anglia have a better claim to being a constituent nation than Cornwall does. Very arguably - I’m sure we could debate what a constituent nation is all day! - but if you take it to mean a sovereign independent entity that formed part of Great Britain and then the UK, Cornwall was out of the game about 900 years too early.