Timeline of Cornish History - 1500

1500

• 1508 By the 'Charter of Pardon', Henry VII confirmed that relevant legislation in Cornwall required the consent of the stannators.
• 1509 King Henry VIII's coronation procession includes "nine children of honour" representing "England and France, Gascony, Guienne, Normandy, Anjou, Cornwall, Wales and Ireland."
• 1509-1510 - Plague.
• 1531 From the court of King Henry VIII, the Italian diplomat Lodovico Falier writes in a letter that "The language of the English, Welsh and Cornish men is so different that they do not understand each other". He also claims it is possible to distinguish the members of each group by alleged "national characteristics".
• 1533-1540 - Henry VIII founds Church of England and commences Reformation.
• 1536-1545 - Dissolution of the Monasteries including most religious houses in Cornwall
• 1538 Writing to his government, the French ambassador in London, Gaspard de Coligny Châtillon, indicates ethnic differences thus: "The kingdom of England is by no means a united whole, for it also contains Wales and Cornwall, natural enemies of the rest of England, and speaking a language".
• 1542 - Andrew Borde writes in the Boke of the Introduction of Knowledge, "In Cornwall is two speches, the one is naughty Englysshe, and the other is Cornysshe speche. And there be many men and women the which cannot speake one worde of Englysshe, but all Cornyshe."
• 1548 Glasney College is closed and much of the cultural heritage held there is destroyed
• 1549 The Cornish rise up in the Prayer Book Rebellion—some 5,000 "rebels" were killed by mercenary forces. The main confrontations were the siege of Exeter, the battles of Fenny Bridges, Woodbury Common, Clyst St Mary, Clyst Heath (where 900 unarmed Cornish prisoners were killed) and Sampford Courtenay. Following this, Provost Marshal Sir Anthony Kingston was sent into Cornwall to seek retribution. The Book of Common Prayer was enforced resulting in a decline in the use of the Cornish language.
• 1555 - Famine.
• 1578 - Plague in Penzance.
• 1585–1604 - Anglo-Spanish War, intermittent conflict, never declared, many raids on shipping; coastal defences strengthened.
• 1586 - Famine
• 1588 - Spanish Armada. The first sighting is on July 19, when it appears off St Michael's Mount. Soon afterwards, 55 English ships set out in pursuit from Plymouth under the command of Lord Howard of Effingham, with Sir Francis Drake as Vice Admiral. There is an inconclusive skirmish off Eddystone Rocks, and the Spanish fleet sails eastwards up the Channel.
• 1595 - Battle of Cornwall. Spanish forces under Don Carlos de Amesquita, land in Penzance area raiding and sacking settlements, including Newlyn A detailed description of the Spanish raid of 1595 can be found here.