The oldest remains of Cornish are proper names in the Bodmin Gospels and in the Domesday Book, 10th-century glosses on Latin texts, and a 12th-century vocabulary based on Aelfricâs LatinâAnglo-Saxon glossary. The earliest literary text in Middle Cornish is a 41-line fragment of a drama, written about 1400, in which a girl is offered as wife, praised for her virtues, and counseled on her behavior. The other plays that have survived complete or in part are related to the medieval miracle and morality plays.
Of these the most important is the Ordinalia, a trilogy written in Middle Cornish (probably late 14th century) and designed to be acted on three consecutive days, perhaps in a plen-an-gwary (âplay-fieldâ). The first play, the Origo Mundi (âOrigin of the Worldâ), is based on the Old Testament and serves as a prologue to the other two, the Passio Domini Nostri Ihesu Christi; and the Resurrexio Domini Nostri Ihesu Christi. Lacking a treatment of the Nativity and of the ministry of Jesus, the scheme underlying the Ordinalia is more like that of the great French Passions than that of the English Corpus Christi cycle.
The Pascon Agan Arluth (âPassion of Our Lordâ), of which 259 stanzas have survived, has passages common to the Ordinalia and must have been composed about the same time.
Beunans Meriasek (âThe Life of Meriasek [or Meriadoc]â), on the patron saint of Camborne, is held to be considerably later: the manuscript in which it is found was completed in 1504 by one Dominus Hadton, thought to have been a canon of the Collegiate Church of Glasney. Gwreans an Bys (âThe Creation of the Worldâ), surviving in a text written in 1611, was intended to be the first of three plays and seems to be an extended and reworked version of the Origo Mundi. Written in Late Cornish, it is the latest of the Cornish religious plays.
The Protestant Reformation destroyed the mentality that had created and enjoyed these plays, although there is evidence that the destruction was slow. Unfortunately the Reformation provided no work in the Cornish language that could take the place of the plays. A few people recognized that the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer should be made accessible to the monoglot Cornishmen, but little was done to that end. John Tregear translated into Cornish 12 of Bishop Edmund Bonnerâs sermons and a 13th sermon from an unidentified source, and it is probably significant that this translation was lost and not rediscovered until 1949.
Attempts have been made to revive the use of Cornish as a spoken and written language. Among the societies and movements that have worked to this end are the Cornish-Celtic Society, The Old Cornwall Society, Land and Language, The Sons of Cornwall, and The Cornish Language Board; and among the papers or periodicals these have promoted, Kernow (âCornwallâ), An Lef (âThe Voiceâ), An Lef Kernewek (âThe Cornish Voiceâ), and Hedhyu (âTodayâ) have been notable for the attention they have given to compositions in Cornishâmostly poems, short stories, and short plays. Among the Cornish language revivalists are Henry Jenner, R. Morton Nance, and A.S.D. Smith.
Breton
The three major periods of Breton literature
Old Breton (8th to 11th century) is found only in lists and glosses in documents or as names in Latin books and charters. From the Middle Breton period (11th to 17th century) the 11th- to 15th-century compositions were mainly oral, and little except a few scraps of verse is extant until the late 15th century, when there appeared the Catholicon of Jean Lagadeuc, a BretonâLatinâFrench dictionary printed in 1499, and Quiquer de Roscoffâs FrenchâBreton dictionary and conversations (printed 1616).
A 17th-century collection, Cantiques bretons (1642), names several Breton airs. All the remaining works of the middle period were religious and mostly in verse. Three mystery plays were probably the most significant products of the period: Buez santez Nonn (âLife of St. Nonnâ), Burzud bras Jesuz (âThe Great Mystery of Jesusâ), and Buhez santes Barba (âLife of St. Barbaraâ). Three long poems, âTremenvan an itron gwerches Mariaâ (âThe Passion of the Virgin Maryâ), âPemzec levenez Mariaâ (âThe Fifteen Joys of Maryâ), and âBuhez mabdenâ (âThe Life of Manâ), were all probably based on French versions. A book of hours in verse, a prose extract from the Leon missal, and a prose catechism belong to this period, as does the prose Buhez an itron sanctes Cathell, guerches ha merzeres (âLife of St. Catherine, Virgin and Martyrâ). Am Mirouer a Confession (âThe Mirror of Confessionâ) and Doctrin an Christenien (âChristianâs Doctrineâ) are translated from the French. A collection of carols, An Nouelou ancient ha devot (âAncient and Devout Songsâ), appeared in 1650, and a book of metrical meditations in 1651. In general, Middle Breton literature lacked originality, and the indigenous culture of Brittany seems to have been entirely neglected by the educated classes, who introduced an enormous number of French words into the vocabulary.
Modern Breton is said to have begun in 1659, when Julien Maunoir introduced a more phonetic orthography, but works of the Middle Breton type appeared until the 19th century. The bulk of Breton literature in this period consisted of mystery and miracle plays treating subjects from the Old and New Testaments, saintsâ lives, and stories of chivalry derived from French or Latin. Even plays depicting Breton saints evinced little originality. In the 18th century many Breton dictionaries were published but little of literary significance was produced. One name survives: Claude-Marie Le LaĂ«, who wrote satiric poems.