Corineus

Corineus, in medieval British legend, was a prodigious warrior, a fighter of giants, and the eponymous founder of Cornwall.

''History of the Kings of Britain''

In Geoffrey of Monmouth's pseudo-history ''History of the Kings of Britain'' (1136), Corineus led the descendants of the Trojans who fled with Antenor after the Trojan War and settled on the coasts of the Tyrrhenian Sea. He is described as "a modest man in matters of council, and of great courage and boldness", his giant-fighting prowess is also described, and later reinforced by boasts of having killed "heaps" of Tyrrhenian giants.

After Brutus, a descendant of the Trojan prince Aeneas, had been exiled from Italy and liberated the enslaved Trojans in Greece, he encountered Corineus and his people, who joined him in his travels. In Gaul, Corineus provoked a war with Goffarius Pictus, king of Aquitania, by hunting in his forests without permission; in the ensuing battle, Corineus single-handedly killed thousands with a battle-axe. After defeating Goffarius, the Trojans crossed to the island of Albion, which Brutus renamed Britain after himself. Corineus settled in Cornwall, which was then inhabited by giants. Brutus and his army killed most of them, but their leader, Goemagog, was kept alive for a wrestling match with Corineus. During the fight, Goemagog broke three of Corineus' ribs; engraged, he picked Goemagog up, ran to the coast, and threw the giant from a high rock into the sea, with the craggy rocks below tearing him to pieces.

Corineus was the first of the legendary rulers of Cornwall, which was named after him. After Brutus died the rest of Britain was divided between Brutus' three sons, Locrinus (Loegria), Kamber (Cambria) and Albanactus (Alba). Locrinus agreed to marry Corineus's daughter Gwendolen, but fell in love instead with Estrildis, a captured German princess. Corineus threatened war in response to this affront, and to pacify him Locrinus married Gwendolen, but kept Estrildis as his secret mistress. After Corineus died Locrinus divorced Gwendolen and married Estrildis, and Gwendolen responded by raising an army in Cornwall and making war against her ex-husband. Locrinus was killed in battle, and Gwendolen threw Estrildis and her daughter, Habren, into the River Severn.

''Aeneid'' and other sources

Geoffrey probably took the name from the character Corynaeus in the ''Aeneid'', a Trojan follower of Aeneas. Archbishop Michael Joseph Curley suggests that this name was chosen by Geoffrey due to its similarity to the word Cornwall, and his "naive (or ironic) fondness for eponymy as a form of historical research".

Curley also suggests there is a parallel between Corineus and Hercules in Lucan's ''Pharsalia'', who defeated the giant Antaeus in a wrestling match by lifting him from the earth, the source of his strength.

Geoffrey's main source for the ''History of the Kings of Britain'' was the ''Historia Brittonum''. It does not mention Corineus, but two parts of the ''Historia'' were used as sources for Corineus' location on "the shores" of the Tyrrhenian Sea, where he is found by Brutus. The first is the ''Historia''s account of Brutus' banishment: unlike the ''History of the Kings of Britain'', where Brutus immediately goes to Greece, Brutus instead first travels to "the islands of the Tyrrhenian Sea", where, instead of Corineus, he finds Greek colonists living, who expel him due to Aeneas' killing of Turnus. The second is a variant of the story of Goídel Glas, in which the hero travels from Egypt to Iberia via a sequence of named places – Africa, then Aras Philaenorum, Lacus Salinarum, between Rusicada and the Mountains of Azaria, along the River Malua through Mauretania to the Pillars of Hercules, then the Tyrrhenian Sea – Geoffrey uses precisely the same sequence of locations for Brutus' journey after getting his prophecy from Diana, and even explains the backtracking from the Pillars of Hercules to the Tyrrhenian Sea by saying Brutus was fleeing from Sirens; it is at this point in the story of the ''History of the Kings of Britain'' that Brutus finds Corineus on "the shores" of the Tyrrhenian Sea.

Gogmagog's Leap

The fight between Corineus and Gogmagog is described in the ''History of the Kings of Britain'' as ending at a place called or , which Geoffrey says still retained the name. John Milton's '' The History of Britain'' (1670) referred to the place as ''Langoëmagog'', , which is sometimes changed to ''Langoënagog'' or ''Langnagog''. The Middle English prose '' Brut'' () places their fight "at Totttenes" (Totnes, Devon), where Corineus and Brutus had landed in the ''History of the Kings of Britain'', while ''Holinshed's Chronicles'' (1577) placed the "leape of Gogmagog" at Dover.

Researcher Peter Bartrum suggests that the story may have been based on hill figures of two giants fighting carved into the grass at Plymouth Hoe. The first known mention of these figures was in 1495, and contemporary records exist of them being periodically re-cut and cleaned, referring to them as Gogmagog. Antiquary Richard Carew believed that the fight may have begun near Totnes, but ended at Plymouth Hoe, with the figures depicting Corineus and Gogmagog; he described them in his ''Survey of Cornwall'' (1602): "upon the Hawe at Plymmouth, there is cut out in the ground, the pourtrayture of two men, the one bigger, the other lesser, with Clubbes in their hands, (whom they terme Gog-Magog) and (as I have learned) it is renewed by order of the Townesmen, when cause requireth, which should inferre the same to bee a monument of some moment." Later historians such as John Allen Giles followed this suggestion as the most likely location.

The figures were destroyed by the construction of the Royal Citadel in 1665. In 2021, artist Charles Newington painted Corineus and Gogmagog on a grassy bank below the Citadel, inspired by the earlier figures and the story of Corineus and Gogmagog.

Later traditions

The tale is preserved in the works of later writers, including Michael Drayton and John Milton.

''Locrine'' (1595), a play attributed to Shakespeare, has Corineius as a major character, one of two brothers of Brutus, along with Assarachus, and is father to Gwendoline and Thrasimachus. Corineius is described as being found by Brutus at "the fields of Lestrigon", and subsequently having fought Gathelus, the brother of Goffarius of Gaul. He lives more than eighty-seven years, dying from a lingering wound he had received in battle with Humber the Hun, and returns as a ghost to witness Locrine's downfall.

A 1616 manuscript described by antiquary Edward Lhuyd refers to "Troenius afterward called Corenen, Duke of Cornwall".

As to Corineus's stature, he is represented as being the largest of Brutus's crew in the Middle English prose ''Brut'' Raphael Holinshed comments that Corineus was not a giant, but names a source, the '' Architrenius'' that describes Corineus as a man 12 cubits (18 feet) tall.Holinshed (1587
''Hist.'', I, 5
/ref>

A local folk tradition says that Corineus founded the city of Quimper, the ancient capital of Cornouaille in France.

See also

* Corinius
* Cornish wrestling

Notes

References

Further reading

*

{{Geoffrey of Monmouth

British traditional history
Trojans
Cornish folklore
Monarchs of Cornwall
Medieval legends
Gog and Magog
Legendary progenitors