William Scawen (1600–1689) was one of the pioneers in the revival of the

Cornish language Cornish (Standard Written Form: or ) , is a Southwestern Brittonic language of the Celtic language family. It is a revived language, having become extinct as a living community language in Cornwall at the end of the 18th century. However, ...

. He was a politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

in 1640 and fought for the

Royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of gov ...

cause in the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I (" Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of r ...

Life

Scawen was the son of Robert Scawen of St. Germans and Isabella Nicholls, daughter of Humphrey Nicholls of

St Tudy St Tudy ( kw, Eglostudi) is a civil parish and village in north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The village is situated in the River Camel valley approximately five miles northeast of Wadebridge. History The village is mentioned as having ...

. He was a Cornish gentleman and Vice-Warden of the Stannaries. In April 1640 he was elected MP for St Germans and for East Looe in the

Short Parliament The Short Parliament was a Parliament of England that was summoned by King Charles I of England on the 20th of February 1640 and sat from 13th of April to the 5th of May 1640. It was so called because of its short life of only three weeks. Af ...

. The parliament did not last long enough for all such double elections to be resolved. He supported the Royalist cause in the Civil War and fought alongside Cornish speaking soldiers.VCH Explore William Scawen and the Cornish Revival
/ref> On the Restoration he was one of those proposed for the honour of Knight of the Royal Oak. Scawen realised that the Cornish language was dying out and wrote detailed manuscripts which he started working on when he was 78. Between 1679 and 1680, he made an English translation of a Cornish medieval passion poem ''

Pascon agan Arluth The anonymous poem ''Pascon agan Arluth'' is the oldest complete literary work in the Cornish language, dating from the 14th century. The modern title (it is untitled in the oldest manuscript) means "The Passion of Our Lord", but the poem has al ...

''. His main work included observations on the ancient manuscript, entitled, "Passio Christi", written in the Cornish language, and now preserved in the

Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the sec ...

at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

(published in London in 1777). It features an account of the language, manners, and customs of the

Cornish people The Cornish people or Cornish ( kw, Kernowyon, ang, Cornƿīelisċ) are an ethnic group native to, or associated with Cornwall: and a recognised national minority in the United Kingdom, which can trace its roots to the ancient Britons ...

. The only version that was ever published was a short first draft, but the manuscript, which evolved continually until his death, is hundreds of pages long – with small notes stuck in all through it in his increasingly illegible handwriting. He identified sixteen reasons for the decline of the Cornish language which included gentry antipathy to the language, nearness of English-speaking Devon, loss of records in the Civil War, lack of a Bible in Cornish, end of native language miracle play performances and loss of contact with Brittany. Scawen's sister Elizabeth married Martin Keigwin, and was the mother of John Keigwin. The Keigwins were also active in promoting the revival of the Cornish language.

Bibliography

*Ellis, P. B. (1974) ''The Cornish Language''. London: Routledge; p. 78–88, 115

References

External links

''West Britons''
by

Mark Stoyle Mark J. Stoyle is a Tudor and Stuart British historian who specializes in the English Civil War, the nature of magic and witchcraft and the identity of key areas such as Cornwall and Wales during the early modern period. He is Professor at the ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scawen, William 1600 births 1689 deaths Cornish-language writers Cornish-speaking people Cornish nationalists People from St Germans, Cornwall Politicians from Cornwall Military history of Cornwall British male writers 17th-century English writers 17th-century English male writers Members of the pre-1707 English Parliament for constituencies in Cornwall English MPs 1640 (April)