'A concealed envy against the English': a note on the aftermath of the 1497 rebellions in Cornwall

Recent interpretation of Cornish history have sought sometimes to explain culture change in Cornwall in the context of the changing relationship between 'centre' and 'periphery' within the state. Drawing upon the work of Tarrow (and Rokkan and Urwin), a model of dynamic phase*s of peripherality has been developed, a key element of which is the movement from an 'Older Peripheralism' of cultural and territorial isolation to a 'Second Peripheralism' of social and economic marginality.1 In Cornwall's case, this movement was seen as the over-riding feature of the Tudor era, with the characteristics of Celtic-Catholic Cornwall increasingly under pressure from the forces of socio-economic, political and cultural change associated with the centralizing policies of the state. Although it is not the purpose of this chapter to rehearse these arguments once more, it is an opportunity to emphasize that the application of this model to the problem of culture change in Cornwall has - among other things - rekindled interest in the nature of Cornish reaction to the centralizing tendencies of the Tudor State.