Dr Charles Insley on Cornish charters

Last week, Dr Charles Insley (University of Manchester) came to Vitoria to speak to us on ‘Languages of Boundaries and Boundaries of Languages in Cornish Charters, 900-1100’, in which he analysed language-use in a small collection of Anglo-Saxon charters for the region of Cornwall (southwest England). These documents are marked by traces of the Brittonic Old Cornish vernacular, usually in the form of place-names in charter boundary clauses. However, there is in fact a good deal of variety in these boundary descriptions – some are written mostly in Latin, while in others the Old English vernacular is prevalent. Dr Insley thus explored the implications of these language choices for our understanding of multilingualism in early medieval Cornwall. Given that vernacular descriptions of land and boundaries form a central part of our project, Dr Insley offered us a valuable and fascinating comparative perspective.

Next week, the project welcomes Professor Dame Janet L. Nelson (London), who will be speaking on ‘Language-use in Charlemagne’s Empire’ (Tuesday, 9 February, 3pm, in Salón de Grados, Facultad de Letras).