Cadoc of Cornwall

Who is Cadoc of Cornwall?

According to William of Worcester, writing in the fifteenth century, Cadoc was a survivor of the Cornish royal line at the time of the Norman Conquest of England in 1066 and was appointed as the first Earl of Cornwall by William the Conqueror.

According to the vernacular history of the Cornish and the Bodmin Manumissions the descendants of Cadoc lived on in the ancient areas of Pydar and Bodmin in Cornwall and included as a descendant Thomas Flamank, the Bodmin lawyer, who together with Michael An Gof led the uprising that marched against the English all the way to London in 1497 and suffered death when the uprising was defeated. When faced with being sentenced to death Thomas Flamank is recorded in emulation of his legendary forbears, as having stated the immortal words "Speak the Truth and only then can you be free of your chains".

Cadoc was himself a descendant of King Doniert whose ancient inscribed stone is still to be found in southeast Cornwall.