kingdom · France and the Low Countries
Cornouaille
Origins
From the 5th and 6th centuries migrants from western Britain settled the Armorican peninsula, once the land of the Osismii. Those in the south-west named their territory after Cornwall: Kernev in Breton, Cornubia in Latin. Its early history is known mainly from saints' lives and legends, such as that of King Gradlon and the drowned city of Ys.
Rule and society
The kingdom was ruled by local Breton dynasties and organised around monasteries and the see of Quimper, traditionally founded by Saint Corentin. The abbey of Landévennec, founded by Saint Guénolé, was its chief religious centre and produced important manuscripts.
Decline and legacy
In the 9th century Cornouaille was drawn into the unified Kingdom of Brittany under Nominoe and Erispoe. It survived as a county whose counts later became dukes of Brittany in the 11th century, and the name remains in use for the region around Quimper.
Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.
Lineage
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Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Cornouaille. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/cornouaille
- MLA
- “Cornouaille.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/cornouaille. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Cornouaille.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/cornouaille.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Cornouaille’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/cornouaille (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻