Journey 7
John Leland
Launceston
Why wasn’t Leland welcome here?
Cornwall had long seen itself as separate from the rest of England.
In Leland’s day, the Cornish objected to central rule, and to Tudor taxes. They had a case. Their thriving tin industry was double-taxed because Cornwall was deemed ‘foreign’. Leland was the king’s representative, and not everyone would have made him welcome.
There was also a more romantic bone of contention: the Cornish saw King Arthur as their legend, while the Tudors viewed themselves as his rightful heirs.
Signs of the animosity remain. Launceston Castle was built to defend England from the Cornish, and Leland describes it as “the strongest castle in the country”.