Are the Welsh and Cornish Remnant "England" Britons, or Culturally Related Native Britons?

Are the Welsh and Cornish primarily cultural and ethnic descendants of Britonic refugees from the land now known as England, or descendants of culturally related Celts who although springing from the same ultimate source, were natives of those areas at the time of Roman rule, and who have preserved their traditions since?
 
Are the Welsh and Cornish primarily cultural and ethnic descendants of Britonic refugees from the land now known as England, or descendants of culturally related Celts who although springing from the same ultimate source, were natives of those areas at the time of Roman rule, and who have preserved their traditions since?
The idea that there was any major migration of Celtic peoples fleeing Evil Anglo Barbarians is pretty much debunked at this point. The native Welsh are largely the descendants of Britons who happened to live in the mountainous area in the West of Britain, while the Cornish are partly descended from the Britons who lived in the pointy bit in the corner of Britain and partly descended from Brythonic-speaking people from Brittany.

So, your second choice is more correct, but the division between Wales/Cornwall and England only came after those cultures were separated from the general sway of British Celtic culture.
 
The idea that there was any major migration of Celtic peoples fleeing Evil Anglo Barbarians is pretty much debunked at this point. The native Welsh are largely the descendants of Britons who happened to live in the mountainous area in the West of Britain, while the Cornish are partly descended from the Britons who lived in the pointy bit in the corner of Britain and partly descended from Brythonic-speaking people from Brittany.

So, your second choice is more correct, but the division between Wales/Cornwall and England only came after those cultures were separated from the general sway of British Celtic culture.
So did the Bretons migrate previous to the Anglo-Saxon invasion, then?
 
So did the Bretons migrate previous to the Anglo-Saxon invasion, then?
There was continuous migration of populations between the two places both before and after the Anglo-Saxons came. Julius Caesar notes the strong relations between Armorica and Cornwall, although the rate of migration is supposed to have increased and the balance turned towards Brittany in the early middle ages. Remember that Cornwall was independent or semi-independent until the 10th or 11th century, depending on how you define 'semi-Independent'.
 
I wouldn't say Cornwall was independent it was regarded as part of Wessex, it was just very autonomous with the Kings writ not really running there. Sort of like the Scottish Highlands in the middle ages.
 
The Welsh, Irish and Cornishare genetically linked.
Cornwall was not part of Wessex, Asser records Cornwall as a separate in the 890's
Aethalstan set the boundary between Wessex and Cornwall on the Tamar after evicting the Cornish from what is now Devon in 936
Tha Prayer Book Rebellion in 1549 was a response to the Bible being in English not Cornish
The Lostwithiel Campaign in 1644 and the aftermath of English suppression during the Commonwealth
So cultural and ethnicity one step away from the English, cousins not brothers.
Only recently officially recognised
 
Top