Cornouaille

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Cornouaille is a historic region in Brittany, in northwest France. "Les Cornouailles", however, is the French for Cornwall in Great Britain. There is a chance that the name Cornouaille was given in relation to the region of the British Isles. (This happened for Devon, formerly called Dumnonia in Latin, la Domnonée becoming the name of the equivalent region in Brittany in the early Middle Ages.)

The original Germanic name (Corn-whealas)means "the corner of foreigners"[lit. Horn of Welsh] in reference to the resettling of the Celts from over the English Channel by the Anglo Saxon invaders.

The region was first mentioned by this name between 852 and 857 when the Bishop of Saint-Corentin, Anaweten, took over "Cornugallensis".

The existence of a district of ancient Anjou called "La Cornuaille" has led to the hypothesis that it was a geographical or military label for all of southern Brittany as far as the northern shore of la Domonée in the 6th or 7th century.

At the origin of this feudal county, the reigning dynasty acceded to a dukedom of the region, which then passed to the bishop of Quimper.

The name Cornouaille signifies the diocese of Quimper which persisted until the French Revolution. The diocese covered more than half of the south of Finistère, and extended over part of Morbihan and the Côtes-d'Armor. There were two arch-deacons, one for Cornouaille and one for Poher. There were also a cantor, a treasurer, a theologian and twelve canons. This episcopal division was the poorest in Brittany.

After the French Revolution, the new constitution created a diocese of Finistère, erasing that of Kerne/Cournouaille; most of the old diocese was absorbed into the new.

In Breton, the region is known as "Kerne" or "Bro-Gerne", and in Latin "Cornugallia" or "Cornubia"