The Saints of Cornwall

'The thoroughness and value of Orme's work can be seen by comparing his wonderfully full entries on St Neot and St Petroc with the comparable entries in D. H. Farmer's excellent Oxford Dictionary of the Saints. Orme not only offers us something like five or six times as much detail, but packs his entries with information which allows an almost complete mapping of the cults concerned... this book is a model of its kind, illuminating a wide range of issues from the evolution of the parochial structure of the region to the eighteenth-century survival of healing wells, popular customs and local festivals.' -History'Splendid, unpretentious, but deeply learned book... he [Orme] has provided historians of Cornwall, and of medieval popular religion more generally, with a fascinating and indispensable research tool.' -History'Rigourous textual-historical catalogue, using the best linguistic advice, and a model for one well-defined region that could now profitably be followed for any other part of Atlantic Britain and Ireland... the entries read well, are concise and contain a mass of new or little-known material.The introduction could stand on its own as an unrivalled essay. All relevant libraries and concerned individuals should acquire The Saints fo Cornwall.' -Charles Thomas, Times Literary Supplement'This book is a useful guide for those studying various facets of hagiography. It will be a helpful reference work that local historians, literary scholars, and a host of other interested students will consult for quite some time.' -H-Net Book Review'The study tells us a very great deal about the invention of tradition at the parochial level and the universal desire of communities of whatever size, and of whatever historical period, to attach meaning to the salient features of their spiritual and physical environment' -English Historical ReviewCornwall is famous for its saintly place-names: St Austell, St Germans, St Ives, and St Michael's Mount. This book explains why the Cornish honoured so many saints - some famous, some obscure - and how studying saints uncovers the history of the county in medieval times. It provides an account of every saint who was venerated in Cornwall up to the Reformation - the first time this has ever been done for an English county. Every relevant church, chapel, altar, image, and holy well is listed, together with every relevant writing, folk-story and festival, from the earliest times to the present day.