Elwen
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Elwen (also known as Elvan, Elven, etc.) was the name of an early
saint In Christianity, Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of sanctification in Christianity, holiness, imitation of God, likeness, or closeness to God in Christianity, God. However, the use of the ...
or saints venerated in
Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...
and
Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...
. The hagiographical material asserts that he came to Cornwall from
Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
in the company of Breage and six others, but this is attested late. A chapel at Porthleven in Sithney parish, Cornwall, dedicated to Elwen, existed from the 13th century until 1549, and in Brittany several sites and placenames are associated with possibly related figures.


History

The name St Elvan is attached to a chapel at Porthleven in Sithney recorded as early as 1270.Orme, p. 112. This chapel was rebuilt c. 1510 but was destroyed in 1549. Elwen appears in John Leland's extracts from a lost late-medieval ''Life of Saint Breage'' included in his ''Itinerary''. Leland's extracts name Elwen as one of Saint Breage's seven Irish companions who join her on her mission to Cornwall, the others being Sithney, Germoe, Mavuanus (perhaps Mawnan), Crowan, Helena, and Tecla. The text also refers to a ''Life of St Elwinus'', evidently a lost
hagiography A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a preacher, priest, founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian ...
of Elwin. A few medieval and early modern Cornish sources mention Elwen and his chapel, but little else is known of him there. One document mentions him in connection to an otherwise unknown Saint Gelvin, though this may be based on a mistake or a fraud.Orme, p. 124. In Brittany two apparently distinct saints with corresponding names are known. A Saint ''Elouan'' is said to have had his chapel at Saint-Guen, and to have been buried there, while a Saint ''Elven'' gave his name to the commune of Elven, Morbihan. It is unknown which, if either, may be identified with the Cornish Elwen. In modern times a Church of St Elwyn has been established at
Hayle Hayle (, "estuary") is a port town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in west Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated at the mouth of the Hayle River (which discharges into St Ives Bay) and is approximately northeast of ...
, probably inspired by the legend recorded in Leland's work that Elwen and company had landed there from Ireland.


Notes


References

* {{authority control 5th-century Christian saints Medieval Breton saints Medieval Irish saints of Cornwall