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Cornish literature refers to written works in the Cornish language. The earliest surviving texts are in verse and date from the 14th century. There are virtually none from the 18th and 19th centuries but writing in revived forms of Cornish began in the early 20th century. ==Medieval verse and drama== ''The Prophecy of Ambrosius Merlin concerning the Seven Kings'' is a 12th-century poem written ''ca.'' 1144 by John of Cornwall in Latin, with some of the marginal notes in Cornish. John stated that the work was a translation based on an earlier document written in the Cornish language. The manuscript of the poem, on a codex currently held at the Vatican Library, is unique. It attracted little attention from the scholarly world until 1876, when Whitley Stokes undertook a brief analysis of the Cornish and Welsh vocabulary found in John's marginal commentary.〔David Iredale, John Barrett, ''(Discovering local history )'', page 44〕 These notes are among the earliest known writings in the Cornish language.〔''Encyclopedia of Literature'' -, Volume 1 By Joseph T. Shipley (page 176) (here )〕 In 2001 this important work was translated back into Cornish by Julyan Holmes.〔''An dhargan a Verdhin, The prophecy of Merlin'', translated by Julyan Holmes, full parallel English and Cornish text (2nd ed., Kesva an Taves Kernewek / The Cornish Language Board, Gwinear, 2001; ISBN 1-902917-19-7)〕 ''Pascon agan Arluth'' ('The Passion of our Lord'), a poem of 259 eight-line verses probably composed around 1375, is one of the earliest surviving works of Cornish literature. The most important work of literature surviving from the Middle Cornish period is the Cornish ''Ordinalia'', a 9000-line religious verse drama which had probably reached its present form by 1400. The ''Ordinalia'' consists of three mystery plays, ''Origo Mundi'', ''Passio Christi'' and ''Resurrexio Domini'', meant to be performed on successive days. Such plays were performed in a ''Plain an Gwarry'' (Playing place). In 1981, the Breton library Preder edited it in modern scripture under the name of ''Passyon agan arluth''. The longest single surviving work of Cornish literature is ''Beunans Meriasek'' (The Life of Meriasek), a two-day verse drama dated 1504, but probably copied from an earlier manuscript. Other notable pieces of Cornish literature include the ''Creation of the World (with Noah's Flood)'' which is a miracle play similar to ''Origo Mundi'' but in a much later manuscript (1611); the ''Charter Fragment'', a short poem about marriage, believed to be the earliest connected text in the language; and ''Beunans Ke'', another saint's play only discovered in 2000, notable for including some Arthurian material. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Cornish literature」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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