John of Cornwall, in
LatinJohannes Cornubiensis or Johannes de Sancto Germano was a
Christian scholar and teacher, who was living in
Paris about 1176.
He is not to be confused with the fourteenth-century
John of Cornwall who expounded Latin at his grammar school in English instead of French. There was also an
archdeacon of Worcester called John of Cornwall around 1197, who probably was a different person.
Life and writings
Little is known of his life. From his names, it is surmised that he was a native of
St Germans in
Cornwall. He studied with
Peter Lombard in Paris, and wrote Eulogium ad Alexandrum Papam III, quod Christus sit aliquis homo, a treatise refuting
Abelard's doctrine that the humanity of
Jesus was only a garment clothing the
Logos.
Apologia de Christi Incarnatione (disputed authorship; perhaps by
Hugh of St. Victor).
Summa qualiter fiat Sacramentum Altaris per virtutem sanctae crucis et de septem canonibus vel ordinibus Missae. Migne, Patrologiae Latinae, vol. CLXXVII.
Prophetia Merlini or Merlini prophetia cum expositione. A poem written between 1141 and 1155, known from a unique manuscript in the
Vatican Library.
An dhargan a Verdhin / The prophecy of Merlin, translated by
Julyan Holmes. 2nd ed., Kesva an Taves Kernewek / The Cornish Language Board, Gwinear, 2001.
ISBN1-902917-19-7. (full parallel English/Cornish text).
References
Michael J. Curley, "A New Edition of John of Cornwall's Prophetia Merlini." Speculum 57 (1982): 217-249.
Michael Faletra, "Merlin in Cornwall: The Source and Contexts of John of Cornwall's Prophetia Merlini." Journal of English and Germanic Philology 111 (2012): 304-338.