buildarocketboys:

i decided to do a bit of research into Padstow and the Cornish language because i was thinking maybe i could write fic about james mcgraw’s childhood (and also i love Cornwall and i love languages and i love black sails)

basically what i found out re the language was that it was very much on the decline by the late 17th/early 18th century (thanks to the quashing of the Prayer Book Rebellion in 1549)  and had mostly migrated to the very west, in the Penwith and Kerrier districts (but in these places, particularly in villages such as Mousehole, it was still widely spoken and understood, even by the gentry). However, Padstow is in the North Cornwall district, much further east than these areas, so it’s questionable how much contact young James Mcgraw with the Cornish language – it most certainly wouldn’t be his first language, but I suspect his grandfather would have spoken some, and I’m sure at the very least Cornish expressions abounded in young James’s English.

I also wonder if Cornwall’s view of itself as somewhat separate from the rest of England (and the rebellions that sometimes sprang up) had any effect on James’s view of England and the British Empire. I suspect it wouldn’t have had much of an effect on Young James’s view of the world – The Prayer Book Rebellion was not even in the living memory of James’s grandfather’s grandfather by then, Anglicism was by far and away the most widespread religion, and James became Admiral Henessey’s protege pretty young – but I wonder if he came back to his heritage, when he turned from England, when he decided to wage war against the Empire. 10-11% of Cornwall’s civilian population were killed by the Crown in the quashing of the Prayer Book Rebellion, it was catastrophic for Cornwall both culturally and socially – I can very much imagine James coming back to that, when he’s trying to fight their oppression. Maybe in a kind of defiant ‘I’m Cornish not English’ kind of a way.

Also. Lots of piracy and smuggling and shipwrecking in Cornwall. Especially prevalent during the Elizabethan era, according to Wikipedia, but you can bet that young James heard all the stories (I certainly did and I’ve only been coming on holiday to Cornwall all my life).

Then too there’s the fact that McGraw is an Irish/Scottish name – as is Hennessey. I’d like to think that that’s one of the things that drew Hennessey to mentoring young James – both transplanted Irishmen trying to make their way in a world that was overtly hostile to them. No matter which way you look at it, James McGraw probably grew up hearing people complain about the English, in louder tones before Hennessey took him under his wing and in less audible ones after.