What is "cornovii"

The Cornovii were a Celtic people of Iron Age and Roman Britain, who lived principally in the modern English counties of Cheshire, Shropshire, north Staffordshire, north Herefordshire and eastern parts of the Welsh counties of Flintshire, Powys and Wrexham. Their capital in pre-Roman times was probably a hill fort on The Wrekin. Ptolemy's 2nd century Geography names two of their towns: Deva Victrix ( Chester), and Viroconium Cornoviorum ( Wroxeter), which became their capital under Roman rule.

Their territory was bordered by the Brigantes to the North, the Corieltauvi to the East, the Dobunni to the South, and the Deceangli, and Ordovices to the West.

The people who inhabited the very north of the British mainland (modern Caithness), and Cornwall were also known by the same name, but according to mainstream or academic opinion were quite separate and unrelated peoples. (see List of Celtic tribes).

The Cornovii are a hypothetical tribe who would have been part of the Dumnonii, a Celtic tribe inhabiting the South West peninsula of Great Britain, during some part of the Iron Age, Roman and post-Roman periods. The Cornovii would have lived at the western end of the peninsula, in the area now known as Cornwall, and the tribal name would be the ultimate source of the name of that present-day county.

The existence of this sub-tribe, clan, or :sept is not mentioned in Ptolemy's 2nd century Geography, as are many of the other Iron Age tribes in Britain. It has been inferred solely on the basis of a place-name listed in the Ravenna Cosmography of c. 700 CE as purocoronavis, which is considered to be a scribal error for durocornavis (or durocornovium), interpreted as meaning "the fortress of the Cornovii".

The Cornovii is the name by which two, or three, tribes were known in Roman Britain. One tribe was in the area centred on present-day Shropshire, one was in Caithness in northernmost Scotland, and there was probably one in Cornwall. The name has appeared in ancient sources in various forms, such as Cornavii, Cornabii, and Curnavii.

The three tribes were:

• The Cornovii (Midlands), who were based in the area around modern Shropshire. Ptolemy's 2nd century Geography names two of their towns: Deva Victrix ( Chester), and Viroconium Cornoviorum ( Wroxeter) which was their capital and probably the fourth largest Roman settlement in Britain.
• The Cornovii (Caithness), at the northern tip of Britain. This tribe is only known from one mention in Ptolemy's Geography.
• The Cornovii (Cornwall), part of the Dumnonii tribe in South West Britain. The existence of this sub-tribe, clan, or sept is not mentioned by Ptolemy, but has been inferred from a place-name listed in the Ravenna Cosmography of c.700 AD as purocoronavis, which is considered to be a scribal error for durocornavis (or durocornovium), meaning "the fortress of the Cornovii".

The Cornovii were a people of ancient Britain, known only from a single mention of them by the geographer Ptolemy c. 150. From his description, their territory is reliably known to have been at the northern tip of Scotland, in Caithness. Ptolemy does not provide them with a town or principal place.