Bewnans Ke
Bewnans Ke ("The Life of Saint Ke") is a Middle Cornish play on the life of Saint Kea or Ke, who was venerated in Cornwall, Brittany and elsewhere. It was written around 1500 but survives only in an incomplete manuscript from the second half of the 16th century. The play was entirely unknown until 2000, when it was identified among the private collection of J. E. Caerwyn Williams, which had been donated to the National Library of Wales after his death the previous year. The discovery proved one of the most significant finds in the study of Cornish literature and language.

"Bewnans Ke" is one of only two known Cornish plays based on a saint's life; this and other evidence suggests some relationship with the other such work, "Beunans Meriasek". The story has much correspondence with a French text, a translation of a lost medieval Latin hagiography of Kea, allowing gaps in the narrative to be tentatively filled. The play is divided into two distinct sections, which may indicate that it was intended for a two-day performance. The first section deals with the deeds and miracles of Kea, including his conflicts with the tyrannical king Teudar. The second is a long Arthurian episode, describing King Arthur's wars with the Romans and with his nephew Mordred; it does not mention Kea in its current form.
Q25289
Middle Cornish
Concept
Q25379
play
Concept
Q3463930
Saint Kea
PER
Q327
Brittany
LOC
Q13157452
J. E. Caerwyn Williams
PER
Q666063
National Library of Wales
LOC
Q900642
Cornish literature
UNK
Q25289
language
Concept
Q4618027
Beunans Meriasek
ORG
Q208628
hagiography
Concept
Q19665654
Teudar
PER
Q45792
Arthurian
MEDIA
Q45792
King Arthur
MEDIA
Q1747689
Romans
LOC
Q81109
Mordred
MEDIA
Q3404789
Bewnans Ke
ORG
Q3404789
Bewnans Ke
ORG
1500-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1500
DATE
2000-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
2000
DATE
+16^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
16
NUMBER
language of work or name
collection
language of work or name
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