Lyonesse facts for kids

Lyonesse (pronounced lee-uh-NESS) is a legendary kingdom that was said to have vanished into the sea. According to the stories, it was a long stretch of land that connected Land's End in Cornwall, England, to the Isles of Scilly.

The kingdom was described as a beautiful place with fertile plains, many towns, and over 140 churches. The legend says that this entire kingdom was swallowed by the ocean in a single night. Lyonesse is most famous for its connection to the stories of King Arthur and his knights. It was the homeland of the hero Tristan, one of the Knights of the Round Table.

The Legend of the Sunken Kingdom

The story of Lyonesse is a big part of the tale of Tristan and Iseult. Tristan's father, Meliodas, was the king of Lyonesse. After his father's death, Tristan was the heir to the throne. However, he would never get to rule his kingdom.

While Tristan was away at the court of his uncle, King Mark, a disaster struck Lyonesse. Legend says a terrible storm appeared one night. A giant wave rose from the sea and crashed over the land, sinking the entire kingdom. Some stories say this happened because the people of Lyonesse had done something very wrong, and the storm was a punishment.

The Lone Survivor's Tale

The Trevelyan family crest shows a white horse rising from the waves.

According to local Cornish legends, only one person escaped the sinking of Lyonesse. His name was Trevelyan, and he escaped by riding his white horse to higher ground just as the waves came crashing in. During the frantic escape, his horse lost one of its shoes.

This story is important to some of the oldest families in Cornwall. The Vyvyan family, for example, has a crest with a white horse on it. They claim to be descendants of Trevelyan, the sole survivor. The symbol of three horseshoes is also used by some local families to remember this tale.

Fishermen in the area also tell stories about Lyonesse. Some claim that on calm days, you can hear the bells of the kingdom's lost churches ringing from deep beneath the sea. Others say they have pulled up strange objects like glass, forks, and pieces of wood in their fishing nets.

Clues from the Real World

A map showing how the Isles of Scilly were one large island around 3,000 BCE, before sea levels rose.

While Lyonesse is a legend, there is real scientific evidence that the land in this area has changed over time. Between 2009 and 2013, a study called "The Lyonesse Project" looked into the history of the Isles of Scilly.

What Did Scientists Discover?

The project found that the Isles of Scilly were once a single, large island. As the sea level rose thousands of years ago, water covered the low-lying land, turning the one big island into the many smaller islands we see today.

Researchers have even found ancient stone walls under the water near the islands. This proves that people lived in areas that are now on the sea floor. These discoveries suggest that the legend of Lyonesse might be a folk memory—a story passed down through generations—of a real event when the sea flooded the land.

The Forest Under the Sea

Another clue is the Cornish name for St Michael's Mount, an island near the town of Penzance. The name is Karrek Loos y'n Koos, which means "the grey rock in the wood." This suggests that the bay around the island was once a forest. At very low tides, people can still see the petrified tree stumps of this ancient sunken forest.

Lyonesse in Arthurian Legend

In the famous stories of King Arthur, Lyonesse is the setting for the final battle between Arthur and his nephew, Mordred. The poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson wrote about this in his book Idylls of the King. He described Lyonesse as "a land of old upheaven from the abyss... to sink into the abyss again."

Interestingly, the name "Lyonesse" was first used for a real place in Scotland called Lothian. Storytellers in the Middle Ages who were writing about King Arthur sometimes got the geography of Great Britain mixed up. They moved the location of Lyonesse in their stories to be next to Cornwall, and over time, it became connected with the Cornish legend of a lost land.

Similar Myths and Legends

The story of a kingdom sinking beneath the waves is not unique to Cornwall. Similar tales are found in other Celtic cultures.

• In Brittany, a region in France, there is a legend of the city of Ys. It was said to be a beautiful city that was drowned as a punishment for the bad behavior of its people.
• In Wales, there is the story of Cantre'r Gwaelod, a kingdom that was flooded when its prince carelessly allowed the sea to rush through the floodgates.

These stories show that people living by the sea have long been fascinated and frightened by its power to change the land.

See also

• Matter of Britain
• Kitezh
• Doggerland