ommon
Prayer and the abrogation of various religious ceremonies led to a
rebellion in 1549 under Sir Humphry Arundell of Lanherne, the rebels,
who knew little English, demanding the restoration of the Latin service,
but a fatal delay under the walls of Exeter led to their early defeat
and the execution of their leaders. During the Civil War of the 17th
century Cornwall won much glory in the royal cause. In 1643 Sir Ralph
Hopton, who commanded the king's Cornish troops, defeated General Ruthen
on Bradoc Down, while General Chudleigh, another parliamentary general,
was repulsed near Launceston, and the earl of Stamford at Stratton. The
whole county was thereby secured to the king. Led by Sir Beville
Grenville of Stow the Cornish troops now marched into Somersetshire,
where in the indecisive battle of Lansdowne they greatly distinguished
themselves, but lost their brave leader. In July 1644 the earl of Essex
marched into Cornwall and was followed soon afterwards by the king's
troops in pursuit. Numerous engagements were fought, in which the latter
were uniformly successful. The troops of Essex were surrounded and their
leader escaped in a boat from Fowey to Plymouth. In 1646, owing to
dissensions amongst the king's officers, and in particular to the
refusal of Sir Richard Grenville to serve under Lord Hopton, and to the
defection of Colonel Edgcumbe, the royal cause declined and became
desperate. On the 16th of August 1646 articles of capitulation were
signed by the defenders of Pendennis Castle.

Two members for the county were summoned by Edward I. to the parliament
of 1295, and two continued to be the number of county members until
1832. Six boroughs--Launceston, Liskeard, Lostwithiel, Bodmin, Truro and
Helston--were granted the like privilege by the same sovereign. To
strengthen and augment the power of the crown as against the House of
Commons, between 1547 and 1584, fifteen additional towns and villages
received the franchise, with the result that, between the latter date
and 1821, Cornwall sent no less than forty-four members to parliament.
In 1821 Grampound lost both its members, and by the Reform Act in 1832
fourteen other Cornish boroughs shared the same fate. Cornwall was, in
fact, notorious for the number of its rotten boroughs. In the vicinity
of Liskeard "within an area, which since 1885 ... is represented by only
one member, there were until 1832 nine parliamentary boroughs returning
eighteen members. In thi