Ruan: a Cornish Saint (The Hairy)

Celtic Gods: The Cornish Saint, Ruan (The Hairy)

Ruan

A Cornish Saint, also known as Rumon, Rewan, Ruman, Runon: The Hairy

Ruan (Rumon, Rewan, Ruman, Runon) is a Cornish Saint known from the saint's life by William of Malmesbury and through Cornish tradition. Oral tradition cites him as being invulnerable to wolves and credits him with driving them from Cornwall.

Synonyms: Rumon, Rewan, Ruman, Runon
Kern: The Hairy

Ruan is a sixth-century Cornish saint known from the vitae (saint's life) of William of Malmesbury and oral tradition. According to Willam of Malmesbury Ruan (named Rumon in the document) was the brother of Tudwal whose vita (story of his life) was destroyed by the wars. However he was a bishop (though his see is not identified). Unfortunaltely around the time of William's writing a well-meaning canon created a false vita for Rumaon by taking the abbreviated life of the Breton Saint, Rónán, and converting each instance of the name Rónán to Rumon. The only part of this false vita that may relate directly to Ruan is the description of the movement of his relics (on January 5^th 981) from Ruan Lanihorne, a Celtic monastery and the most ancient center of his cultus, to Tavistock which became the centre of his cult and his relics remained there throughout the Middle ages. Glastonbury also claimed to hold his relics and he may originally have been a monk there who founded a monastery on the Lizard Peninsula.

The link between Ruan and the Lizard seems to be an ancient one. Specifiaclly he is asssociated with Goonhilly, which in anciant times was a wild and desolate place. Indeed, it was described by Leland in 1552 as the 'Nemean Wood' of Cornwall. It is here that 'St Runon made an oratory for himself in the Nemean Woods' and the oral tradition credits him both with being invulnerable to wolves and for driving them out of this region. By 100 when William of Malmesbury wrote of Ruan both wood and wolves were long gone. It is here that two chruches dedicated to St Ruan (Ruan Major and Ruan Minor) are to be found. Ruan is also the patron saint of Tavistock and Romansleigh in Devonshire and his name survives in the placenames Ruan Lanihorne and Polruan (originally Porthruan, Ruan's Harbour).

As well as being reputedly invulnerable to wolves some oral traditons state that Ruan was, himself, a werewolf. This may tie-in with one possible interpretation of his name as deriving from the reconstructed proto-Celtic root *roumnjiā- (hair). Thus Ruan/Ruman could be interpreted as 'the hairy'. Was his hirsute aspect the reason he was considered a lycanthrope? Certainly the name does not contain any of the normal components that would suggest a werewolf: bleid (wolf) or ci/cu (dog).

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