Kentish Royal Legend
| Kentish Royal Legend | |
|---|---|
| Mildrith Legend | |
| Full title | Vita Deo delectae virginis Mildrethae |
| Also known as | Minster-in-Thanet foundation story, þa Halgan, S.Mildryð, Vita S. Mildretha |
| Language | Old English and Latin |
| Date | mid-11th century onwards |
| Authenticity | reliable |
| Historia Regum text | |
| Bodley 285 | |
| Vitae Mildrethae | |
| Cotton Caligula A (OE | |
| Gotha Text | |
| British Library: Stowe MS 944, ff 34v-39r (þa Halgan, OE) | |
| Parker Library, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge No. 201, pp. 147–151 (þa Halgan, OE) | |
| Cotton Vitellius A 2 ff 3-5 (Latin þa Halgan) | |
| Hugh Candidus text | |
| Other Vitae | |
| Subject | Genealogy, Abbey Foundation, Hagiography |
| Period covered | Anglo-Saxon England |
| Aethelberht, Eadbald, S. Æthelberht, S. Æthelred, Domne Eafe, S. Mildreth and others | |
The Kentish Royal Legend is a diverse group of Medieval texts which describe a wide circle of members of the royal family of Kent from the 7th to 8th centuries AD. Key elements include the descendents of Æthelberht of Kent over the next four generations; the establishment of various monasteries, most notably Minster-in-Thanet; and the lives of a number of Anglo-Saxon saints and the subsequent travels of their relics. Although it is described as a legend, and contains a number of implausible episodes, it is placed in a well attested historical context.
Almost all the accounts begin by describing how Æthelberht of Kent was baptised by Augustine. The fullest accounts (such as Bodley 285, see below) then provide a substantial genealogy, involving not only his direct descendants but also the families some of the daughters marry into, the kings of Northumbria, Mercia, and East Anglia. The family tree below is David Rollason's summary of the individuals thus described. (♂=male, ♀=female).
The central subject of several versions of the Kentish Royal Legend is an account of the murder of two young princes, restitution by way of land to found an abbey by Domne Eafe, and the life of its second Abbess, Mildrith. Although the details and emphasis of the different tellings of the legend vary, the following covers the main elements of that story.
Among the genealogies and Thanet narratives are details of the lives and shrines of a large number of Anglo-Saxon saints, particularly those linked with Kent, but also some from (or who went to) Mercia, East Anglia and Northunbria. Some of the texts are specifically concerned with other saints. The two princes, St Mildburh and St Werburgh all have their own medieval 'Life', in which the other events of the legend are woven in with varying amounts of detail. In the texts that form 'On the Resting-Places of the Saints', a version of the legend (þa Halgan) appears to be provided in place of a Kentish list of saints, to complement the much more systematic lists of saints (the Secgan) from other parts of the country.
It seems likely that precursors to the extant texts must have been written down almost as soon as Mildrith had died. However, the earliest surviving documents containing the legend date from the middle of the 11th century, and others are later still. They clearly draw from now lost source material. These texts now exist as passages within larger manuscripts, and often subsequently either copied into, or bound into still larger volumes. The essentials of the legend are remarkably consistent in the broad outline, the cast of characters, and the various events they describe. But they are also diverse in their detail, and appear to have been substantially moulded to suit the needs of different authors and different perspectives. Some of the texts that contain substantial portions of the legend are:
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