page_title: Kentish Royal Legend
section_title: The texts
hierarchical_section_title: Kentish Royal Legend / The texts
caption_attribution_description: English: Stemma of Anglo-Saxon texts relating to the 'Mildrith Legend'. Based on David Rollason, The Mildrith Legend: A Study in Early Medieval Hagiography in England (Leicester: Leicester University Press 1982) and Stephanie Hollis, 'The Minster-in-Thanet Foundation Story', Anglo-Saxon England, 27 (1998), 41-64.
context_page_description: 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 descendants 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.
context_section_description: 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:
  Historia Regum
  Written in Latin at Ramsey Abbey by a monk called Byrhtferth in c1000AD. Its purpose when written was to be a passio on the death of the two murdered princes, who were translated to Ramsey Abbey in 978-92. It was then used as the opening section of a historical miscellany, which was itself written in to the start of Symeon of Durham's 12th century History of the Kings of Britain. Most of the later manuscripts are linked to Canterbury, with a particular interest in promoting interest in St Mildrith. This account from Ramsey Abbey is from 30 years before Mildrith's remains were moved to Canterbury, and so gives a useful re-assurance of the legend pre-dating the Canterbury connection.
  Bodley 285 fos 116-121
  Also written by the monks of Romney Abbey, in Latin, at a date some time  between 1050 and 1220. It is now in the Bodlean Library, Oxford. Bodley 285 (BHL 2641-2) is a collection of saints' Lives, of which the Kentish Legend is in three sections. A Genealogia provides the Kentish family history. A Relatio recounts the events of the murdered princes, Domne Eafe at Thanet, and Mildrith's arrival from France. A shorter Translatio tells of the two princes' translation from Wakering Abbey to Ramsey, and miracles at the Wakering shrine.
  Vita St Mildrithae
  (BHL 5960) written by Goscelin of Saint-Bertin in c1089-1099 for the Augustinians at Canterbury, following Mildrith's translation there in 1030. Seven medieval copies of this text are noted by Rollason. Cotton MS Vespasian B xx, fos 143–163v has claims to be one of the earliest, written in the early 12th century. As well as the 'Vita', it includes other writings of Goscelin on Mildrith, Archbishops of Canterbury, Papal Bulls, and so forth. Latin text published in full in Rollason, 1982.
  Caligula A.xiv fos. 121v-124v
  (S.Mildryð). (London British Library, Cotton MS). Written in Old English, mid-11th century. It appears to pre-date Mildrith's translation to Canterbury. One possibility is that it is copied from a text (now lost) that accompanied the relics from Thanet. It has the saints day for a heading so may have been a devotional reader. It breaks off after Thunor's death, in mid sentence.  OE transcript and translation by Cockayne, 1864.
caption: Stemma of Anglo-Saxon texts relating to the 'Mildrith Legend'. Based on David Rollason, The Mildrith Legend: A Study in Early Medieval Hagiography in England (Leicester: Leicester University Press 1982) and Stephanie Hollis, 'The Minster-in-Thanet Foundation Story', Anglo-Saxon England, 27 (1998), 41-64.
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