Page:Laws of the Earliest English Kings.djvu/18



Three series of Kentish laws have been preserved. The earliest are those of King Æthelberht I, who was reigning at the time when the mission from Pope Gregory the Great, under Augustine, arrived in the year 597.

To these laws Bede refers in the following passage (Hist. Eccl. 5): Qui inter cetera bona, quae genti suae consulendo conferebat, etiam decreta illi iudiciorum, iuxta exempla Romanorum, cum consilio sapientium constituit; quae conscripta Anglorum sermone hactenus habentur, et obseruantur ab ea. In quibus primitus posuit, qualiter id emendare deberet, qui aliquid rerum uel ecclesiae, uel episcopi, uel reliquorum ordinum furto auferret; uolens scilicet tuitionem eis, quos et quorum doctrinam susceperat, praestare.

The exact at which the laws were issued is not certainly known, but it was evidently after Æthelberht's conversion. Æthelberht died on February 24th, 616 (or more probably 617).

King Earconberht, grandson of Æthelberht, is said to have issued laws, enforcing the destruction of images, and the observance of Lent, with penalties for those who refused to obey (Hist. Eccl. 8); but these laws have not been preserved.

The second series of laws, which is still extant, bears the names of Hlothhere, who reigned from 673 to 685 (or 686), and Eadric, the son of Ecgberht, Hlothhere's brother and predecessor. It is nowhere stated that these two kings reigned jointly. Acording to Bede (ib. 26) Hlothhere died of wounds, received in battle against the South Saxons, whom Eadric had brought against him. Eadric succeeded to the throne and reigned a year and a half. It is uncertain, therefore, whether Eadric had been associated with his uncle for some time before the quarrel took place, or whether he merely confirmed laws previously issued by him.

The third code bears the name of Wihtred, brother of Eadric, who succeeded to the throne after a few years, during which the kingdom was ruled by reges dubii uel externi (ib. 26). Among these we know the names of two, Oswine and Swefheard, the