Page:Origin of the Anglo-Saxon Race.djvu/386

372 was probably brought by some allies of the real Danes, perhaps people of the Wendish or a mixed race. The custom of the real Danes of Old Denmark was that of partible inheritance.

Gloucestershire had a custom that resembled one of those of Kent—viz., that under which the lands and tenements of condemned felons were not forfeited. They were only held by the Crown for a year and a day. In this we may see a resemblance both to the custom of Kent and that of the Archenfeld part of Herefordshire.

The settlements in the lower parts of the valleys of the Severn and the Wye appear to have been effected by direct maritime migrations. The ships of the period could ascend these rivers by aid of the strong tide which flows up them to the neighbourhood of Gloucester and Monmouth. Goths or Kentish colonists on the Wye have not only left a trace of their name in that of Goderich, now Goodrich, but also in some of their customs in the district known as Ircingafeld or Archenfeld. It comprised the south part of Herefordshire, having the Wye on the east and Monmouthshire on the south. Some remarkable old Kentish place-names can be traced within or near it, such as Kentchurch, Kenchester, Kentyshburcote, and Kenthles. These names, together with the customs which prevailed, show that the Herefordshire province of Archenfeld must have received Kentish people among its Gothic or Jutish settlers, who had no doubt inferior Welsh tenants under them. The local customs of Archenfeld closely resembled those of Kent. That of partible inheritance, of the same nature as Kentish gavelkind, survived in the district until it was abolished in the reign of Henry VIII. This Kentish custom differed from the partible custom that prevailed in Wales in three essential particulars, which will bear repetition: (1) By the Kentish custom in Archenfeld