Eltham.
"'MEN OF KENT,' AND 'KENTISH MEN.'
"I am not aware that any professed treatise has been written or published
upon our provincial distinction of 'Men of Kent' and 'Kentish Men.' That
some such traditionary distinction, however, (whatever it may be) has
existed from time immemorial in our county, cannot be disputed, and I think
it has an undoubted and unquestionable historic origin, which I will
endeavour briefly to illustrate.
"The West Kent Men, according to the tradition, are styled 'Kentish Men;'
whilst those of East Kent are more emphatically denominated 'Men of Kent.'
"And now for my historical authorities:--
"That the East Kent people were denominated from ancient time 'Men of
Kent,' may, I think, be inferred from the ancient Saxon name of its
metropolis, [Cant-wara-burh] [_Canterbury_], literally, 'The City of the
Men of Kent;' the royal city and seat of government of King Ethelbert at
the time of the arrival of St. Augustine (A.D. 597) to convert our
idolatrous Saxon ancestors from the worship of Woden and his kindred
deities to that of the Saviour of the world.
"St. Augustine, having succeeded in his holy mission, and having been
consecrated Archbishop of the Saxons and Angles in Britain, fixed his
metropolitical see in the royal city of Canterbury, which had been granted
to him by King Ethelbert on his conversion (who thereupon retired to his
royal fortress, or Castrum, of Regulbium, _Reculver_). And in that city it
has ever since continued for a period of more than twelve centuries.
"The conversion of the Pagan inhabitants of Kent proceeded so rapidly that
St. Augustine, with the assistance of King Ethelbert, soon founded another
episcopal see at Rochester, and thus divided the Kentish kingdom into two
dioceses: the eastern, or diocese of Canterbury; the western, or diocese of
Rochester. And thus, I conceive, originated the divisions of East and West
Kent: the men of the former retaining their ancient name of 'Men of Kent;'
whilst those of the latter adopted that of 'Kentish Men.'
"The Saxon (or Jutish) kingdom of Kent continued a separate and independent
kingdom of the Octarchy from the time of Hengist (A.D. 455) until its
subjugation by Offa, King of Mercia, in the eighth century, to which it
continued tributary until King Egbert reduced all the kingdoms of the
Octarchy under his dominion, at the commencement of the ninth century,--and
thus became the first King of all England.
"That Kent was separated at an early period into the two divisions of East
and West Kent, may be inferred from a charter (Kemble, _Cod. Dipl._ ii.
19.) relating to some property withheld from the church of Canterbury, and
which is specially described as having been that "of Oswulf, duke and
prince of the province of _East Kent_" ('dux atque princeps provinciæ
_Orientalis Cantiæ_') c. A.D. 844.
"The _Saxon Chronicle_ also confirms this view of the matter, thus:
A.D. 853. "Ealhere with the 'Men of Kent' fought in _Thanet_ against the
heathen army (Danes)."--Thanet is in _East_ Kent.
A.D. 865. "The heathen army sate down in _Thanet_, and made peace with the
'Men of Kent.' And the 'Men of Kent' promised them money for the peace."
A.D. 902. ... "Battle at the _Holmes_, between the 'Kentish Men' and the
'Danish Men.'--This, I take it, occurred in _West_ Kent.
A.D. 999. "The army (Danes) went up along the Medway to _Rochester_, and
then the '_Kentish_ forces' stoutly joined battle ... and full nigh {616}
all the 'West Kentish men' they ruined and plundered."
A.D.[11] 1009. "Then came the vast hostile army (Danes) to _Sandwich_, and
they soon went their way to _Canterbury_; and all the people of '_East
Kent_' made peace with the army, and gave them 3000 pounds."
"Thus, I trust, I have satisfactorily shown from our ancient annals, that
the distinction between 'Kentish Men' and 'Men of Kent,' existed at a
period long anterior to the Norman Conquest, and is distinctly recognised
in the foregoing historical passages. And its origin may, I think, be
attributed to the ancient division of the Jutish kingdom of Kent into the
two dioceses of _Canterbury_ and _Rochester_.
"Our Gavelkind Tenure and free Kentish customs, of which I have attempted a
history in my recently published _Consuetudines Kanciæ_, gave rise to our
well-known old provincial song of 'The Man of Kent,' its burthen being:
"Of Briton's race--if one surpass,
'A Man of Kent' is He."