The following circumstances in reference to settlements in the South-East of England are important considerations: (1) The Goths, under the name of Gutæ or Jutes, were the chief settlers in Kent, as proved by historical statements, the existence of fixed monuments with Gothic runes on them, and the survival of gavelkind, with its incidental customs of freedom from distress and dower of widows which can be traced to a Gothic source. (2) The existence in Sussex over a large area of the custom by which the youngest son succeeded to the whole of his father’s estate. (3) The existence in Kent of a recognition of the youngest son to a less extent, he being entitled to the paternal homestead. (4) The prevalence of junior right at the present day as the survival of an ancient custom of inheritance among some people in Friesland, and among the Slavs. (5) The Slavic origin of the old Vandal or Wendish tribes of the south coast of the Baltic Sea, close to the ancient seat of the Goths. (6) The survival of ancient Vandal or Wendish placenames in both Sussex and Essex.
Goths and Vandals, when allied in warlike expeditions, were commonly called Astings.[1] It may, of course, be accidental that a tribe called the Hæstingas was settled on the borderland between Sussex and Kent, but there is evidence of some commingling of the people of these counties near their border. The custom of partible inheritance, which is general in Kent, does not exist in Sussex, except at Rye,[2] where it may still survive in cases of intestacy, and Rye was only separated from Kent by Romney Marsh, now reclaimed. The largest of the Wendish tribes of North-East Germany was the Wilte, called also Lutitzer. The names of several of the hundreds of Sussex in Saxon time—viz., Wendelmestrei, Willingham, Welesmere[3]—are suggestive of Wends or
