Definition
A Welsh legal term appearing in old English statutory law, denoting a waster, rhymer, minstrel, or other vagabond who makes unlawful assemblies and collections — that is, who gathers crowds and solicits money or contributions in an itinerant and disorderly manner. The word describes both the person (the vagrant performer or idle wanderer) and, in some usages, the assemblies themselves that such persons organized or attracted. Burrill identifies kymortha as the broader term for the assemblies, treating the word as a corruption of the Welsh cymortha, used in the statute 4 Hen. IV, c. 27.
Common Confusion
Burrill diverges from Black's and Rapalje & Lawrence in emphasis: where those dictionaries define kymortha primarily as the person (the waster or minstrel), Burrill defines it as the assemblies themselves — a gathering, rather than a gatherer. This is not a contradiction but a contextual shift. The statute appears to have used the word to target both the practice (assembly and collection) and the class of persons who conducted it. Researchers should not assume a single fixed referent; which meaning applies depends on the statutory or documentary context in which the term appears.
Why It Matters in Research
Kymortha is an archaic Welsh-origin term with no continuing legal life in modern common law systems. Its research value is almost entirely historical and antiquarian. Key considerations:
First, the statute at issue — 4 Hen. IV, c. 27 — was a penal measure directed at Welsh vagabonds, itinerant performers, and similar persons regarded as threats to public order in medieval England and Wales. Understanding kymortha requires situating it within the broader medieval statutory project of suppressing vagrancy and unauthorized assemblies in the Welsh marches and Wales proper.
Second, the primary secondary reference across all source dictionaries is Barrington's Observations on the Statutes (cited variously as Barr. Ob. St., Barr. Stat., and Barringt. Obs. Stat., all referring to Daines Barrington's work). Any researcher seeking the statutory context in depth should consult Barrington directly, as the dictionary entries do little more than summarize his gloss.
Third, the term cymortha — identified by Burrill as the root form — has a distinct Welsh legal and cultural history as a form of communal labor or mutual aid gathering. The English statutory usage appears to have appropriated and stigmatized this Welsh social institution, recasting a recognized form of communal assembly as a disorderly and vagrant practice. Researchers working in Welsh legal history or the legal history of cultural suppression will find this etymological and institutional background significant.
Fourth, the term appears in none of the standard modern legal dictionaries or statutory compilations in active use, confirming that kymortha has no operative legal meaning outside its historical statutory context.
Historical Dictionary Support
All four source dictionaries are in agreement on the core definition: a Welsh vagrant — a waster, rhymer, or minstrel — who organizes assemblies and makes collections. Black's (both editions) and Rapalje & Lawrence present nearly identical language, likely drawing from a common source, which is Barrington's Observations on the Statutes. Burrill offers the most analytically distinct entry, treating kymortha as a corruption of cymortha and emphasizing the assembly rather than the person, which reflects a closer reading of the statutory text of 4 Hen. IV, c. 27.
Rapalje & Lawrence is notable for placing kymortha alongside kyst/kysta (a chest or coffin) and kyth (kin or kindred) — a clustering that suggests these entries were drawn from a common Welsh legal vocabulary list rather than researched independently. None of the historical dictionaries provide substantive analysis of the statute itself, the social context of its enactment, or the Welsh legal tradition from which cymortha derived. Researchers should treat all four entries as signposts to Barrington rather than as independent authorities.
Jurisdictional Note
Kymortha is specific to the medieval English statutory treatment of Wales and the Welsh marches. It has no application in Scottish, Irish, or continental legal traditions, and no modern jurisdiction recognizes the term as operative law.