Saxon pirates to assist him in supporting his threatened position. These pirates were under the brothers Hengest and Horsa,[1] said to have been sons of Wihtgils and great-great-grandsons of Wodan; and if it be true that they came with the ships only, and that nevertheless they were strong enough to effect the re-establishment of Vortigern's power in Britain, we are forced to believe that not only the British fighting capacity, but also the Pictish navy, must have been at a very low ebb in those days.
The brothers were probably younger sons, who, in accordance with the German custom of the time, were sent forth to seek their fortunes by any means which chanced to commend themselves to them. They were adventurers, and irresponsible. They landed at Ebbsfleet,[2] about the year 450, did Vortigern's work successfully, and, by way of reward, were permitted to establish themselves in Thanet. Ere long, they fell out with their old employer, one of whose sons, Vortimer, gained several successes over them, both afloat and ashore, and finally defeated them at Aylesford, where Horsa was killed.[3] But Vortimer soon afterwards died, the Britons found no leader to take his place, Saxon reinforcements came over, and the party of Hengest regained its ascendancy. Ambrosius Aurelianus is reported to have defeated and slain Hengest[4] himself; but Hengest left behind him a good leader in the person of his son Æsc, who, at length, achieved the complete conquest of Kent.
But the descent of Hengest and Horsa, important though it was in its consequences, was only the precursor of many other Saxon expeditions to Britain.
Ella,[5] with his three sons, Cymon, Whencing, and Cissa, and three ships, landed in 477 at a spot identified by Lappenberg with Keynor in Selsea, and, after a long struggle, obtained reinforcements and took and burnt the stronghold of Anderida, probably the modern Pevensey,[6] in 491. He established a Saxon kingdom in Sussex.
In 495, Cerdic,[7] with his son Cynric and five ships, landed,
- ↑ Sax. Chron., anno 449; Green's 'Making of England.'
- ↑ With three "long ships," otherwise "ceols" (keels). Sax. Chron., 298.
- ↑ In 455. Close to Aylesford, in Kent is Kit's Coty House, a cromlech, said to commemorate one Catigern, who also fell.
- ↑ In 489 (?).
- ↑ Sax. Chron., 300.
- ↑ But Camden says Newenden, Kent; others think near Eastbourne.
- ↑ Sax. Chron., 300.
