Hengist and Horsa: Arthurian Myth or Saxon Reality?

For most people, the history of England begins with the Norman Conquest in 1066. The line of kings is generally traced to William I, the first Norman king who invaded across the channel and defeated the Saxons under Harold Godwinson, as famously depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry.

This is certainly a convenient way to do things, but it is a gross oversimplification. The problem comes from the tangled web of Saxon kings which came before, not so much a line of succession as a web of competing claimants and warlords in a country far more in flux and less stable than Norman England.

There are other problems with reaching back further than Wiliam I as well. The Saxon kings tend to have complicated names, disputed claims to changing parts of the country. While it is not true that the Normans united England, they certainly drew a line in the sand and it can be convenient to start with them simply because it was, indeed, a fresh start.

So, who were these people that the Normans overthrew and subjugated, importing their own aristocracy which lasted for centuries? Saxon cliches are almost endless, think blonde giants with pigtails and battleaxes, think ornate Celtic designs and raiding parties who disappear into the mists of time.

For this is the other great problem with the Saxons. We know of the later kings, but their earliest history rubs up against mythology. The Saxons were once invaders too, raiding parties like the later Vikings, Norsemen from far-off Scandinavia. That is, until they were invited to settle in England, invited to establish themselves permanently.

We are told that the names of the first chieftains who came to England to stay were Hengist and Horsa. We also know the name of the King of the Britons who invited them: the mighty warlord Vortigern. Case closed, right?

Well, unfortunately not. Because we also know who they faced to conquer this new territory, and here we are on far more problematic ground. 

For Hengist and Horsa fought Arthur, king of the Britons. And now we have to ask what is real at all?

A Forgotten English Mythology?

Attempts to uncover the truth behind the legends of King Arthur have been described as career-ending for historians and archaeologists. The consensus today is that there may have been such a figure, but anything we could know about the real man and his world has been almost entirely lost, with only the broadest brushstrokes remaining, hopelessly intermingled with later inventions.

Aside from anything else we have no evidence of King Arthur. Everything about him was written centuries later, set in that same anachronistic later world. Lancelot and Gawain are chivalric knights of the middle ages, not post-Roman warlords. Only Merlin survives with a touch of the old Britain.

And so Hengist and Horsa, brothers who arrived from Denmark at the head of an invasion force of the Scandinavian Saxons, Jutes and Angles and established a kingdom in southeastern England, must be legendary too? There is certainly much to suggest this.

Let’s start with their names. The too-neat alliteration points to a fictional origin, as does the meaning of the names, which translate to “stallion” and “horse” respectively. It is not impossible that these were their real names, but they fall short on realism in the same way as “Magnum PI” or “Harley Quinn”. Puns rarely exist in the real world.

Then there is their genealogy. According to the 9th century text History of the Britons attributed to the Welsh monk and historian Nennius, the brothers could trace their lineage back ten generations, to a pagan god no less. The association with this kind of fictional ancestry, especially one with such a round number, shows that at least a part of the story is fake.

Nennius claimed that the brothers arrived on three ships, exiles from Germany who established themselves on the marshy island of Thanet at the most easterly point of what is now Kent. This island had been gifted to them in 447 AD by Vortigern, “King of the Britons”.

Vortigern saw in the invaders potential allies in his ambition to fully control all of ancient Britain. The brothers and their companions had a reputation as fierce warriors, and Vortigern saw an opportunity to yoke that strength.

He is another difficult character who stands at the edge of history. Like Hengist and Horsa (and Arthur) we only know of him from documents written centuries later. Like them, we have nothing that survives to prove his existence.

According to the story Hengist and Horsa, welcoming into Britain, sent word to their homeland that this land was rich and offered much. This led to a wave of Saxon immigration: every year there were more Saxons, every year they had more fighting men and more to fight for.

Vortigern’s critical error occurred when he was a guest at a Saxon feast. Drunk and enamored of Hengist’s daughter, he promised the Saxons the entirety of Kent for their kingdom if he could win her hand in marriage.

Hengist agreed and Vortigern initially won himself a powerful ally in his new father-in-law. But there were problems. For a start, Vortigern was already married, to the daughter of the Bishop of Auxerre, a powerful man.

Secondly and more pressingly, Kent already had a ruler and was not strictly Vortigern’s to give. And while Saxon allies were extremely handy at Vortigern’s side against Pictish insurrection, more and more kept arriving.

With Vortigern in hiding from his (original) father-in-law, it fell to his son Vortimer to face the encroaching Saxons. He openly engaged them and forced them back to their isle of Thanet, but they were never eradicated.

Hengist and Horsa fought Vortigern and Vortimer in 455 AD at a great battle at Aylesford. Horsa was there slain, with the Saxon kingdom ruled henceforth by Hengist and his son Esc. Two years later the Britons under Vortigern were crushed at Crayford and forced to flee: the Saxons had won their lands forever. What comes next, with Arthur and Camelot, is the story of the last kingdom of the Britons, and a time of peace before the Saxons took all.

Great story, but is that all it is? Most would conclude that this is legend, but is it that simple?

We know that the Saxons arrived as invaders, and that a “Jutish” (named for the Jutes, another tribe) kingdom was established in Kent. We know that the Saxons spread across the lands and were the dominant peoples when, 600 years later, the Normans arrived to conquer.

Nor is there anything particularly legendary about this story. There are no dragons or wizards, no magic swords or holy grails. The story we have is an entirely plausible account of a Saxon invasion of England, and if their leaders were not actually Hengist and Horsa, they would have been very similar.

There is even a scrap of contemporary information which survives to support their existence. A figure named “Hengest” appears in two Old English heroic poems, one know as the Finnesbug Fragment, the other being Beowulf. While these texts are themselves accounts of legend, the existence of this person so early is evidence that there may have been a “Hengist” or “Hengest” originally.

This reference was apparently enough to convince JRR Tolkien that Hengist, at least, may have been real. But we will never know for sure.

Unless, of course, we ever find his grave at Hengistbury Head in Dorset. Such a find would prompt an entire reassessment of Arthurian myth.

Top Image: The Saxons had to arrive in Britain from somewhere. Legend says they were led by Hengist and Horsa, but can this be proven? (Hans Dahl / Public Domain)