The oldest son, Vortimer, took up his sword against his father and the Jutes in four battles in which he defeated the Jutes, killed Horsa, and drove them back to the Isle of Thanet. Legend goes, Hengist and his men left Britannia but the women and children stayed behind as if expecting the men to return shortly.

Hengist’s daughter Rowena took it upon herself to rid her father and husband of her stepson. Legends say, Rowena brewed a fatal poison and bribed Vortimer’s servant to give it to him. When Vortimer died, she sent word to her father and he returned with shiploads of men.

Vortigern now saw Hengist as a threat to Britannia and he raised an army against him. Hengist feigned peaceful intent assuring Vortigern he had come back to fight Vortimer. The Jute warlord said now that he knew Vortimer was dead, he would gladly return to Denmark but Vortigern may want to keep some of the Jutes to protect him against his foes: other Britons, Picts, and Scots. Hengist further proposed that the princes of Britannia along with he and his thanes meet for a treaty of peace at the Cloister of Ambrius, a monastery next to Stonehenge. This feast is known as the legend of the Night of Long Knives.

Hengist’s men concealed long daggers in their boots. When all weapons were checked, the Celts gave their daggers and swords up thinking the Saxons had done the same. At Hengist’s signal, the Saxons pulled the daggers from their boots and each stabbed the Celt next to them. The Celts fought back with sheer physical force and whatever they could use as weapons, sticks stones, goblets. They managed to kill some of the Saxons, but only one Celt survived, Eldol. Because Vortigern was marred to Rowena, Hengist spared his life for the price of Essex, Sussex and Middlesex.

Vortigern was basically a man on the run from both Saxons and his own countrymen. He retreated to Snowdonia where the legends of Vortigern and the boy Merlin begin. Vortigern apparently died in his stronghold when it was placed under siege by the forces of Aureiilsu Ambrosia and his brother known as Uther Pendragon. Rather then wait out a long siege they set the tower on fire and Vortigern was burned alive.

After that not only did the Jutes have a strong hold on Britain but Saxons form Saxony and Anglicans from Angle, both in Germany, and Franks from France came across in boatloads as well. To this day, 1500 years later, the country is still referred to as England, which is the land of the Angles, and we speak English, which was originally the language of the Angles.

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Guest Columnist Cornelia Amiri