Hengist

Who was Hengist?

Hengist and Horsa are figures of Anglo-Saxon legend, which records the two as the Germanic brothers who led the Angle, Saxon, and Jutish armies that conquered the first territories of Britain in the 5th century. Tradition lists Hengist as the founder of the Kingdom of Kent.

Hengist and Horsa are attested in Bede's 8th-century Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum; in the 9th-century Historia Brittonum, attributed to Nennius; and in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a collection of annals compiled from the end of the 9th century. Geoffrey of Monmouth greatly expanded the story in his influential 12th-century pseudohistory Historia Regum Britanniae, which was adapted into several other languages. As a result, the pair appear in various other later works. Notably, Hengist is also briefly mentioned in the Prose Edda, written by Snorri Sturluson in the 13th century.

According to these sources Hengist and Horsa arrived in Britain as mercenaries serving Vortigern, King of the Britons. This event is traditionally recognised as the beginning of the Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain.