Hengist and Horsa

"Hengist" redirects here. For other uses, see Hengist (disambiguation).

Imaginary depiction of Hengest from John Speed's 1611 "Saxon Heptarchy".

Hengest or Hengist (d. 488?) was a semi-legendary ruler of Kent in southeast England. His name is common Germanic for "stallion". He is paired in the early sources with his brother Horsa ("horse").

Accounts of Hengest

There are several early sources that refer to a "Hengest". The earliest clear source is Bede, whose Ecclesiastical History of the English People (written about 730) states that Hengest was brought to Britain by Vortigern as a mercenary, to fight the Picts. Bede's dating puts this at between 449 and 455, but this cannot be treated as definite. As many auxiliary garnisons near Hadrian's wall were Frisian (Cuneus Frisiorum Vinoviensium (3rd century), Cuneus Frisiorum Vercoviciensium (early 3rd century), Cohors I Frisiavonum (Frixagorum) (3rd-4th century), Hengist has been identified as of Frisian stock . However, Bede also says that Hengest was a Jute, and that the Jutes settled in Kent and plus the Isle of Wight; Saxons and Angles settled the south and east of England, respectively. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle gives a similar version, apparently using Bede as a source; this part of the Chronicle probably dates from the late ninth century. The Historia Britonum (written around 830) gives a full genealogy of Hengist and identifies him as a decendent of Finn, king of the Frisians . There is also a character named Hengest who appears in two Old English poems: "The Fight at Finnsburg" and Beowulf. From the two poems together, it is apparent that Hengest is a Dane, in King Hnaef's company, who on Hnaef's death leads his men against King Finn of Frisia.

There is also no particular reason to assume that because Hengest is part of Hnaef's force he must be a Dane. Also among Hnaef's followers is Sigeferth a prince of the Secgan, and Hengest comes across as an important character in his own right. He is described as an exile, and that he is a Jutish mercenary in Hnaef's service is a very plausible hypothesis. Alan Bliss suggests he might even be seen best as an Angle. (J.R.R Tolkien, "Finn and Hengest" Ed. Alan Bliss)

The Beowulf and Finnesburg references are by no means necessarily to the same person as the mercenary described by Bede, but it has been conjectured that they are. P. Hunter Blair has suggested that in Hengist we may have a history of a Danish chieftain's progression from Denmark, to Frisia, to southern England, in about the first half of the fifth century.

It has also been suggested that Hengest is a purely mythical figure, though it is clear from archaeological evidence that Germanic settlements in Kent had definitely begun by the time Hengest is supposed to have come to Britain. The distinction Bede draws betweens Jutes, Angles and Saxons is also supported by fact that artifacts from Kent are distinctively different from those found elsewhere in the country, implying a different cultural origin for Kentish settlers.

Following his victories over the Picts, Hengest invited more immigrants from Germania to settle in Britannia and then rebelled against Vortigern because the Britons refused to make an agreed payment, establishing himself as king in Kent. Both Hengest and Horsa are described as being Jutes, and sons of a Jutish chief named Wihtgils.

The historical existence of Hengest and Horsa has been called into question many times, with many historians labelling these two as legendary 'divine twins' or culture heroes along the order of Romulus and Remus. It is perhaps likelier that:-

• Hengest, meaning 'Stallion' in Anglo-Saxon (in modern German and Dutch Hengst and in the Scandinavian languages Hingst is still the word for a stallion), was an honorific name or nickname for an officer (cf. colloquial English "stud" for a strong, virile male, originally denoting a stallion used for breeding. The German equivalent of "stud" for a human male is actually Hengst).
• Horsa was a later accretion to the story: see Horsa.

Later accounts in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the Historia Britonum, Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, and Wace's Roman de Brut add further details from tradition and legend about Hengest's career. The most famous of these include the tale of his beautiful daughter Rowena who seduces Vortigern. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle dates his death to 488, but does not provide a cause. According to some tellings of the Arthurian legend, the British king Uther Pendragon killed him. Geoffrey of Monmouth states Hengest was captured in battle by Eldol, Duke of Gloucester and subsequently beheaded by Eldol's brother, Eldadus, the Bishop of Gloucester.

Hengest and Horsa

Horsa, according to tradition, was the brother of Hengest. His name Horsa (genitive Horsan) looks like a hypocoristic form for a compound word name whose first component is Hors-.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle entry for 455 says that "Her Hengest & Horsa fuhton wiþ Wyrtgeorne þam cyninge, in þære stowe þe is gecueden Agælesþrep, & his broþur Horsan man ofslog; & æfter þam Hengest feng to rice & Æsc his sunu." ("Here Hengest and Horsa fought against King Vortigern in the place that is called Aylesford, and his brother Horsa was killed, and after that Hengest and his son Æsc took the kingdom.") (See Battle of Aylesford (in Kent)).

It is said that a monument was raised in his memory (White Horse Stone near Maidstone is the traditional site), but twin warriors are a common theme in folklore, and because our earliest witness to Horsa's existence, Bede, mentions a stone existed that recorded his name, recent scholars have speculated that perhaps:

• His name came from a Roman inscription which was illegible except for part of the Latin word cohors (genitive cohortis). That stone may have been Horsa's supposed gravestone.
• His name arose as a misreading of a gloss in a manuscript that was written to define the name Hengest as meaning 'horse'.

In culture

Hengest is a character in the Fight at Finnsburg narrative mentioned in the Finnsburg Fragment and the Beowulf poem. In these texts, Hengest is a Danish warrior who takes control of the Danish forces after the prince Hnæf is killed, and succeeds in killing the Frisian lord Finn in revenge for his lord's death. The events in these accounts had a historical basis, and have been supposed by historians to occur in approximately AD 450. This makes these events contemporary with the Anglo-Saxon invasion of England, though what connection (if any) exists between the two Hengests is unknown.

Nevertheless, some have speculated that the two Hengests are one and the same. A point against this theory is the fact that one Hengest is described as a Jute and the other a Dane, though this does not serve as a conclusive disproof, as distinctions between adjacent groups (both Jutes and Danes lived in Denmark) were sometimes vague.

Hengest is the subject of the 1620 play Hengist, King of Kent, or The Mayor of Quinborough by Thomas Middleton.

See also

• List of monarchs of Kent
• Hengistbury Head

References

1. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
2. Bede's Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum
3. The Historia Britonum, attributed to Nennius
4. Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae
5. Wace's Roman de Brut

External links

• The Song of the Shield Wall, with lyrics and links to recorded excerpts

Alternative views

1. Hengest supported Vortigern www.proto-english.org