According to a well-known legend, Hengist and Horsa, two brothers, landed in 449 as mercenaries for a British king, Vortigern.

After a rebellion over pay and the death of Horsa in battle, Hengist established the kingdom of Kent.

The sequence of events of the fifth and sixth centuries is particularly difficult to access, peppered with a mixture of mythology, such as the characters of Hengist and Horsa, and legend, such as St Germanus's so-called " Alleluia Victory " against the Heathens, and half-remembered history, such as the exploits of Ambrosius Aurelianus and King Arthur.

Hengist ( or Hengest ) and Horsa ( or Hors ) are figures of Anglo-Saxon, and subsequently British, 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.

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.

According to these sources Hengist and Horsa arrived in Britain as mercenaries serving Vortigern, King of the Britons.

While the early sources indicate that Horsa died fighting the Britons, no details are provided about Hengist's death until Geoffrey's Historia, which states that Hengist was beheaded by Eldol, the British duke of Gloucester, and buried in an unlocated mound.

As a result, scholars have theorized a pan-Germanic mythological origin for Hengist and Horsa, stemming originally from divine twins found in Proto-Indo-European religion.

In his Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, Bede records that the first chieftains among the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes in England were said to be Hengist and Horsa.

According to Bede, Hengist and Horsa were the sons of Wictgils, son of Witta, son of Woden.

Hengist and Horsa arrived at a place called Ipwinesfleet, and went on to defeat the Picts wherever they fought them.

Hengist and Horsa sent word to the Angles describing " the worthlessness of the Britons, and the richness of the land " and asked for assistance.

These forces were led by the brothers Hengist and Horsa, sons of Wihtgils, son of Witta, son of Wecta, son of Woden.

In the entry for the year 455 the Chronicle details that Hengist and Horsa fought with Vortigern at Aylesford and that Horsa died there.

In the year 473, the final entry in the Chronicle mentioning Hengist or Horsa, Hengist and Esc are recorded as having fought " the Welsh ", having taken " immense booty " and the Welsh having " fled from the English like fire ".

The Historia Brittonum records that, during the reign of Vortigern in Britain, three vessels that had been exiled from Germania arrived in Britain, commanded by Hengist and Horsa.

The narrative then gives a genealogy of the two: Hengist and Horsa were sons of Guictglis, son of Guicta, son of Guechta, son of Vouden, son of Frealof, son of Fredulf, son of Finn, son of Foleguald, and Foleguald son of Geta.

" In 447 AD, Vortigern received Hengist and Horsa " as friends " and gave to the brothers the Isle of Thanet.

But at length his son Vortimer engaged Hengist and Horsa and their men in battle, drove them back to Thanet and there enclosed them and beset them on the western flank.

Hengist and Horsa appear in books 6 and 8:

In chapter 10 of book 6 of Historia Regum Britanniae, Geoffrey records that three brigandines ( or long galleys ) full of armed men commanded by two brothers, Hengist and Horsa, arrived in Britain.

" Hengist notes that his retinue is the result of this process, and through this custom Hengist and his brother Horsa were made generals " out of respect to our ancestors, who enjoyed the same honour ," and so they have arrived in Vortigern's kingdom " under the good guidance of Mercury.

Vortigern responds that it is not in his power to appoint Hengist to these positions, reasoning that Hengist is a pagan, that he barely knows Hengist, that Hengist's people are strangers and that Vortigern's nobles would not accept the appointment.

Yet now that he, Hengist, no longer doubts the death of Vortimer, Hengist submits himself and his people to the will of Vortigern, so that he will accept whomever Vortigern likes among his men, and send the rest back to Germania.

Hengist prepared a feast, inviting Vortigern, Vortigern's officers, and Ceretic, his translator.

Hengist told Vortigern that he would now be both Vortigern's father and adviser and that Vortigern would know no defeat with his counsel, " for the people of my country are strong, warlike, and robust.

" With Vortigern's approval, Hengist would send for his son and his brother to fight against the Scots and those who dwell in the north " near the wall called Guaul.

" Geoffrey refers to Hengist as a " man of experience and subtilty ," and records that Hengist told Vortigern that Vortigern's enemies assail him from every quarter, and that few of Vortigern's subjects love him.

Hengist continues that Vortigern's subjects threaten Vortigern and say that they will bring over Aurelius Ambrosius from Armorica to depose Vortigern and make Aurelius king.

After immediately executing Vortigern's orders, Hengist took a bull's hide, and made the hide into a single thong.

Noting this, Hengist — here described as a " prudent man "— realizes the advantage of the situation and consults with his brother Horsa " and the other ancient men present " about how best to respond to Vortigern's request.

In chapter 12, Hengist tells Vortigern that, due to Vortigern's marriage to his daughter Rowena, Hengist is now Vortigern's father, and Vortigern must now heed his counsel.

After Vortigern's alliance with the Saxons under Hengist goes disastrously wrong, Aurelius and Uther, now adults, return.

" Hengist convened his forces and sent to Vortigern an offer of peace.

Hengist — here Geoffrey notes whose " years and wisdom entitled him to precedence "— responds for the company, stating that they have come from their homeland of Saxony, and that they had come to offer their services to Vortigern or some other prince.

The story as reported in such sources as the Historia Brittonum and Gildas indicates that the British king Vortigern allowed the Germanic warlords, later named as Hengist and Horsa by Bede, to settle their people on the Isle of Thanet in exchange for their service as mercenaries.

According to the tradition, Vortigern, who has become the high king of the Britons in the wake of the Roman withdrawal from Britain, allows Anglo-Saxons under Hengist and Horsa to settle on the Isle of Thanet.

" Eldol focuses on attempting to find Hengist, but has no chance.

Eldol continues to focus on pursuing Hengist, slaying men all along the way.

Patrick Sims-Williams is more skeptical of the account, suggesting that Bede's Canterbury source, for which he relied on for his account of Hengist and Horsa in his work Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, had confused two separate traditions.

Hengist erected the stone monument — Stonehenge — on the site to show his remorse for the deed.

From then on, the pacified territory of Ceint was known as Cantware, " dwellers in Kent " and its kings traced their lineage from Hengist.

Mathers was introduced to Freemasonry by a neighbour, alchemist Frederick Holland, and was initiated into Hengist Lodge No. 195 on 4 October 1877.

The first five of the planned second batch of 15 locomotives were intended for use on BR's Southern Region ; these were allocated names Hengist, Horsa, Canute, Wildfire and Firebrand, which had all been previously used on locomotives in southern England.

None have survived, though progress is being made on constructing a new locomotive that would have been the first of the uncompleted batch of 15, number 72010 Hengist.

With construction work on the new engine advancing every week the Trust classifies 82045 as the 1001st steam locomotive to a BR Standard design since the commencement of its construction follows that of 72010 Hengist.

Sources disagree on his relationship to the other kings in his line ; he may have been the son of Hengist or Oisc, and may have been the father of Oisc or Eormenric.

Both sources concur that it involved the Anglo-Saxon leaders Hengist and Horsa on one side and the family of Vortigern on the other, but neither says who won the battle.