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 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.

" After their arrival, Hengist invites Vortigern to see his new buildings and the newly arrived soldiers.

In the Historia Brittonum Hengist had an unnamed daughter ( her name is first given in Historia Regum Britanniae as Rowena ) who seduced Vortigern, eventually leading to the Night of the Long Knives when Hengist's men massacred the Britons at a peace accord.

" Hengist and Horsa accept Vortigern's offer, settle on an agreement, and stay with Vortigern at his court.

In chapter 13, Vortigern returns to the throne, and, at the request of Rowena, has messengers relay an invitation to Hengist in Germania to return back to Britain but, this time, with only a small retinue in tow.

Vortimer, having been most unwilling to part with Hengist, agrees and orders his subjects and the Saxons at the monastery of Ambrius to meet during the nearby month of May.

While consulting with the Britons, who would not be suspicious, Hengist would give out the command " Nemet oure Saxas ," and, at that moment, every soldier must be ready to seize the Briton closest to him and, with their drawn dagger, stab him.

When Hengist feels the time had come to execute his plan, he cries out " Nemet oure Saxas ," and, at that moment, grabs and holds Vortigern by his cloak.

In chapter 4, Hengist takes courage at the approach of Aurelius and chooses out the bravest among his men to defend.

In his 17th-century work Monumenta Britannica, English antiquarian John Aubrey ascribes the Uffington White Horse hill figure to Hengist and Horsa, stating that " the White Horse was their Standard at the Conquest of Britain.

* According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 4, 000 Britons are slain at Crecganford in battle against Hengist and his son Aesc.

Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote about the town, claiming that it had been fortified by Ambrosius Aurelianus, king of the Britons after his victory over the Saxon forces of Hengist ( Historia Regum Britanniae viii, 7 ), that the captive Saxon leader Hengist was hacked to pieces by Eldol outside the town walls, and was buried at " Hengist's Mound " in the town.

Bede, writing in the 8th century, stated that Jutes settled in Kent, and in 457, led by brothers Hengist and Horsa, turned against the Britons who had invited them and defeated them at the Battle of Crecganford ( Crecganford is thought to be modern Crayford ) and the Britons fled to London in terror.

When an attempt is made to kill Julius Caesar ( Kenneth Williams ) at a Roman temple, Horsa fights and kills Caesar's enemies, but Hengist gets all the credit, and is made Caesar's bodyguard.

In one scene at Caesar's palace, when Mark Antony demands Hengist to describe his " fight " with the conspirators, he accidentally chops the arms off a statue of the goddess, Venus, apparently creating the Venus de Milo in doing so.

* Picture of the Sealink car ferry the MV Hengist beached at Folkestone during the Great Storm of 1987 showing the blue-and-white livery.

Upon the rocky place Hengist begins to build a castle, and after it is finished he names it Kaercorrei, or in Saxon Thancastre, which Geoffrey explains means " thong castle.

Hengist says that, if Vortigern deems these terms acceptable, he requests that Vortigern set a time and place for them to meet.

" 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.

:" We worship ," replied Hengist, " our country gods, Saturn and Jupiter, and the other deities that govern the world, but especially Mercury, whom in our language we call Woden and to whom our ancestors consecrated the fourth day of the week, still called after his name Wodensday.

Hengist and his men advance towards Aurelius in a field called Maisbeli, intending to take Aurelius by surprise and to attack the Britons while they were unprepared.

It happened however after the death of Vortimer, son of King Vortigern, and after the return of Hengist with his forces, they called for a false Council, so that they might work sorrow to Vortigern with his army.