Vortigern accepted, and Hengist prepared a feast to bring together the British and Saxon leaders.

Prior to the feast, Hengist enjoined his daughter to serve the guests plenty of wine and ale so that they would get very intoxicated.

In another legend of Saxons and Britons, in 472 the invading king Hengist invited Brythonic warriors to a feast, but treacherously ordered his men to draw their weapons from concealment and fall upon the guests, killing 420 of them.

All the while Hengist continues inviting over yet more ships, adding to his numbers daily.

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

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

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.

Later in the same work, Bede notes that Hengist was the father of Oeric, and that Oeric accompanied Hengist upon his invitation by Vortigern.

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

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.

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

Vortigern allowed Hengist to send for more of Hengist's countrymen to come over to Britain and fight for Vortigern.

" At the instigation of the Devil ", Vortigern fell in love with Hengist's daughter and promised Hengist whatever he liked in exchange for her betrothal.

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.

" 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.

Vortigern asks Hengist and Horsa if they will help him in his wars, and offers them land and " other possessions.

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

In chapter 11, since Vortigern now owes his victory to Hengist and Horsa, he increases the rewards he has promised to two.

Vortigern gives Hengist " large possessions of lands in Lindesia for the subsistence of himself and his fellow-soldiers.

" 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.

" 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.

" 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.

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.

In chapter 7, after a break of three days, Aurelius calls together a counsel of principal officers to decide what to do with Hengist.

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

According to Bede, Æthelberht was descended directly from Hengist.

The father of Oeric was Hengist.

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, through his son ( who varies by source ), is traditionally listed 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.

Notably, Hengist is also briefly briefly mentioned in the Prose Edda, written by Snorri Sturluson in the 13th century.

Sources disagree with whether Hengist was the father or grandfather of Oisc of Kent and Octa of Kent, one of whom succeeded Hengist as king.

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.

In what is now Northern Germany horse head gables, or gable signs adorned with two rampant horse figures, were referred to as " Hengist and Hors " up until the late 19th century.

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 older scholarship, the scholar J. R. R. Tolkien and others have argued for a historical basis for Hengist.

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.