Hengist and Horsa, according to Saint Bede and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, were two Jutish leaders invited to England by a local king named Vortigern to help repel invaders from northern Britain. They settled in southeastern England in about A.D. 449. In about 455, they turned on Vortigern and defeated him in battle, possibly at Aylesford, in Kent. Horsa was killed, and Hengist established a kingdom in Kent. Some historians believe that Bede and the Chronicle were repeating legends. Hengist is also spelled Hengest.
