Something a bit different this week…

“The more the Saxons were vanquished, the more they sought for new supplies of Saxons from Germany; so that kings, commanders, and military bands were invited over from almost every province. And this practice they continued till the reign of Ida, who was the son of Eoppa, he, of the Saxon race, was the first king in Bernicia, and in Cair Ebrauc”. The line of the Kings of the Angle Kingdom of Bernicia began with the reign of King Ida, possibly called “Flamebearer” by his Brittonic enemies. Ida’s line landed in Britain around 547 AD, the year in which the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (ASC) indicates Bernicia emerged. However, the Angle presence in Britain began when in A.D. 443 “sent the Britons [messengers] over sea to Rome, [to beg] assistance against the Picts; but they had none, for the Romans were at war with Attila, king of the Huns. Then sent they [messengers] to the Angles, and requested the same from the nobles of that nation”. While the Angles initially came to Britain at the request of the Briton king Vortigern in 449, as requested as mercenaries for the purpose of fighting the Picts, they soon turned on their employers and established kingdoms of their own.

The two first commanders of the Germanic invaders of Britain are said to have been Hengist and Horsa, “of whom Horsa, being afterwards slain in battle by the Britons, was buried in the eastern parts of Kent, where a monument, bearing his name, is still in existence. They were the sons of Victgilsus, whose father was Vecta, son of Woden”. This took place in AD 449, according to the Chronicle. For a time they worked with the Britons successfully, but as time progressed their needs and wants clashed with that of their employers. Horsa and Hengist had been in Britain a short time, had great success against the Picts. “But the [Germans had] greatly increased in number, the Britons became incapable of fulfilling their engagement; and when the Saxons, according to the promise they had received, claimed a supply of provisions and clothing, the Britons replied, “Your number is increased; your assistance is now unnecessary; you may, therefore, return home, for we can no longer support you;” and hereupon they began to devise means of breaking the peace between them”. Horsa and Hengist, irritated that their employment in this rich and prosperous land was being abruptly terminated, realized they could easily overthrow what they perceived to be a weak and crumbling Brittonic Kingdom. At this point, they began to make preparations for the overthrow of King Vortigern. Under pretense of creating a treaty, Hengist offered to marry his daughter to Vortigern on the condition that more of his people be allowed to settle in Britain, north of “the wall”, and in Kent. The people who came to settle, according to Nennius, came from Scythia. This is questionable, as it relies entirely on what the people of Britain at that time considered Scythia to be. This aside, Vortigern assented, and Hengis brought his sons to settle in those lands. Hengist then conspired to host a feast for Vortigern, and at this feast he had three hundred British nobles slaughtered.

When the Saxons turned on Vortigern, he fled to the lands of the Demetae in Wales and built a castle. While the circumstances of his death are uncertain, he is believed to have died around 458 AD, and Nennius claims he died in a house fire. Following his death, the Angles and Saxons pursued more fighting against the now broken Welsh. Though they initially took victories against the native Britons, the fighting spirit of the Welsh was not to be extinguished with such ease. For in the years following, a figure named as Arthur unified the Kings of Britain and brought all the armies of the Welsh to bear against the invaders. It was the military success of the Britons under Arthur that drove the Saxons to request reinforcements from Germania, according the Nennius. In 547 AD, the Angles under Ida, son of Eoppa, established the Kingdom of Bernicia, its capital at Cair Ebrauc, known as Eoferwic to the Angles, then Jorvik to the Norse, and finally York to the English. Ida’s line ruled Bernicia, and often Deira in the south, until the unification of the two kingdoms under his grandson, Aethelfrith.