Hengest

“Who are you men, armoured in mail, who come sailing upon the sliding sea-road to the land of Britannia? Long have I held the sea-watch in season as the king’s coast-warden, that no pirates might pillage the people of Vortigern. Never have I seen a noble more mighty or more haughty!” This is how the British coast-warden greets Hengest, the first named Anglo-Saxon to come to Britain. After the failure of the Finnesburh mission, King Hoc exiled Hengest, and he set sail with three ships and three hundred men in the hope of serving King Vortigern as a mercenary. The story that follows is as exciting as the story of Beowulf. It includes several battles, a femme fatale (Hengest's daughter, Rowena), and characters from the Arthurian legend, including Merlin and Uther. It also includes a battle between dragons, a contest between wizards, and a clash of faiths. This reconstruction of the lost Saga of Hengest is told in a modern version of the Anglo-Saxon alliterative line and is closely based on original sources, extracts from which are given at the end of the book along with detailed notes and a bibliography.