agreed to this proposal, and they thereupon engaged in battle with the
Picts and Scots, and defeated them, and they were driven back to their
mountains in the north. The Anglo-Saxons now established themselves in
the part of the island assigned to them, and it is related that Hengist
gave his daughter Rowena in marriage to King Vortigern, to strengthen
the alliance more closely. At last the Britons became alarmed at the
increasing power of the Anglo-Saxons, and the result was a fierce
contest. It is related that King Vortigern, with three hundred of his
officers, were invited by Hengist to a feast, and a quarrel having
arisen, an affray occurred in which the Britons were all killed, except
Vortigern who was taken prisoner, and was only ransomed by ceding three
whole provinces to his captors.
The famous King Arthur, whose Knights of the Round Table have been so
celebrated in fable and song, was a king of the Britons during these
wars between his people and the Saxons. He is said to have performed
marvellous exploits of strength and valor. He was of prodigious size,
and undaunted courage. He slew giants, killed the most ferocious wild
beasts, gained many splendid victories, and is said to have made long
expeditions into foreign countries, once even going to Jerusalem on
a pilgrimage to obtain the Holy Cross. He was afterwards killed in a
combat with his nephew, who had gained the affections of Arthur’s wife
during his absence. Arthur had been a deadly enemy of the Saxons. He
fought twelve great pitched battles with them, in every one of which
he gained the victory. It is related that he killed with his own hand,
four hundred and seventy men in one of these contests. The landing of
the Saxons, under Hengist and Horsa, is supposed to have been in the
year 449. It was more than two hundred years after this before the
Britons were entirely subdued, and the Saxon power became supreme. In
one or two centuries more the Saxons had, in their turn, to meet an
implacable and powerful enemy. These new invaders were the Danes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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