Editing Hengist and Horsa (section)

===''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle''===
The ''[[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]]'', which exists in nine manuscripts and fragments compiled from the 9th to the 12th centuries, records that in the year 449, Vortigern invited Hengist and Horsa to Britain to assist his forces in fighting the [[Picts]]. The brothers landed at Eopwinesfleot ([[Ebbsfleet, Thanet|Ebbsfleet]]), and went on to defeat the Picts wherever they fought them. Hengist and Horsa sent word home to Germany describing "the worthlessness of the Britons, and the richness of the land" and asked for assistance. Their request was granted and support arrived. Afterward, more people arrived in Britain from "the three powers of Germany; the Old Saxons, the Angles, and the Jutes". The Saxons populated [[Essex]], [[Sussex]], and [[Wessex]]; the Jutes Kent, the [[Isle of Wight]], and part of [[Hampshire]]; and the Angles [[East Anglia]], [[Mercia]], and [[Northumbria]] (leaving their original homeland, [[Angeln]], deserted). The Worcester Chronicle (Chronicle D, compiled in the 11th century), and the Peterborough Chronicle (Chronicle E, compiled in the 12th century), include the detail that these forces were led by the brothers Hengist and Horsa, sons of Wihtgils, son of Witta, son of Wecta, son of Woden, but this information is not included in the A, B, C, or F versions.<ref name=INGRAM13-14>Ingram (1823:13-14).</ref>

In the entry for the year 455 the ''Chronicle'' details that Hengist and Horsa fought against Vortigern at [[Battle of Aylesford|Aylesford]] and that Horsa died there. Hengist took control of the kingdom with his son [[Oisc of Kent|Esc]]. In 457, Hengist and Esc fought against British forces in [[Crayford]] "and there slew four thousand men". The Britons left the land of Kent and fled to London. In 465 Hengest and Esc fought again at the [[Battle of Wippedesfleot]], probably near Ebbsfleet, and slew twelve British leaders. In the year 473, the final entry in the ''Chronicle'' mentioning Hengist or Horsa, Hengist and Esc are recorded as having taken "immense booty" and the Britons having "fled from the English like fire".<ref name=INGRAM15-16>Ingram (1823:15-16).</ref>