ABSTRACT
THE historians lay the blame of bringing the Saxons into Britain on Vortigern, 1 who is said to have called them in to help him against the Picts in 449. Once again we see the Celts playing the weak man’s game of putting yourself in the hands of one enemy to save yourself from another. According to the story, Vortigern married a daughter of Hengist and gave him the isle of Thanet and the Kentish coast in exchange, and the alliance between Vortigern and the Saxons came to an end when the latter treacherously massacred a number of Britons at a banquet.
