Vortigern

Vortigern (/ˈvɔːrtɪdʒɜːrn/;[1] Old Welsh: Guorthigirn, Guorthegern; Welsh: Gwrtheyrn; Old English: Wyrtgeorn; Old Breton: Gurdiern, Gurthiern; Irish: Foirtchern; Latin: Vortigernus, Vertigernus, Uuertigernus, etc.), also spelled Vortiger, Vortigan, Voertigern and Vortigen, was a 5th-century warlord in Britain, known perhaps as a king of the Britons or at least connoted as such in the writings of Bede. His existence is contested by scholars and information about him is obscure. He also appears in some manuscripts of De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae by Gildas, and it is debated whether the name Vortigern was in the authorial version.

Bede associates him with the "superbus tyrannus" said in Gildas to have invited the Saxons (who Bede, but not Gildas, says were led by Hengist and Horsa) to aid him in fighting the Picts and the Scots, whereupon they revolted, killing his son in the process[2] and forming the Kingdom of Kent. It is said that he took refuge in North Wales, and that his grave was in Dyfed or the Llŷn Peninsula. Gildas later denigrated the proud tyrant for his misjudgement and also blamed him for the loss of Britain. He is cited at the beginning of the genealogy of the early Kings of Powys.

  1. ^ Spiers, A (1892). "Vortigern". Spiers and Surenne's English and French Pronouncing Dictionary. New York: D. Appleton & Co.
  2. ^ "Vortigern | Dark Ages ruler, Saxon invader & British leader | Britannica".
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