Anglo Saxon Chronicles Places(449AD) - Ebbsfleet isle of Thanet - Kent
Original :- Her Mauricius ⁊ Ualentines onfengon rice ⁊ ricsodon .vii. winter. ⁊ On hiera dagum Hengest ⁊ Horsa from Wyrtgeorne
geleaþade Bretta kyninge gesohton Bretene on þam staþe þe is genemned Ypwinesfleot, ærest Brettum to fultume, ac hie eft on hie
fuhton. Se cing het hi feohtan agien Pihtas, ⁊ hi swa dydan ⁊ sige hæfdan swa hwar swa hi comon. Hi ða sende to Angle ⁊
heton heom sendan mare fultum ⁊ heom seggan Brytwalana nahtnesse ⁊ ðæs landes cysta. Hy ða sendan heom mare fultum. þa comon þa
menn of þrim mægþum Germanie, of Ealdseaxum, of Anglum, of Iotum. Of Iotum comon Cantware ⁊ Wihtware, þæt ys seo mæið ðe nu
eardað on Wiht, ⁊ ðæt cynn on Westsexum þe man gyt hæt Iutna cyn. Of Ealdseaxon comon Eastsexa ⁊ Suðsexa ⁊ WestSexan. Of Angle
comon, se a siððan stod westi betwyx Iutum ⁊ Seaxum, Eastengla, Midelangla, Mearca ⁊ ealle Norðhymbra..
A.D. 449. This year Marcian and Valentinian assumed the empire, and reigned seven winters. In their days Hengest
and Horsa, invited by Wurtgern, king of the Britons to his assistance, landed in Britain in a place that is called Ebbsfleet;
first of all to support the Britons, but they afterwards fought against them. The king directed them to fight against the Picts;
and they did so; and obtained the victory wheresoever they came. They then sent to the Angles, and desired them to send more
assistance. They described the worthlessness of the Britons, and the richness of the land. They then sent them greater support.
Then came the men from three powers of Germany; the Old Saxons, the Angles, and the Jutes. From the Jutes are descended the men of
Kent, the Wightwarians (that is, the tribe that now dwelleth in the Isle of Wight), and that kindred in Wessex that men yet call
the kindred of the Jutes. From the Old Saxons came the people of Essex and Sussex and Wessex. From Anglia, which has ever since
remained waste between the Jutes and the Saxons, came the East Angles, the Middle Angles, the Mercians, and all of those north of
the Humber. Their leaders were two brothers, Hengest and Horsa; who were the sons of Wihtgils; Wihtgils was the son of Witta,
Witta of Wecta, Wecta of Woden. From this Woden arose all our royal kindred, and that of the Southumbrians also.
Hengest and Horsa landed on the Isle of Thanet which is derived from þegn æg -
þegn - thane - a servant, one who does service for another (a mercenary) amd æg - an island
As Hengest and Horsa were invited to fight for Vortigern, this translation would seem logical for the island.
The question is now - why Thanet ? Could it be that Vortigern had been pushed back to Thanet from his original capital of
Canterbury, which is why they landed on Thanet. The most logical place to have landed if he was still on the mainland would
have been around the Richborough area, so we have to assume Vortigern had been pushed back onto the Isle of Thanet.
Places mentioned in the text and translations:-
Ypwinesfleot (Ipwinesfleet) (Yppe wines fleot) Thanet Kent
yppe -a raised place, a lookout place
wines - wine (possibly where the romans grew wine)
fleot - a bay, estuary, river etc - a place where boats float
(The observation post at the vineyard overlooking the estuary)
Thanet (þegn æg) Kent
þegn - a thane(servant or mercenary)
æg - an island
(The Mercenary/Servant Island)
|
